2's back to winning ways

We were lucky to be playing at Northwood’s very pleasant main ground which had a slightly steeper slope than the Burtonhole Lane Oval. The toss was won and Northwood were inserted to bat. The wicket had been covered, but the pitch was lively, with variable bounce making life interesting for the batsmen and hopeful for the bowlers. Darshan Raval and Lee Crocker set about their business and before long Darshan trapped the Northwood captain LBW on the back foot (14/1). Progress was slow against the stubborn batting of the experienced Northwood batsmen until change bowler Adil Mehmood dismissed the other opener, Richard Mackey for 24 (35/2). Number 3 bat Indira Rajah was bowled by Darshan in the next over (35/3) and Sanket Shah then ripped the guts out of the Northwood middle order with some fine leg spin ending up with 4-32 from 11 overs. Northwood put up some solid resistance, proving hard to get out with youngsters Watson and Simmonds showing good technique. Raheel Zaman and Pryank Patel chipped in and someone (?) got a run out, with the Northwood innings ending on 133 all out from 51 overs.

A very pleasant tea was consumed and Raheel Zaman came in as a pinch hitter with George Lee providing the more traditional opening batsman approach. Raheel certainly gave the innings some momentum, hitting a rapid 20 from two overs before skying one to cover off Adam Bailey (20/1, Claw 0*!). Pinch hitter number 2 Lee Crocker continued in a slightly less aggressive style with Claw looking scratchy against some accurate left arm bowling with the ball coming back up the hill to make life difficult. Claw was finally out caught for one in the 11th over (36/2). Greg Vaughan (1) came and looked good before departing to his customary leading edge, this time to cover, struggling to adapt to the damp early season English conditions (37/3). Pete Jaffe (38*) joined Crocker (67*) and together bashed the remaining 98 runs in 15 overs for a straightforward Village victory.

Conclusions Again, it was a good toss to win, with the wicket proving lively early on in spite of the covers. Sanket was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 for 32 including one from an ‘experimental’ ball (aka a chuck) that left the batsman flummoxed and everyone who had seen it surprised that he hadn’t been no balled. Darshan bowled tightly with 2 for 19 from 12 overs. Claws early season lack of form with the bat continued but Crocker and Jaffe tucked into the friendly Northwood bowling. For Northwood, young leg spinner Simmonds turned the ball prodigiously but suffered at the hands of two aggressive batsmen happy to capitalise on anything short.

Mill Hill Village IIs 30 points, Northwood 3 points.