3's on a roll and on top

The 3's next game was away against Northwood Town III on the AstroTurf strip.

The weather was not looking good as the heavens opened before play and the forecast was for more rain later on so the Northwood Town skipper won the toss and decided to put the Village into bat at a later time of around 2pm.

Roshan (103) and Piers Jenkins (14) opened the batting and were scoring freely as the small boundaries and drying conditions meant that the runs were flowing. The pair put on 71 for the first wicket with no trouble before Piers was caught behind. Pete Jaffe (24) joined Roshan at the crease and continued the good work and he and Roshan forged another impressive partnership to put the Village in control. Roshan had passed his 50 before moving through the gears to near another ton, which he brought up in the 25th over. The pair put n 80 before Pete was caught and was then quickly followed by Roshan to leave the Village 156-3. Joe Sheridan (18) and James Thompson (26*) were the next men in and were determined to get the Village to an imposing score. Joe crashed a few boundaries before he was out LBW which brought Mohamed Salahudeen (23) to the crease. He also looked to smash the bowlers to all parts and made a quick 23 before also being trapped LBW. Farzan Dulker Nain (7) was next in but he did not last long as he was plum in front of the wicket to leave the Village 215-6. This quickly became 215-7 as Andrew Godfrey (0) was bowled before Dave Knight (7*) joined the skipper at the crease to ensure vital runs were added to the total. No further wickets fell and the Village closed their innings on 240-7.

A short down pour during tea did not result in any time lost and the Northwood Town innings started with Andrew Godfrey (1-36) and Tommy Smith (1-30) opening the bowling for the Village. In Tommy's 2nd over the first wicket fell as the opposition skipper was superbly caught by Pete Jaffe at slip. Godders was next to strike thanks to a decent catch by the skipper to leave Northwood Town 40-2 off of 7 overs. The run rate was good as the bowling was dispatched to all parts as the bowlers could not offer the skipper control, so he needed to change the attack. Siddhesh Kuradkar (0-32) replaced Tommy but he had no luck as he was expensive in his short spell. Mohamed Salahudeen (2-25) and Roshan Dias (3-39) were the next change bowlers and the run rate started to decrease as the two bowled more accurately and to the field. At the halfway stage, Northwood Town were 130-2, ahead of the run rate and with wickets in hand looked well placed and the skipper knew that the partnership between the number 3 & 4 batsman was key to the game. The breakthrough came when Siddhesh held onto a very good catch at point to remove the number 3 batsman off of Roshan's bowling. Mo was then next to strike as he trapped the number 5 batsman LBW. Roshan then got another, bowling the number 6 before Mo managed to bowl the number 3 batsman who had amassed 80 runs as he missed a straight one and was bowled. Roshan got his 3rd wicket thanks to another good catch from Siddhesh before Joe Sheridan (1-9) and Dave Knight (1-7) came on to replace Mo and Roshan. Joe struck thanks to an LBW before the skipper clung onto a simple chance to give Dave his wicket. It was then left for Tommy to get the number 10 batsman run out thanks to a good stop and throw and the innings had finished on 181 all out.

Another thoroughly impressive performance from the Village in all facets off the game. The team managed to get a decent total on the board thanks largely to Roshan Dias who scored his 2nd ton of the season but there were valuable contributions from Pete Jaffe, James Thompson & Mohamed Salahudeen who all scored 20's. Mo & Roshan also starred with the ball taking 2 & 3 wickets respectively with the Village being patient and disciplined in the field to take their chance when they arose. The win takes us top of the league and we will hope to keep our good run going next Saturday at home.