Heavy defeat for 3s

The Village traveled to top of the table Bushey at Met Police Sports Club.

It was a warm day and the skipper won the toss and decided to have a bowl.

Alam Khan (3-28) & Tommy Smith (0-26) opened the bowling and from early on it was clear it was going to be hard to stop the runs as the outfield was lightening quick. Alam would get the first 3 wickets as he bowled the number 2 & 3 batsmen for Bushey and then trapped the number 4 batsman LBW all in consecutive overs to leave the opposition 52-3 after 11 overs. Karan Gupta (1-34) replaced Tommy and he would strike in the 16th over as he trapped the number 5 batsman LBW, 80-4. Then a partnership between the opener and the Bushey skipper saw the runs continue to flow with Inthi Mazeez (0-28) bowling exceptionally well in tough conditions. Mohamed Salahudeen (2-36) would replace Karan who had to leave early and with 12 overs of the innings left which meant there were plenty of gaps for the Bushey batsmen to cash in. The next wicket would fall in the 29th over as Tommy took a very good catch at long on of the bowling of Mo to remove the opener 2 runs shy of his half century. The sixth would follow shortly after as Mo bowled the number 7 batsman, before Mathan Mahalingam (1-34) got the number 8 batsman out also bowled as the opposition were 171-7 off of 33 overs. This would prove to be the last wicket to fall as the Bushey skipper brought up his fifty and had excellent support from the number 9 who ended unbeaten on 33 as the innings closed on 230-7.

James Thompson (43*) and Sanket Shah (0) opened the batting and the skipper started with a boundary but the 3rd over we see Sanket caught behind. Inthi Mazeez (5) would join the skipper and the score started to tick along before a horrendous 7th over saw the Village lose 3 wickets. First Inthi was caught, then Farzan Dulker Nain (0) was caught, before Mohamed Salahudeen (4) was also caught as the score was 30-4. Zak Demetriades (4) making his debut was the next man in and he looked good and managed to stay with the skipper for 6 overs before he was unfortunate to drag onto his stumps. Alam Khan (3) was next in and provided support to the skipper who was starting to score more freely. Alam would depart after being bowled to bring Mathan Mahalingam (1) to the crease but he was caught soon after, 72-7. Tommy Smith (8) was next in and hit 2 lovely cut shots for 4 before he was caught which left Harry Arjan (4) left as Karan had already left. Harry would be the last man out as he was run out as the Village finished on 93-9.

A dismal display overall against an excellent side that will surely win the league with no fuss. Alam Khan bowled well and got his rewards with 3 wickets with Inthi Mazeez also bowling well but with no wickets to show for his consistency. In the batting department it was only James Thompson who showed any fight with 43* but the game was done early on with the fall of 3 wickets in 1 over. The defeat would leave the Village in 5th position at the end of the day.