Date: 12th June, 2021
Venue: Harrow CC
The 4th XI won another nail-biter against a decent Harrow XI in a crucial top-of-the-table clash.
Due to a poor track record in winning the toss, Harrow’s captain delegated it to one of his players, even though I pointed out that he was, in effect, not delegating the call (as we were the away side), but the actual tossing of the coin. I still lost, though, 🙄and we were stuck in.
Dilan and Nigel opened, but Nigel Owen was unable to follow up on his 50 from last week, playing on after 3 balls, which meant that I had to rush to get ready and promptly was also out for a duck off 3 balls, prodding at a wide one I could easily have left to gully for the simplest of catches. Possibly the weakest way I’ve ever been out. We were then 1-2, which wasn’t a great start. Dilan Camball and Amelie Munday rebuilt, tho, and both batted sensibly, getting us to 56 before Dilan (30) stuck one in the air and was caught. Amelie (31) was also out shortly after and after Tristan had come and gone, we found ourselves 83-5. However, George Winters and Hasan Mufti managed to then developed a key partnership that took us to 161 before Hasan was out after a crucial contribution with the bat (40). I thought Harrow had generally bowled really well and a good number of their bowlers had proved hard to handle and had bowled a good amount of overs for maidens or just 2 or 3 runs; however, when Brijesh (Harrow’s captain) decided to bring on a young off-spinner, both George and Mufti had taken full advantage of the opportunity, scoring 32 runs off two of his overs - George Winters, reshuffled (not demoted, George!) to 7, hitting both fours and sixes to the short boundary on the leg side and even Mufti scooping a six behind square leg, even though he somehow managed to end up on his backside in the process. George was out for his highest score yet (61) “in a Teddington shirt” (even tho, he actually was wearing an Oundle CC one). Further contributions from Nimesh Patel and Gurvir Singh-Dhillon then helped us get past the psychological barrier of 200 runs and leave us just enough on the board for me to risk a declaration after 46 overs, so we could go for the win and a crucial 12 points (if you bat first in these timed games and win, you get 12 points, not 10).
Rakesh, Harrow’s limping, independent umpire gave us the finger early on, as the combination of Crofty and Munday managed to remove an opener caught behind. Runs were then steadily accumulated at just about the right run rate, whilst we continued to pick up wickets. It had seemed the Harrow game plan had been to just manage a sensible run chase, but our fielding did help keep the game tight; the run rate, however, was rarely at more than 4 an over throughout the game, so, if you’d have been watching this game, you’d have most likely bet on Harrow chasing it down - that is, until the later stages.
Crucial to us turning this around and silencing a vocal group of Harrow supporters was our fielding. We had three decent catches at this stage - I took a skier off Simon’s bowling to remove their competent left-hander (Nigel’s chat from behind his right ear probably also contributing to the shot he’d played). Mufti also took one coming out of the clouds, but chose to catch it diving forward just before it hit the floor, even though he had had all the time in the world to get under it. Pick of the fielding efforts, tho, came from George Winters who ran in from deepish mid wicket, put in a full length dive and, like a cute, baby Hippo excited to dive into a muddy lake for the first time, scooped the ball up in mid air just before it hit the ground to remove one of Harrow’s middle order. This had been similar to but better than a catch Neil Carter took at the same venue a few years previously.
At 144-7, it looked like the wheels had come off Harrow’s run chase. However, their hopes seemed to be pinned on their number 9, Jitesh Nair, who came in and blasted 32 off 33 including one big six off Gurvir (who otherwise had bowled well to take 3 wickets in 9 overs) over long off. However, allowing “Crofty” (James Croft) some time to get over a stiffening calf muscle and bringing him back to take care of the Harrow tail proved to be a wise decision as he bowled with some pep, removed Nair LBW and eventually got one to clip the final tailender’s off stump, sending us into relieved celebrations.
This win means we’re still unbeaten this season (4/4) and have won 9 of the last 10 league fixtures, the last defeat coming at the same venue towards the end of last year’s weird season. Here’s hoping we can continue this winning form and open up a lead at the top of MCCL Division 5b. Here’s how the top of the table currently stands:
