Summary of 2010 Season

1st XI: This year the first team were hoping for a promotion push.  This year we were hoping not to be biting our fingernails on the last day. This year we were trying to emulate the Golden Generation of Dutchy and Co. Unfortunately, only the middle statement came to fruition as we, like England in the World Cup, failed to live up to the early hype!

Our batting performance in the first game of the season (against a newly relegated Richmond) was an eerie metaphor of our season – starting well and finishing with a whimper. Our best opening stand in living memory (we do have a young team) of 72 between Tom Brandreth and Paul Sylvester was followed by the inevitable, almighty Brentham collapse. Many individuals were guilty of playing overly expansive shots as we tried to reach 300 before we had 100! Despite this, Tom did reach his maiden 1st XI fifty and looked set to fill his boots throughout the rest of the season. When the last wicket fell we had amassed 160. At tea, we had the clichéd team talk (“Bowl in the right areas, take our chances, back the bowler up, etc”) – it never works does it… However, on this occasion it did! Led by Glen Eglinton (5-55) the Brentham seamers tore through the Richmond line-up for 124. One win down, 17 more to go!

Our next two matches, against Harrow Town and South Hampstead followed similar paths: us bowling out the opposition cheaply (192 and 132 respectively) and then knocking the runs off with the minimum of fuss led by Parag Khanapurkar (PK) who returned this year as our overseas player and batted like Tendulkar, scoring 74* and 65. Three out of three! 15 more to go!

The following weekend we battled Southgate (always there or there about at the end of the season and the laughing stock of all Middlesex cricketers when their Hitler rip-off video went viral). With many rival clubs not playing due to bad weather, and our match being rained affected, we had a good opportunity to cash in. We batted first and again PK scored heavily, helping us to reach 246 off 36 overs. Bowling 37 overs back at them was never going to be quite long enough and despite an intense bowling and fielding performance, we were only able to get 7 wickets. The 4 points saw us go top of the table!

Next up were Winchmore Hill (again freshly relegated) and going well this season. Unfortunately, apart from Anant Brahmbhatt (AB), the top order failed miserably and it was left to Leroy Shepherd (40*) to take us towards respectability, ending on 149 all out. Winchmore were cruising towards their target when an inspired period saw us pick up 5 wickets for 26 runs. Suddenly, they were 122 for 8 and on the ropes.

However, we couldn’t push home our advantage and bowlers lost their discipline and our opponents scraped home.
We needed to get back to winning ways, and quickly, in order to consolidate on our promising start to the season. In our next two matches against Enfield and Kenton we did just that. Keeping Enfield down to 204 off 54.2 overs at Enfield was no mean feat and predominantly due to PK’s sensational spell in which 11 of his first 14 overs were maidens. PK and AB then put on a batting masterclass as they hit the ball to all parts in an unbroken stand of 142, PK scoring 115* and AB 58*. Fortunately, No’s 6 and 7 had brought their pad rash cream. Choosing to bat first against Kenton, we scored 239 off 46 overs with contributions from Paul, Majid Ali and PK. Bowling any team out second innings at Brentham is always tricky and made even more so when it was clear Kenton had no intention of chasing our total down. However, we finally got the last wicket with 2 overs to spare. 5 wins and a winning draw in our first 7 games saw us sitting in a promotion spot.

We travelled to bottom of the table Harrow confident of a win.  Apart from 4 wickets from Glen they reached 245 from 53 overs. In response we started well with skipper Vish Vakani (pushing himself up the order to No 4 and scoring 64) being well supported by Maj. However, after the dismissal of Vish we had the most almighty of Brentham collapses and it was down to Sully Mughal at No 10 to whack 58. Having taken us past the 4 points target, Sully was unfortunately out the next ball and we had slumped to our second defeat of the season.

Going in to the second half of the season we knew we had to perform to a similar level and take points off our promotion-chasing challengers – Richmond, Southgate and Winchmore Hill. We lost to Richmond (their No 3 scored a brutal 100) and Southgate (we were all out for 112) and Winchmore Hill was abandoned at tea after we had been given a batting lesson by their No 5 who scored a fantastic 100 and managed to ensure that their No 6 onwards faced a maximum of one ball per over, so expertly did he manipulate the strike.

In between these games we played Harrow Town who scored 251 from 55 overs with Naz Ali and Sully both bowling impressively for in excess of 20 overs each and picking up 4 wickets apiece. Our response was strange, and that’s saying something by Brentham standards. After 11 overs we were 76-4 and two players had retired hurt, including Ashwin Kapoor who was carried off by one of their players while gazing lovingly into his rescuer’s eyes.

 We were saved from another defeat through the batting of Vish and particularly Pujan Vyas and Jaz Rehal who batted sensibly and maturely.

We were still seeking a win in the second half of the season as we floundered in mid-table mediocrity. Fortunately, our next opponents were bottom of the table Kenton and we piled up 270 through contributions from Maj, Luke Budden, Matt Lowen and lower order hitting from Glen and Sully. We picked up wickets regularly but it was left to Vish, bringing himself on, to claim the final two wickets with his gentle ‘innies/outies’ (they go dead straight) both snaffled by Maj at slip. This condemned Kenton to relegation.

Our last game of the season was remarkable for the achievements of one person: Ashwin Kapoor. Anyone who had been in the bar after a game over the previous two months would have heard him pipe up, “What’s your first team league average this season?” He never tired of telling us his: 47 (he’d scored 47 runs and been out once). So, aiming to finish the season averaging 50 he was hoping for either 3* or 53 (3* it was then because 53 …). It wasn’t to be as Ash was trapped plum in front first ball! However, in their innings he was brought on to bowl and claimed two wickets (including one of their batters on 99) and had two catches dropped off him. Now in the bar, or any bar in fact, you will hear him enquiring, “How many first team league wickets do you have?”

A mid-table finish after a season that promised so much seven games in. Have we progressed from last year? We gained more points and more wins than last year’s campaign.  We suffered from an over-reliance on overseas players for both runs and wickets and performances in the second half of the season were not good. Apart from Maj and PK no other batsmen scored 400 runs, although Paul and Tom batted well when selected. Glen, Naz and Matt often bowled well but we often lacked a cutting edge in the second half of the season and were unable to take ten wickets. Next year we need to start in a similar vein and continue it throughout the season. Batters need to treasure their wickets, not get to 30 or 50 and then play T20 style. Bowlers need to stick to those old favourites, line and length and not worry about bowling wicket taking balls every ball.

LUKE BUDDEN – ex 1st XI Vice Captain