3rd XI:
After narrowly missing out on promotion last year we went into this season a year wiser and expecting to make the jump to the division above. Of course the key to the season would be getting a good start and the idea of putting one over Ealing was all the incentive we needed. Before that though we had what we thought was a tricky game away at Southgate who were relegated the season before. It turned out that our biggest challenges on the day were the arctic weather and the hunt for a ‘missing’ scorebook! Fifties from Paul ‘appul’ Saggers and Sahil ‘Ludoo’ Patel set up the second innings for us. Three wickets apiece from Joe ‘Broady’ Brandreth and Chris ‘Touchy’ Healy gave us victory by over 100.
Next up was Ealing and with no need for one of the skips’ team talks for motivation we were on the front foot from early on in the game. 5 – 29 from Rajiv Patel along with wickets for Ciaran ‘lightning bolt’ Brett, Sahil and Chris Healey helped us bowl them out for 160. The highlight of the innings being one of their batsmen spending what felt like five hours constantly playing and missing to the point where scorer Keith Brett smashed his pencil in a vicious rage! James ‘Every other ball must go’ Hitchcock put the Ealing wannabe Shoaib Akthar in the bin early on and led us to victory with a quick fire 72.
Then came the frustration of Wycombe House. We batted magnificently posting 236 in 42 overs with fifties for Sachin ‘Tendulkar’ Puri and Saggs once more as well as contributions from Nishant ‘The Doc’ Patel and Hitchko. Unfortunately we couldn’t bowl them out in the 58 overs we had and in all truth we’d still be going now if the umpire hadn’t called time. A rain of followed against Kenton the next week.
Our first blip came against South Hampstead where we let ourselves down in all 3 departments although the introduction of Poojan ‘superstar’ Vyas was a great addition for both the Third team and the Club. Special mention must go to Immy ‘haraami’ Hammidon for his inability to catch a thing on the day, continuing the fine fielding tradition that Eamon Brett’s face began at the ground a year earlier.
The following week against Ickenham we picked ourselves back up and crucially got over our chasing hoodoo. Set 231 to win in 45 overs we won off the penultimate ball of the game with the lightning bolt chipping a single to guide us home. Dilip ‘Burly Lad’ Wilson and The Doc set us on our way with a fast scoring 115 run partnership with individual scores of 60 and 40 respectively. Contributions the rest of the way down guided us home in a tight and exciting game.
Next up was the game that we felt was the key to the season and we came out on top again, if only with 4 points, against Acton. 3 wickets apiece for Adam ‘Compton’ Haras-Gummer and Sahil in a disciplined bowling performance limited them to 254 for 9 in 55 and after that 4 points was the most realistic target. 60 from Dilip and a classy 96 from Poojan got us to the 4-point target 5 down. Routine victories against uxbridge and Harrow Town followed. Ciaran picking up 7 – 50 and Saggs leading the chase with 69 as we beat Uxbridge by 4 wickets.
5-45 for Touchy and 91 from an in-form Saggs saw us to 10 more points at Harrow Town.
At the turn of the season we were flying high and in with a real shout of promotion as long as we could keep the side together. Southgate turned up to our patch and folded again with the Bretts being the chief destroyers sharing 8 wickets evenly. 40’s from Steve ‘now in size 0’ Gaffin and Immy saw us home in relative comfort. The following week we were humbled by Ealing and the less said of that the better. I will get murdered by Alex ‘Leroy, Winky, Knife any man, Disselicious, S.O.C.’ Watson if I didn’t mention that he got his first league fifty, finally forgiving Cappo for getting his car nicked a few years earlier! Although we lost the toss, we got back to winning ways against Wycombe house aided by the return of ‘the Guru’ Jayesh Kansara who along with Nish made 60s to help us to 225. The wickets were shared about as we rolled them for 120 and moved on to our Bogey
ground at Kenton. Having our side filled with a significant amount of players who had just returned from tour it seemed like it was going to be a real tough day. Somewhat miraculously we were brilliant in the field, the highlight being Ciaran Brett eventually clinging on to one in the deep with the aid of one of his stomachs and the runs were knocked of by a brilliant hundred from Tanmay ‘the Orient’ Desai.
At 58 for 7 against promotion rivals South Hampstead we needed a miracle and it duly came in the form of a downpour. We were never going to go back out after that and it’s just a pity South Hampstead didn’t realise earlier as there was a bar waiting for us!!
Another rain off against Ickenham led to a massive fixture against Acton, which we dominated from start to finish. A Team performance, with contributions all the way down, set them a total of 226. We bowled them out for 127 with the Bretts showing Acton how much you can learn when you see the light, claiming 7 of the wickets to fall. With news coming through that South Hampstead lost we were able to enjoy the night after being promoted.
After knocking over Uxbridge next game we could have some fun against Harrow Town in the final game. In what proved to be the best game of the season and possibly the best game that many of us had ever played in we chased down 316 in 46 overs with a wicket remaining. The most impressive bit of the chase was the savage batting of Ravi ‘Bopes’ Patel, Sahil and Nish all eclipsing one another with the fastest fifties of the innings. Late contributions from Immy and the Skip as well as Saggs on one leg helped us over the line after the Bretts made it as difficult as possible for us by contributing 8 in 8 overs during the chase!!
We had achieved the goal of promotion, albeit in second place, by 24 points and go into next season with a lot of optimism and Imran.
Big thanks must again go to Mrs Saggers for her tea, which this year was so good that it fired Paul to some runs, and to Keith Brett who continuously proves himself to be the most useful person to the Club in his family! Also big congratulations must go to the whole Team, who’s quality, commitment and spirit led us back closer to where we should be and gives us something to build on next year.
RAJIV PATEL – 3rd XI Captain
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