1s suffer first defeat but wins all round elsewhere

There were another four wins from five this weekend as the 3s kept up their 100 per cent record with a crushing victory over South Hampstead. A narrow defeat for the 1s ended their perfect start but the 2s and 4s, and Chess Valley side all secured victory.

After three wins from three to begin the campaign, Prav Jadhav’s 1s suffered their first reverse of the season; MTSSC overhauling The Trees total of 217 in the penultimate over. Brentham’s innings was built around Aadil Khan (51) and Preet Patel (48) at the top of the order. Skipper Prav also chipped in with 25 but Brentham lost 62-7 in the final ten overs to give MTSSC a total to chase.

In reply, MTSSC looked to be making light work of their task, reaching 102/1 inside 22 overs. However, Usman Maqbool (4/41) ran through the middle order as the hosts fell to 168/7, needing 49 off 45 balls. That equation became 24 off 18 but ten came off the 43rd over before a penultimate over that went for 17 decided the match in the home side’s favour.

The 2s faced the same opposition, this time at the Brentham Club and managed to defend 196 thanks to 4/36 on debut from Tilan Wijesinghe and 3/19 from Harpreet Singh. Batting first, Abbas Ilyas (61) continued his fine form, ably assisted by Harpreet (32) and Daniel Taylor (39) lower down the order, allowing Vish Patel’s side to register just shy of 200.

Jack Solomon (2/31) and Matt Bunker Jnr (1/38) did some early damage to MTSSC’s reply but it was the spin duo of Tilly and Harpreet that made the telling contribution. Aside from their number three, no MTSSC bat got past 23 as they fell 18 short with nine balls to spare.

The last remaining Brentham perfect record belongs to James Hitchcock’s 3s after they beat South Hampstead by 166 runs at William Perkins. Batting first, the 3s passed 300 for the first time in many a year thanks to Paul Whelan’s 92 at the top of the order. The skipper followed up last week’s ton with 52 while some late order long-handling from Ciaran Brett (43*) took the 3s to an imposing 304/9.

South Hampstead were quickly in trouble at 0/2 and things didn’t get a whole much better from there. Ciaran (2/42) and Ayaz Khan (2/51) shared four at the top of the order, two coming via superb Matt Plews’ slip catches, before Tom Barry (3/38) and Hemen Mehta (2/5) removed the middle and lower orders to make it four wins from four.

After a narrow defeat last time out, Krishna Kerai’s 4s got back to winning ways, defending 198 against MTSSC at the Post Office Ground. John Whelan (39) was the backbone of the innings, allowing contributions from Jack Ellis (23), Azzy Butt (26), and Mohsin Hassan (26) to get Brentham up towards 200.

Mohsin (3/41) then starred with the ball opening up. The skipper bowled nine tight overs to take 2/19 while Jack took 2/18 as the home side never really looked like getting close, finishing, in the end 42 short.

On Sunday, we got our Chess Valley campaign up and running with the narrowest of wins over Finchley. It was a game that Brentham made hard for themselves. Five of the top eight failed to get past nine as only Anmol Singh (39) and Prav Jadhav (37) got going. When they were out, Jamshed Ahmed came to the rescue at nine with a half-century which gave Brentham something to bowl at.

Despite the lower-order application with the bat, Brentham’s total looked well, well short as Finchley’s openers went past 50 with little fuss. However, it was the introduction of spin, in the form of Prav (4/23) and Ashfaq Ahmad (4/15) that turned the game. Prav dismissed both openers during his spell while Ashfaq did for the lower order as Finchley’s number seven was left stranded on 49. The Trees eventually winning with three runs to spare in the 42nd over.

With a month of the season done, the 1s currently sit in 3rd, eight points off the promotion spots ahead of their game against second-bottom Ealing Trailfinders this weekend. The 2s are now second, level on points with Trailfinders, who they visit on Saturday. The top-of-the-table 3s are away at mid-table Kensington and Chelsea while the fifth-placed 4s host third-placed Perivale at William Perkin this Saturday.

That’s not the only Bank Holiday action as Thursday evening sees a Brentham XI vs GWR XI T20 while on Sunday The Trees play host to neighbours Actonians at Meadvale Road.