2s and 3s moving on up

1st XI

After back-to-back wins lifted them into the promotion places, Tomek Tsang’s 1s were on the wrong end of a low scoring affair away at West Harrow.

Bowling first, the Trees, as they have so often this season, made early inroads. Cody Pyne (4-22) and Jack Solomon (1-19) removed both openers before Jack Ellis (2-33) was introduced. At 42-5, the Trees sensed a chance to run through their opponents but were unable to do so.

Partnerships of 35, 21, and 32 for the sixth, seventh, and eighth wickets dragged the hosts up to 130, Ashfaq Ahmed (2-17) keeping the scoring in check, before Cody was reintroduced to rattle through the tail.

West Harrow then made their intentions clear, opening with a pair of spinners as the pitch crumbled, a tactic that paid off handsomely.

Majed Ali’s 26 off 71 was the only score of note in the top seven as the Trees were 7-3 and 26-5.

When Maj departed with the score on 46, the Trees game was up. Harry Marston (13) and Tomek Tsang (20) held up the West Harrow charge for a while but, eventually, Brentham were all out for 83.

Fourth, seven points off the top two, Tomek’s side host runaway leaders London Tigers this Saturday.

2nd XI

Saad Rehman’s 2s won a thrilling contest at home to North London at the weekend, taking the winning wicket with just four overs remaining.

Batting first on a true wicket at Meadvale Road, Brentham took full advantage.

Ijaz Hussein (46) and Paul Whelan (40) laid the foundation at the top of the order, allowing the strokeplayers coming in later to play their game. Pravin Jadhav hit a 56-ball 50 before 31 off 15 from skipper Rehman lifted the Trees up to 246 from their 52 overs.

In reply, North London got off to a steady start. Faiz Khan (1-35) made the early breakthrough but it wasn’t until the spin duo of Tejpalsinh Jadeja (4-36) and Atif Shah (4-32) were introduced that things started happening for the Trees.

The pair worked their way through the North London middle order to reduce them to 160-6, heading into the final 12 overs.

Brentham kept at it and were rewarded when North London’s number five knicked through to Paul Whelan off Tejpal for 58. The final three wickets then fell quickly, all LBW, as the Trees wrapped up a very hard-fought victory.

12 points above the bottom two, Brentham are at mid-table Hornsey this weekend.

3rd XI

The 3s, this week under Matthew Plews, also picked up a 12-point victory, the Trees’ bowling attack proving too strong for a young Stanmore side.

Put into bat on a pitch that didn’t play as true as it looked, Brentham found ways to give Stanmore wickets at regular intervals. At 53-5, the Trees’ innings was at a crossroads. Up stepped Shehan Girach (51) on debut and Jayraj Jadeja (21) to ensure that Brentham were able to post a respectable today.

The duo put on 54 before further useful contributions down the order, pulled the Trees up to 168 off 37 overs.

Brentham’s bowling effort couldn’t have started better; Stanmore’s opener losing his off stump to Ciaran Brett (2-47) in the first over.

Following his contribution with the bat, Jayraj (3-16) then starred with the ball, working his way through the top order. In partnership with Aaron Bolger (3-19), the spin duo found plenty of assistance from a crumbling pitch.

The Trees were given help getting over the line by a pair of late runouts as Stanmore were fired out for 102.

Unbeaten in five, the 3s host mid-table Wembley at William Perkin this weekend.

4th XI

It was a sobering afternoon for the 4s, who suffered a heavy defeat to Actonians.

Put into bat at William Perkin, the visitors had contributions to whole way through their line-up with seven of their bats passing 20 in their total of 245 off 47 overs.

For Brentham, the wickets were shared between Yogesh Solanke (2-50), Pratyesh Desai (4-60), Kashif Riaz (2-33), and Ranveer Singh (1-18).

By contrast, with the bat, only two of Brentham’s bats got into double figures. Actonians opener Piradeepan Sivanathan did the bulk of the damage, taking the first five to fall.

From then on there was little way back as Brentham were all out for 81 inside 31 overs.

This weekend sees seventh play eighth as the Trees head to Old Isleworthians.