Double 5-fers from Meet secure back-to-back 1s wins

Meet Patel took consecutive five-wicket hauls as Brentham’s 1s secured two big wins over the weekend. On Saturday, his 6-36 helped The Trees defend 206 at home to MTSSC in the league before his 5-20 on Sunday ensured Highgate were soundly beaten in the Middlesex Trophy Quarter-Finals.

Saturday's victory at Meadvale Road opened up a 16-point gap between Prav Jadhav’s side and the relegation spots in Division Two. Brentham’s 206 was all about Preet Patel’s masterful 108 off 160 balls. Coming in at 19-2, Preet (reaching 100 below) provided the backbone of the innings, registering his second ton of the campaign, to go alongside four 50s.

Derrick Roper (1-30) then provided the early breakthrough in MTSSC’s reply before the spinners took over. Nik Prajapati removed the other, free-scoring, opener for 50 with the score on 63. From 83-2, MTSSC lost their last eight wickets for 70, Meet taking six of those to fall. Nik also ended with 2-32 with Usman Maqbool (1-51) getting the other.

On Sunday, a 148-run opening partnership between Nik and Rohit Khullar laid the foundation for Brentham to reach the last four of the Middlesex Trophy for the first time since 2019. After Nik fell for 51, Rohit went on to blitz 123 of 97 balls with 17 fours and three sixes. 18-year-old Ahmad Shahid chipped in with 43 at the end to take Brentham up to an imposing 272 off our 45 overs.

Highgate began their reply at speed. However, Jack Solomon (2-53) made a double breakthrough to check their progress at 55-2. Meet then took the big wicket of Benjamin Donkers for 50 off 32 balls to bring about Highgate’s collapse. 91-2 became 111-5 and 130-5 became 155 all out as Brentham sailed through to the last four. Alongside Meet’s third 5-fer in as many games, Tarun Sharma, Usman Maqbook, and Henaksh Surve took the other wickets to fall.

Brentham will travel to Harrow Town for that Semi-Final later this month while this coming weekend, it's a huge local clash against second-from-bottom Ealing Trailfinders.

Vish Patel’s second team kept up their charge at the top of Division Two, brushing aside MTSSC by 139 runs. Abbas Ilyas went past 500 runs for the season with 89 at the top of the order, while Jaz Rehal (34), Faiz Khan (32), and Harpreet Singh (24) chipped in as The Trees registered 245 all out in 49.3 overs.

MTSSC’s reply lasted just 30 overs with Atif Shah (5-30) doing the bulk of the damage. Only three batsmen passed 5 for the home side as they were bundled out for 106. As well as Atif’s second five-wicket haul of the campaign, Tilly Wijesinghe (2-31), Faiz (1-35), and Damiru Wijesinghe (1-3) took the other scalps; the latter claiming his first second team wicket at the age of 15.

Vish’s side also have a local derby against Ealing Trailfinders up on Saturday, knowing that three more league wins this season will guarantee back-to-back promotions.

It’s a similar equation for James Hitchcock’s 3s after they demolished South Hampstead by eight wickets on Saturday. Bowling first, the wickets were shared around all six bowlers as the home side were all out for 148 inside 27 overs. Tom Barry (3-13) was the pick of the bowlers as SHCC’s last four wickets fell for 1 run in six balls, Aaron Bolger also finishing with (2-17).

Brentham then wasted no time in reply. After coming together at 49-2, James and Meet Goswani put on 103 in eight overs to secure the win. James reached 36 just in boundaries before completing a 23-ball half-century. Meet wasn’t much slower, hitting the final three balls of the innings for 4 to register a 34-ball 50, as Brentham took 99 balls to chase the runs needed.

With a 17-point lead in Division Four B, Brentham host in-form Kensington and Chelsea at William Perkins on Saturday.

The 4s slipped into the relegation zone in Division Five B following a 128-run defeat to MTSSC at William Perkin. MTSSC, not playing like a side without a win all season, batted their full 50 to reach 207 all-out, captain Krushna Kerai ending with 3-41 while juniors Lucas Smith and Anujan Sribavananthan both grabbed two-each.

Brentham never recovered in reply from being 0-2. George Allen, Haroun Islam, and John Whelan all occupied the crease but wickets were lost at regular intervals as The Trees ended up 79 all-out in the 29th over.

Brentham head to Perivale Park this weekend for a game against Perivale Phoenicians.