Double promotion weekend for Trees

It’s been a case of when, not if, for the 2s in their quest to earn back-to-back promotions and that day came on Saturday.

Despite a seven-wicket defeat at Harrow, the bonus point Vish Patel’s side picked up put us 31 points clear of Indian Gymkhana with only three to play. The 2s have led the league from pillar to post and need a maximum of two wins from the next three to head into Division One as Champions.

The game itself saw us reach 80-0 after 10, James Hitchcock hitting 54 in 38 balls, before the most dramatic of collapses reduced us to 114-8. However, two 15-year-olds then came to the rescue. George Allen, who hit an unbeaten 50 in the Under-19s' win the night before, and Jack Ellis shared an unbeaten stand of 113 to pull us up to a respectable 227-8 off 45. George completed his second half-century of the weekend, finishing 57*, while Jack ended 33*.

Harrow were then 4-1 and 57-2 in reply, Matt Bunker Jnr and Jack with the wickets, but a masterful 153* off 127 balls from Shlok Adurkar, batting at three, took the game away from Brentham. Tilly Wijesinghe grabbed another wicket late on but the home side reached their target with 23 balls to spare.

The 2s pursuit of the title continues with a home game against Stoke Newington on Saturday.

Another side celebrating promotion over the weekend was our Sunday Chess Valley side after they recorded a seventh win in eight. A 169-run victory over Stanmore Warriors confirmed the Division Two title and means we will be playing in the top tier next season.

Anmol Singh (62) and Meet Goswami (96) were the mainstays of our 273-4 off 40 overs before Ayaz Khan (4-25), Atif Shah (3-38), Hemen Mehta (2-12), and Imran Raza (1-23) did all the damage in reply. Stanmore were skittled out for 104 in 28.1 overs confirming another back-to-back promotion for the club.

There could be a third promotion to celebrate this upcoming weekend after the 3s moved to within one win of the Division Four B title with a convincing victory over Indian Gymkhana.

17-year-old Aaron Bolger did the damage with the ball, taking 6-37, plus a run-out, as the home side registered just 129. Ayaz (1-19), Pratyesh Desai (1-32), and Aditya Patel (1-13) got the other wickets as Gymkhana failed to use 13.2 of their 45 overs.

The reply got off to a shaky start with two early wickets going down. However, an unbeaten 53 off 42 balls from captain for the day Matt Plews, and a very helpful 45 extras, saw us home with 21 overs to spare.

Second-placed Old Isleworthians visit William Perkin on Saturday with a home victory enough to wrap up the title two weeks early.

The 1s and 4s both, however, remain in a relegation fight after their respective home defeats on Saturday. The 1s lost by 150 runs to already-promoted Harrow Town while the 4s were beaten by 3 wickets by West Harrow.

The 1s still have a six-point buffer over Ealing Trailfinders, who occupy the final relegation spot, ahead of their game against second-placed Southgate. The 4s slipped into the bottom two on Saturday, on games won, and make the short journey to sixth-placed Ealing Trailfinders this weekend.