Five wins from six to start 2026

As opening weekends go, the start of the 2026 MCCL season couldn’t have gone much better for the Trees with four of our five Saturday sides recording impressive victories before another friendly win on Sunday.

It was also a memorable day for a Brentham, and MCCL legend, as Majed Ali became just the 10^th player in league history to go past the 6000 runs mark in 1^st XI cricket.

Several youngsters came to the fore as well with Under-17 Will Pye taking three crucial wickets on debut for the 1s, 15-year-old Dhruvin Patel making a match-defining 71 for the 3s, and Under-16 Shaurya Tailor blasting 92 to see the 5s home as well.

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Under Louie Millman’s interim charge, the 1s came out on the right side of a run-fest at Spikes Bridge against London Tigers.

Winning the toss and batting first on a beautiful batting track, Brentham made hay.

Majed passed his personal milestone on the way to 34 at the top of the order. The engine room of Lasan De Silva (65), overseas Pruthviraj Kand (73), and Louie Millman (39) then all fired to leave the Trees on 240-5 with five overs to go.

That brought Michael Cassidy to the crease with license to hit. And did he.

His 19-ball 47 saw eight fours and two enormous sixes (both of which were lost balls) which propelled the Trees up to 308-8 from their 45.

As good as Brentham’s score looked, Tigers were not about to lie down.

An opening stand of 208 reduced that equation to 100 off nine overs. Although wicket-less Pruthviraj bowled nine crucial overs for 32 to ensure the hosts were always just behind the rate, despite the wickets in hand.

Kieran Bradley (2-67) eventually dismissed both openers while Yogesh Prabhu (2-46) and Will Pye (3-58) worked their way through the rest of the order.

At 16, and on debut, Will was entrusted with the final over, defending 22, and he nailed his lines to see the 1s home in a thriller.

West Harrow, who narrowly saw off Southgate, head to W5 on Saturday.

The sole defeat of the opening weekend saw the 2s beaten by 6 wickets at home to Hornsey.

Batting first, Brentham’s innings never really got going. George Allen (26) and Saad Rehman (23) were the only two to get out of the teens in a total of 141.

Hornsey’s reply started shakily. Faizullah Khan (1-42) and captain Atif Shah (1-34) accounted for both openers to leave the visitors 15-2. That was as good as it got with an 111-run third wicket partnership ending the game as a contest.

Krishna Pandya (2-19) grabbed two wickets in two balls to make the scoreboard look more respectable but it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat.

The 2s travel to Indian Gymkhana, themselves beaten on the opening day, this weekend.

Fresh from promotion back to the second tier last season, the 3s, under James Hitchcock, got off to the perfect start with a 106 run victory over Acton at Gunnersbury Sports Hub.

The Trees total of 280 was built around top order contributions from Matthew Plews (59) and Dhruvin Patel (71). Dhruvin’s innings in particular belied his young age. At 120-5 the Trees looked in a shade of trouble but Dhruvin dug in to share a 46-run stand with Chris Jones (37) before then opening up late on in a 67-run 8^th wicket partnership with Tom Barry (27).

When he was last out for 71 off 73 balls, he’d given Brentham an advantage their bowlers weren't going to pass up.

Acton’s early progress was steady. However, tight bowling meant the required rate was only climbing and eventually the pressure told. Vishal Patel (2-35) removed both openers with Chris Jones (3-35) doing the middle order damage as 80-2 became 107-5.

The spin of Siddhant Kothari (3-32) and Dhruvin Patel (1-31) accounted for the next four wickets before Ayaz Khan (1-16) wrapped things up.

Another of week one’s winning sides, Finchley, are the visitors to William Perkin this weekend.

The most convincing win of Week 1 was achieved by the 4s.

Batting first at William Perkin, they piled up an impressive 264. Ankit Hirani (71) and Mohsin Hassan (44) set the platform at the top of the order allowing the rest to chip in with quick runs on their way to an imposing total.

Acton were never in the hunt in reply. Having contributed with the bat, Mohsin Hassan (5-20) was then chief destroyer with the ball. He was ably supported by Vinay Khetia (2-5), Pratyesh Desai (2-10), and Daniyal Abdullah (1-17) as the away side were bundled out for 89, 175 runs short of their target.

It’s Ealing Trailfinders up next this weekend for the 4s.

Completing our fine Saturday were Baz Raniga’s 5s who beat Headstone Manor by six wickets.

Sanidu Gamlath (5-32) was Brentham’s main weapon with the ball, ably supported by Baz (2-3) and Pete Campton (1-41).

What could have been a tricky total was totally demolished by Shaurya Tailor’s 92 at the top of the order. His clean striking enable the 5s to reach their target with four wickets and 12 overs to spare.

Brentham host Perivale at Perivale Park this weekend.

An excellent weekend was completed with a 39-run win over Willow Tree in a friendly on Sunday.

Kieran Bradley hit 150*, sharing a 5^th wicket stand of 197 with Errol Vales (76), in a Brentham total of 306.

Willow Tree came out all guns blazing in reply but eventually the weight of runs told. Atif Shah, Krishna Pandya, Ciaran Brett, Kieran Bradley, and Jay Kadu all with two each.