Jack Solomon 6-fer leads 1s to crucial victory

There were big wins for our top three sides as the MCCL reached the midway point on Saturday!

An inspired bowling performance from captain Jack Solomon saw the 1s edge a high-scoring thriller at home to Winchmore Hill.

Batting first, the Trees made full use of the 55 overs. Aadil Khan passed 50 for the third time in four knocks, his superb 70 the foundation at the top of the order.

He was ably supported throughout by Lasan De Silva (32), Meet Goswami (29), and Pravin Jadhav (50). There were some late fireworks from Dhiraj Khullar (29*) and Atif Shah (16*) to get the side up to a very respectable 249-6 off 55 overs.

With the ball, Jack removed Jim Gatting third ball to give Brentham a perfect start. Lasan (1-25) made another early in-road to leave the visitors 19-2.

Hill stuck to their task and recovered to be 142-4 heading into the final 19 overs. A quick double strike from Jack and Ned Watts (2-35) put us back in the driving seat only for another swing in the momentum.

Coming in at 9, Scott Forrester launched a one-man counter-attack, blasting 46 off 26 to not only take Hill past the four point total but to within 18 of victory with four overs remaining.

This was when Jack returned to devastating effect.

He yorked Forrester for his fifth wicket of the afternoon then cleaned up the next batter first ball to finish with incredible figures of 17-5-65-6.

Hill navigated the next two overs, leaving it up to 18-year-old Ned to bowl the final six balls with one wicket needed. Ned required only one - a textbook offie pegging back the off stump to give us a crucial 12 points.

The victory moves us seven points clear of the bottom two ahead of next weekend’s trip to leaders Eastcote.

Saad Rehman’s 2s made it back-to-back wins to move up to sixth in Division One with a comprehensive five-wicket success at North London.

A disciplined bowling performance restricted the hosts to just 131 in 51.2 overs.

The home side ground their way to 33-0 before Faizullah Khan (3-19) and Yogi Prahbu (2-27) swung the game with three wickets for one run. The spin duo of Yash Tyagi (2-40) and Deen Hoque (2-34) ran through the middle order before Faiz returned to mop up the tail.

Unmesh Wagh (22) and Saad (19) put on 45 for the first wicket to calm any nerves. After Saad departed, George Allen came to the crease.

He struck eight boundaries in his 48 which serenely guided the 2s towards their target. He shared a 62-run partnership with Vijay Pamu which took us to the brink of victory. Both fell with one needed to win but Hamza Khan hit the winning run to confirm the 10 points.

In a congested table, the 2s are only nine points off third-placed Twickenham who head to Meadvale Road next weekend.

James Hitchcock’s 3s moved back into the promotion places with a four-wicket victory over MTSSC at William Perkin.

Led by Ciaran Brett (5-43) and Ayaz Khan (4-30), the 3s were always ahead of the game on a good batting track.

Ayaz struck twice early with Ciaran working away at the other end unchanged. Despite threatening to put on partnerships of note on a few occasions, the away side weren’t allowed to get away in the middle overs.

Pratyesh Desai (1-23) removed top scorer Hishanth Parakumar for 35 allowing Ayaz and Ciaran to finish off the tail with the score on 151.

A potentially tricky chase got off to a difficult start with Jayraj Jadeja falling early. However, Chris Jones (63) and Jazz Rehal (24) broke the back of the total with an 86-run stand for the second wicket.

After they departed another couple of wickets followed quickly, but there was never a doubt that we would get over the line. Cameos from 14-year-old Dhruvin Patel and Ranveer Singh taking us to a four-wicket win.

Second-bottom Actonians head to William Perkin next week.

Krushna Kerai’s 4s almost pulled off an incredible chase away at second-placed Twickenham.

The undoubted star of the show was Praveen Nair who took 7-47 with the ball before an unbeaten 58 with the bat.

Richard Taper (2-27) and Kashif Riaz (1-25) reduced the home side to 27-3 but Twickenham rebuilt steadily after that.

Praveen took his first wicket with the score on 98 and proceeded to take the six that followed in a remarkable 13.5 over spell.

Abdul Shukkoor (30) and Christian Ladwa (18) made contributions at the top of the order, but it was captain Krushna (37) and Praveen who sparked the chase into life.

From an almost certain losing draw, victory became a possibility. When Krushna departed, Vinay Khetia (19) kept things moving with Praveen. 41 off 7 overs became 26 off three overs before the loss of wickets forced us to settle for a point.

In the end, we finished up 185-9 off 46 overs, 21 short of the target set by the hosts.

Fourth in the table, the 4s head to leaders Chiswick this weekend.

Bhavin Raniga’s 5s were on the end of a 54-run defeat to Wycombe House.

Bowling first, the wickets were shared between Simon Price (3-62), Bhavin (3-101), and Neil Weedon (4-25) as the home side made 191.

And there were similar names on the batting card. Neil struck 28 at the top of the order with Chris Whelan (35) and Simon (18) the other main contributors in the reply of 134.

The back nine of fixtures begins for the 5s with a local derby against Ealing Trailfinders.