Momentum continues for Trees

The wickets from Saturday's 1s win over Kenton

Heading into week 15 on the back of four-wins the previous Saturday, momentum was maintained thanks to three important victories for our 1s, 3s, and 4s last weekend!

The 1s preserved their 11 point cushion over the relegation places in Division Two with a 26-run success at home to Kenton.

After being inserted at Meadvale Road, Lasan De Silva mounted an early onslaught – his 59 off 40 balls included 10 fours and one maximum. It was a lone hand at the top of the order and his departure at 74-4 left the Trees in trouble.

However, the innings was given fresh impetus thanks to Meet Goswami (44), Lucas Smith (44), and Pravin Jadhav (26) who took us up to a respectable 219-9 off 45 overs.

Yogi Prabhu (3-20) led the attack with three crucial wickets at the top of the order to reduce the away side to 31-4. Stubborn stands for the next three wickets kept Kenton in the game but when former Tree Tejpal Jadeja was run out with the score at 146-7, the game looked done.

That wasn’t counting for Owen O’Neill Khaled. His 83 looked to be swinging the game back in Kenton’s favour until he ran past one from Pravin Jadhav (2-25), needing just 30 off 28 balls.

Back in control, Brentham were ruthless. The last three wickets fell for four runs to confirm a much-needed victory.   

There’s a mouth-watering local derby this Saturday as we head to bottom-placed Ealing Trailfinders, knowing that victory would all-but certainly secure survival.

The 2s weren’t able to follow up last weekend’s gritty Hornsey victory, falling to a 160-run defeat at Stanmore.

A sloppy fielding and bowling display, bar Tom Dobbin’s excellent 3-27, allowed the hosts to get up to 231 off 39.3 overs.

It could have been a different story had chances been taken, most notably Stanmore skipper Saahil Vora with the score on 60-3. However, he was allowed to go on to score 72 and get the hosts up to a competitive total.

Any hopes we had of chasing it disappeared quickly. Only Henkash Surve (26*) got into double figures as the home side ran through us for 71 in just 18 overs.

The 2s, who sit 3 points clear of the relegation place, host Winchmore Hill this weekend.

The 3s snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to maintain their ten-point advantage in the Division Two promotion race.

Shahzad Akhtar’s 93 was the foundation for Richmond’s 221 all-out off 38.1 overs.

Siddhant Kothari (3-20), Ayaz Khan (2-39), and Tom Barry (2-50) were the pick of the bowlers at William Perkin.

Our reply seemed to be going serenely at 85-1 in the 11^th over but that all changed. 85-1 became 128-7 and suddenly 221 seemed a long way away.

However, Mohsin Hassan (62*) and John Whelan (19*) judged their effort wonderfully to share a stand of 93 for the 8^th wicket and see us home.

The 3s travel to mid-table Harrow this Saturday looking to make it four-straight league wins.

The 4s kept up their promotion push with a one-wicket success over at Chiswick.

Put into the field, Rajesh Kerai (6-31) did all the damage with the ball. After removing three of the top order, he returned late on to finish off the tail as the home side were dismissed for 153.

Richard Taper (1-37) and Gurvinder Singh (2-32) were the other wicket takers.

Not content with being the star with the ball, Rajesh then hit an unbeaten 54 batting at nine to see us over the line.

The 4s still needed 14 to win when Rajesh joined last man Richard Taper but they got the job done at Chiswick House.

11 points off second-placed Trailfinders, the 4s can put themselves in pole position with victory over third-placed Twickenham this Saturday.

There was also good news on Sunday with our 71-run victory over Chingford almost certainly securing our top flight status in the Chess Valley league for next season!