Barn Elms, Sunday 22 July 2018. St Anne’s Allstars (218-7) drew with Brentham CC (198-9).

On a dust bowl at Barn Elms, another nail biting finish for the Allstars as we faced Brentham CC for the first time. We were grateful to Brentham for stepping in at the last minute after our intended oppo pulled out, and they were to prove excellent oppo in a gripping contest. Brentham fielded a youthful team with a few experienced old hands providing the bedrock of their batting.

Batting first, Dave Halladay led the way for the Allstars with a top score of 47, and given good support by the returning Tom Morris and new dad Paul Burgin, making his first appearance of the season. Sachin Singh continued his excellent form with a well worked 38, before debutant Sanjay Dindyal announced his Allstars arrival in fine style with a sparkling 43. We declared at tea with a season’s best 218-7 and very well pleased with our batting efforts.

Haroon Khalid opened the bowling, testing Brentham with pace from one end as Joe Silmon attacked with his leg spin from the other. Joe found the dry conditions much to his liking as he struck two early blows – the first a super stumping by Pete Cresswell – before Haroon grabbed a deserved wicket as he hit number 4 Sam’s stumps.

Sachin chipped in with another wicket as we continued to make inroads into the Brentham batting. The standout bowling performance of the day, though, came from Farhan Aslam, who bowled his medium pace cutters to great effect, his 4 wickets including 3 which hit the top of middle stump. Joe returned to strike again, his colleague Sachin continuing his fine all-round performance with a blinding catch at short fine leg.

Brentham opener Chris provided resistance with a battling 58, but victory was within sight as we grabbed the 9th wicket – but their gutsy last pair were to deny us as they batted out the last few overs to secure a well earned draw.

Nonetheless, defeat avoided for the first time this season, and another great day out against sporting opposition whom we look forward to playing again in the future.