Matfield Green, Sunday 9 July 2023.

St Anne’s Allstars 210-8 (35 overs: James Morgan 103* ret, Amit Deverathippa 56, Justin Bowden 4-28) beat Matfield 184-9 (35 overs: Reece Overy 58, Amiya Ranjan 3-16) by 26 runs.

Report by Garreth Duncan- Photos by Amit Deverathippa, Shanmugam Sama and Pete Cresswell

How could we ever top that? The drama at Barnes Common the previous Saturday had taken us to heights we never thought possible (and added many years to the age of those watching). Matfield’s ground has long been easy on the eye, but their team have brought us down to earth with a bump in the past. But this time, we excelled ourselves further by beating them for the first time – a tense at times, but ultimately comfortable, victory to make it three wins in a row.

The Kent weather forecast had been changing all week, and we arrived with the clouds not yet cleared. Shanmugam Sama, captaining the Allstars for the first time, lost the toss, and Matfield asked us to bat first, no doubt hoping to get the most of the moisture on their usually immaculate pitch. Justin Bowden struck quickly, with Pete Cresswell edging to gully in his first over. But James Morgan, making a timely return to Allstars cricket on one of his favourite surfaces, survived some early alarms, and with Matt Biss providing excellent support, they saw off the openers and added 77 for the second wicket. With the drinks break looming, Matt charged at Simon Knott and was stumped. He seemed frustrated at missing out on a bigger score on a good surface- but he had played the perfect foil for Morgsie who had already passed fifty and looked good for more.

We still needed to up the run rate, and did so in stunning fashion as Amit Deverathippa immediately got to work with some powerful hitting down the ground. Marcus Meredith was smashed out of the attack, and Josh Gregory also took a battering as Amit sped to his first fifty of the season off just 30 balls. Gregory got his revenge as Amit soon skied to gully, but he’d taken the pressure off Morgsie and allowed him to continue on his way. With three overs to go, he reached a richly deserved hundred – his third for the Allstars – and completed an excellent cricketing day in the Morgan family, his son Dylan having also reached his highest score as dad proudly watched on in the morning.

Morgsie’s retirement, and the return of the openers, brought a late clatter of wickets as we pushed for quick runs in the closing overs. Raghavendra was bowled as he aimed a big drive, Amiya Ranjan hit a mighty six before losing his stumps, and Sam Macdonald crashed a boundary before picking out long-on. Our final score of 210-8 looked about par, but with the weather improving and the pitch now fully dried out, we’d have to bowl very well to defend it.

Amidst all of this, the third Ashes Test was reaching its denouement, and frequent updates on England’s run chase were shouted out to those in the middle. As we settled in for Matfield’s fabulous tea, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood saw England over the line to huge cheers in the pavilion. It was now our turn to bowl, and Amiya gave us the perfect start as he pinned Heady LBW in his first over. Vivek Seth had settled onto a really good length at the other end, and was really unlucky to go wicketless as a series of catches – none of them easy – went down in the deep. Meredith, in particular, was living a charmed life – but it was Pradesh Deveraj, cleverly mixing it up with well-disguised slower balls, who finally got the breakthrough as Meredith edged him to Sam behind the stumps.

At the drinks break Matfield were roughly level with our score at the same stage, and both sides had all to play for. Reece Overy looked in really good touch as he went to his fifty, and with Jack Sheer supporting him well, they were handily placed with 12 overs to go. Amit, mixing up pace and spin with ease, broke the stand as he bowled Sheer with a beauty – but at the other end, skipper Shanmu was settling into a really good spell which set us on the path to victory. He got the vital wicket as Overy pulled to Vivek at square leg, and then followed up by dismissing the dangerous Sunny Deevi as Pradesh held on to a skier at point. Hal Cooper has been a thorn in our side in the past, and was starting to find his range – but it was Amit who struck the next blow as he rattled his stumps.

Matfield may still have fancied their chances with 48 needed from the last five – but the return of Amiya firmly closed the door, as he took two smart caught and bowleds to remove Horton and Gregory. Pradesh finished the job in the final over, grabbing his second as Knott was trapped in front.

So the 2023 Allstars continue to go where none has gone before, and we celebrated victory (and nursed a few bruises) in the Star Inn. Matfield are a really nice bunch of guys, as we look forward to next year’s visit. But next up, as the Stone Roses sang, this is the one – as we face our old friends and rivals the Gentlemen of West London at Mill Hill on Sunday. Their secretary, our great pal Andy Burman, has been watching our progress with interest on social media. Can we reclaim the 42-11 Trophy for the first time since 2019?