Mill Hill Village Cricket Club, Sunday 16 July 2023.

Gentlemen of West London 183-8 (32.3 overs: Amit Deverathippa 3-36, Pradesh Deveraj 3-38, Raghavendra C R 2-37) beat St Anne’s Allstars 182 all out (34.4 overs: Raghavendra C R 66, Steyn Grobler 48) by 1 wicket.

Report and photo by Pete Cresswell

The quick summary (credit Sheahan Arnott):
There once was a game in Mill Hill
A battle of wits and of skill
After runs from Raga and Steyn
We bowled through the rain
And fell short by a single good pill

The long version:
On Sunday the Allstars returned to Mill Hill for the first time this season, to take on our friends and oldest remaining rivals the Gents. With a field full of cows on one side, a garden centre on another and trees all around hiding any sign of cityscapes, it was hard to believe we were in London.

Unfortunately a couple of late injury withdrawals meant we were playing 9 vs 10. Quickly we sized up the very green wicket on the north side of the block, and realising it’d make it too easy for some to hit the ball downhill (over the fence and stream) and into the next county (Hertfordshire), we shuffled a couple of strips over to a slightly used strip that still played pretty well all day. At 1pm skipper Cresswell called correctly and, with only 4 Allstars present, quickly opted to bat.

The skipper strode out with Sanjay Dindyal, and the pair started off cautiously against some accurate bowling from Sanjay Patel and Nilesh Dubey. Dubey broke though in his 5th over, getting Sanj LBW for a handy 21. Cresswell followed suit quickly after, flicking Parvatheneni to square leg.

Pinch hitter Pradesh Deveraj holed out to Pavan Kota in Parvathaneni’s next over, while Matt Biss was unlucky to get a ball that popped off the shoulder of his bat. That left us 56/4 at drinks and in need of some acceleration.

Amit Deverathippa perished caught hitting straight after drinks, meaning Raghavendra joined Steyn Grobler, and launched an assault on the bowling, smashing 66 before being stumped, the pair adding 88 in 10 overs to bring some respectability to the card.

Barathwaj Nagarajan joined Steyn for a short partnership that ended in a mix up and Steyn’s run-out for an excellent 48. That left Barathwaj, Sheahan Arnott and Pradesh (batting twice as lowest scorer) to add another 20 before Dubey bowled Pradesh in the last over.

A short rain delay extended tea slightly, before the Gents began their chase. With Sheahan containing at one end, Ranjith Chatharaju took 5 boundaries off Pradesh in his opening spell before Pradesh had the final say, rearranging his stumps in the 7th. Pavan Kota came in at 3, looking to build on the century he scored in last year’s fixture. However to his disbelief he nicked off to Pradesh’s slower ball for 6.

Amit and Sanj took up the attack, Amit bowling Hemin Patel to reduce the Gents to 57/3. Raghavendra then took a good catch at long on to remove Ratnakar Sudireddy off Amit, who then trapped R. Patel in front for 0. At 75/5 the game was interestingly poised.

Skipper Cresswell then gambled on Barathwaj’s leg spin, only for Puli and Sanjay Patel to go on the attack, adding 65 in 6 overs. The game turned again when Pradesh took a great catch off Raghavendra to remove Patel. Ragha then removed Gulati to another first ball lbw, and at 141/7 things were back in the balance.

Puli and Parvathaneni batted well though, and the loss of our original ball to the Mill Hill shrubbery did us no favours. They’d all but gotten the Gents home, when an inspired field change by Cresswell paid off, Amit catching Parvathaneni off Pradesh as soon as he moved into gully. That left the final Gents pair with 5 runs to get in 4 overs – but they managed it in just 9 balls, running some well-placed singles.

Another incredible game and a fantastic effort against strong opponents – we’re closing the gap on the Gents a little bit each year, and one year soon the 42-11 Trophy will be ours. Next Sunday – we’re back in North London as we face Railway Taverners at Highgate.