Dundonald Recreation Ground, Wimbledon, Sunday 14 July 2024.
Gentlemen of West London 255-5 (30 overs: Gulati 116, Chatharaju 79*) beat St Anne’s Allstars 200 (27 overs: Raghavendra C R 86, Hemin Patel 5-31) by 55 runs.

Allstars Debuts: Linto Louis, Chari Javvaji, Kirandas Chittajallu, John Kingston.

Report by Raghavendra C R, with a little help from Pete Cresswell*

Much excitement ensued ahead of the Allstars’ annual fixture in leafy Wimbledon against our old friends the Gents. The Gents play attacking, exciting cricket and are generally tough to beat (much like another sports team last weekend). Unfortunately given other events, finding Allstars to take the field proved difficult – even on the management side, with Garreth swanning off to a prior engagement in a Germanic speaking country, Sir Viv opting to cheer on a Spaniard (in a different part of Wimbledon) and the assistant reporter being in the wrong hemisphere.

Traffic chaos and an unexpected hour’s delay led to three of our Banbury contingent arriving a little late: with an eye on an early finish to allow people to be in front of the TV before the Euros final, Gents’ captain Ratnakar Sudireddy and Allstars skipper Raghavendra sensibly agreed to shorten the match to 30 overs a side. Ratnakar won the toss and chose to bat, and with our Banbury guys not yet arrived, we began with only 9 players on the field.

Gents got off to a good start, with two boundaries in the second over, before eventually losing their opening batsmen Raj Patel from the last ball of that over, Amit taking a catch behind off Raghav’s bowling. Next over, Amiya Ranjan Rout clean bowled opposing captain Ratnakara, who’s a difficult batter to get out, with a ripper of a swinging delivery, and Gents were two down for 12 – a surprising start, but knowing from the past they have a strong batting line up and attacking approach, we still had a lot of work to do.

After the tidy short first spell from the opening bowlers, we went to change bowling. Debutant Chari Javvaji came on to bowl, and showed a great swinging ability and stump to stump bowling, bowling Hemin Patel. With Gents three down, Ranjith Chatharaju entered to support the hard hitting Gulati. The Allstars ethos is to give opportunity to all, and we gave all our players a bowl – but with Gents’ batting ability, there is little margin for error, and they started hitting the ball all over the ground, the run rate per over hitting 15+ as Gulati showed excellent power hitting skills and Ranjith’s classical shots kept the score board rolling.

We needed to reduce the run rate, and with Anil Kuriakose and Pradosh Bose finally reaching the ground, the bowling was changed once again. With Anil showing excellent reverse swinging skills, hitting the hard areas, and Pradosh bowling the heavy ball, we were able to control the run rate for a few overs.

After both the batsmen passed fifty, Gulati really started to free his arms and hit our bowlers over the boundary with ease, forcing us to bring back Amiya and asking Amit to take off the keeping gloves and have a bowl. Gents were aiming at 275, but Amit and Amiya bowled a tight line and length to bring down the run rate once again.

Chari was brought back to bowl, and was welcomed with two giant sixes from Gulati. Eventually, Gulati was out caught and bowled off the last ball of the same over to end his magnificent innings of 116 off 75 balls. At the other end, Ranjith continued to kept the scoreboard ticking with his classical shots as he ended with an unbeaten 79.

Amit with his hit the deck bowling continued to trouble the new batsmen and kept the run rate down, trapping Vamsee Krishna LBW to take his only wicket of the match. Phani Sainath and debutant Linto Louis bowled the final two overs to end the innings with the Gents 255-5.

The score looked a mammoth task, but I always believe that, if they can score, we can also score, and always believed in aggressive batting and a never say die attitude – with plenty power hitters in the team, we decided let’s give it a go! The established players took responsibility to up the run rate and providing opportunity for debutants to play without pressure and get the feel of the game.

Amit and Raghav opened the batting for the Allstars. Immediately, Amit began with two boundaries in the first overs to set the tone, before Raghav hit three consecutive boundaries in the second over. Amit was caught off Nilesh Nagpal in the fourth over to after hitting another four and a six – but he’d given us the lightning start we needed.

Pradosh joined the crease and started moving the scoreboard immediately. Raghav hit four consecutive boundaries in the sixth over and we were 67-1 off 6 overs and could believe.

Nilesh was bowling jaffa outswingers and was unlucky not to take a wicket – but Pradosh showed composure by hitting boundaries with lazy elegance making batting look easy. The run rate was still 8-12 runs per over and, incredibly, we reached 100-1 in 11 overs.

Game on, but next over Pradosh was caught on the boundary trying to hit a six off Sanjay Patel. Sai joined Raghav at the crease, but was out in the last ball of the same over to give Sanjay his second wicket – he and Vamsee both bowled tight overs to bring the run rate down.

Debutant John Kingston joined the fray to continue the aggressive approach – still saying we can chase it. He Jonathan ticked the scoreboard on by giving strike to Raghav who kept on hitting boundaries. At the drinks break after 16 overs, 130 runs were on the board with power-hitter Amiya still waiting to be unleashed in the dug out.

Raghav continued to hit boundaries before being caught trying to pull a ball to give game changer Hemin Patel his first wicket, before John got out in the same over trying to cut a ball. But new batsmen Amiya and debutant Linto started hitting boundaries to put together another useful partnership, with Linto showing no fear, big hitting skills and hunger for runs. After he was bowled by Hemin, Anil joined Amiya and they started ticking runs with quick running between wickets and Amiya clearing the boundaries when needed.

The game was well poised with 65 needed off the last five overs – but as Amiya continued to search for runs, he missed a yorker from Hemin and was bowled. Anil and Iain Wilson were both run out in the next over, and while debutants Chari and Kiran both showed intent for boundaries, they could only add a few more to the total. With Nathaniel Hill adding a few useful runs at the end, we finished with 200 on the board.

Hemin bowled the most economical spell and ended with five wickets – taking the crucial wickets to swing the match the Gents’ way. But as our history shows, the Allstars have always given it all, even against strong opponents in a losing cause, and the Gents were made to sweat, having thought it would be an easy walk after setting a mammoth total.

So we ended an entertaining day by enjoying beers and laughs with the Gents. While it may have ended with a loss for the Allstars, we learnt “anything is not impossible if you start believing” and we were always in the game after a spirited effort from the team. Although our all out attacking style may not work in other games, it has brought the skipper memories to cherish for life and given us confidence to achieve more. Let’s go out and do it again as we face the Railway Taverners in North London next Sunday.

*dialling in from afar