Matfield, Saturday 4 July 2026.

Matfield Green 260 all out (38 overs: Hal Cooper 51) beat St Anne’s Allstars 174-9 (40 overs: Sam MacDonald 50, Jonathan Beale 5-12) by 86 runs.

Allstars Debuts: Hamza Nouman, Paul Lack.

Scorecard

Match report by Richard Slatford – Photos by Anindya Roy and Nathaniel Hill

A lovely sunny day at a lovely venue with an excellent tea, this is what English cricket is all about …

Although Matfield is a long journey for many Allstars, there were no dramas before the start with the team all at the ground before the toss. We were delighted to welcome our debutants, Paul Lack and Hamza Nouman, who normally play for Vivek’s other team Zambuca Tigers.

Matfield batted first, as on paper we had slightly stronger batting than bowling, and explained to us their local rule: at one end (where the spinners typically bowl from), no sixes could be hit: if one occurred it was counted as a dot ball. We opened with Gren Thompson and Vivek Seth: although Gren began with a useful 4 over burst, Matfield openers Greg Dann and Keir Hoffman looked solid and shared a partnership of 46, before Hamza, who had replaced Gren, bowled Hoffman with a decent in swinger. Dann quickly followed when Vivek snared him, aided by a fine catch from Sam MacDonald. By then, Vivek had settled into an immaculate spell, bowling his 8 allotted overs straight off for just 19 runs.

We were to find that Matfield’s batsmen were of a good standard all the way down to number nine, and they all scored well on a small ground and quick outfield. Paul came on to replace Vivek and also bowled his 8 overs straight through, whilst we mixed and matched Gren, Hamza and Ben Hampton at the other end. Ben and Hamza picked up two wickets each, while Paul also had an excellent debut with two wickets including a stumping of the oppo’s Alpha Male Jonathan Beale.

Phani Sainath and Anindya Roy also did well to take the final three wickets with Luke Dooley taking a smart catch, as we bowled out Matfield 260 in 38 overs. This was a top effort by all in the field, as Allstars veterans reported that we have rarely taken more than 6 wickets against Matfield in the past.

After enjoying Matfield’s sumptuous tea, we opened up with Sai and Sam but soon lost two quick wickets taken by the muscle-bound Beale. Ben joined Sam at the wicket, and slowly they started to play themselves in and added a partnership of 75 with some forceful shots by Ben and some Gower-esque pulls by Sam. When Ben fell, bowled by Euan Cooper, with Sam well-set on 37 and some reasonable batting to come, we had high hopes of surpassing two hundred and making a real game of it.

Although Roy was bowled for one, Gren and Sam got the score to 128 with Sam reaching a well-deserved fifty – but when he was then dismissed by a good slip catch our faint hopes of victory diminished. Gren continued on, posting a useful 36 – but then Beale returned to take three quick wickets, finishing with an outstanding 5-12, to take the game away from us. We continued to fight right to the end, as Paul and Nathaniel Hill doggedly kept their wickets intact, facing 29 and 24 balls for 0 not out as we saw out the scheduled 40 overs.

It was an excellent day’s cricket where gave a good account of ourselves against strong opposition, and should be proud of our efforts. But the Allstars’ busy schedule continues, as we return to the capital to face Hampton Wick Royals for the first time on Sunday.