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.

Matfield Green, Sunday 8 July 2018.  Matfield Green CC (188-5 dec; Thompson 2-41) beat St Anne’s Allstars CC (163 all out; Macdonald 51) by 25 runs.

By Garreth Duncan

If there is a cricketing heaven (writing as a committed atheist), it probably looks something like Matfield. A cricket pitch right on a beautiful village green, surrounded by pretty cottages with a pub a stone’s throw away.  The club goes back over a century – World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon played for them and is remembered in their annual “Flower Show Match” – and their president is no less than Kent and England legend Derek Underwood, who popped along to watch some of the game.

We last visited Matfield in 2007, when we faced the Canbashers in one of the all-time Allstars classics, and when the Canbashers decided to relinquish their fixture we were eager to take it on.  With spirits high after England’s World Cup quarter-final victory the previous day, we were fired up and eager for our first win of 2018.  We were to fall just short – but only after a thrilling encounter where we stayed in the contest almost right to the end.

With the temperature over 30C, losing the toss and fielding first wasn’t particularly what I had in mind.  Gren Thompson, returning to Allstars action having become a dad for the second time, opened the bowling and quickly settled into an excellent rhythm and good pace, while at the other end Martyn Langridge kept things tight as usual and gave little away. Matfield opener William Izzard tops their batting averages this season, and he showed why as he started brightly with some powerful cover drives. On a lightning fast outfield, anything that pierced the infield flew to the boundary – but Gren struck the first blow as he bowled Izzard with one that kept a fraction low.

Allstars batting on Matfield Green

Sachin Singh replaced Martyn and continued where he’d left off against the Gents, with a good line and a useful quicker ball.  Opener Keir Hoffmann liked the late cut and got a couple of boundaries to third man, but Sachin was always in control and was finally rewarded when he went for the leg side and was taken by Gren at square leg.  Vivek Seth began a little nervously as number 3 Ewan Cooper went on the attack – a fabulous catch by Martyn at mid-wicket chalked off by a no-ball call – but Sir Viv also settled and he too got his reward as he had Shotton was caught at mid-on by Priyal de Zoysa, making his first appearance for the Allstars since guesting on our Hampshire tour in 2009.  At the drinks break Matfield were 93 for 3 and we were well in the game.

Kerrie Timm, the Rasta man from St Vincent, strode to the crease and went for some big shots at everything. We gave him a couple of lives as catches went down – but he always looked like getting out, and was easily stumped as he walked down the wicket at Priyal. Ewan Cooper continued on and reached his 50 before, a little surprisingly, being retired by his captain.  Joe Silmon came on and teased with his leg-spin, getting some turn from the dry pitch.  But even as Matfield tried to accelerate, excellent Allstars bowling and fielding wouldn’t let them get away.  Gren returned and got a second wicket as he bowled Greg Dann – this one also keeping a bit low.  Matfield declared at 188-5, and we went into the tea break pretty happy with our work in the field.

Sam Macdonald and Sachin Singh wait to bat in front of the Matfield pavilion

Matfield’s tea was of the highest order and is already rivaling Heartaches for the Allstars’ prestigious Golden Scone award – ice cream being particularly appreciated on a hot day – before we began our run chase.  Was this to be our day?

Matfield opening bowlers Hal Cooper and Shawn Spies both looked very handy, but for once we avoided a top-order wobble as Pete Cresswell and Priyal got us off to a decent start, Pete getting solidly behind the ball and Priyal finding the boundary with cuts and drives.  The opening bowlers had been seen off before Pete, unselfishly trying to push the run rate on, was caught at extra cover as he drove at Dann.  Priyal went soon after, bowled by Justin Bowden as he went for a big drive having scored a handy 28.

Having started slowly, we began to up the pace as the last 20 overs began.  Jimmy Scott, warmly welcomed back to Matfield by the opposition who know him well from Canbashers, rose to the challenge of being promoted to number 3, and scampered singles to keep the scoreboard moving as well as hitting a couple of lovely fours through cover, before he was bowled by Matfield skipper Peter Danby.  Sachin also went for his shots as he punished anything short or wide, hitting 3 fours in an over as Dann was hit out of the attack – but Bowden got him too after getting a useful 21.

At 89-4 we were still handily placed – but the innings of the day was only just beginning.  The white Chris Gayle, Sam Macdonald, was quickly into his stride, driving strongly and ruthlessly punishing anything short or leg-side.  Ewan Cooper got the treatment as Sam hit him for three leg-side sixes in an over, as the run-rate came within range.  Paul Nicol, taking a break from table tennis to return to the Allstars, provided good support before getting out to a poor LBW decision – the big inside edge even being audible in the pavilion. Where’s DRS when you need it?  At 136-5, with 6 overs to go, the match was still in the balance.

Sam Macdonald, our star of the day, with Matfield president Derek Underwood

Gren joined Sam in the middle and he too hit some sparkling shots, leaving victory within tantalising range.  But the return of the opening bowlers was to end our dream.  Hal Cooper, who tops Matfield’s bowling averages, struck with successive balls, bowling Gren and trapping Joe Silmon LBW.  Sam reached his fifty in the next over – but with partners running out, Spies bowled him as he continued to push for victory.

With all our specialist batsmen gone, we could only play for a draw.  I kept out three deliveries from Spies, but he got some extra bounce from the next one and I could only edge it to gully.  With just 10 balls remaining, Hal Cooper rearranged Martyn’s stumps, and it was all over.  But on a fabulous day, cricket was most certainly the winner.

Socialising with Matfield in the Star Inn

Matfield were the most generous of hosts, serving us some great food after the game.  After a classic encounter where we came so close to victory, we’ll be keen to go one better next season. This year, maybe we’ll just have to settle for football coming home …

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 23 June 2018, Barnes Common.

Gentlemen of West London (108-6;  S Singh 2-14, V Seth 2-17, M Langridge 2-26) beat St Anne’s Allstars (106 all out; S Begley 25) by 4 wickets.

By Vivek Seth

The Gentlemen of West London (Gents) are long-standing opposition of the Allstars. A thoroughly nice bunch of guys who give us a competitive game, this fixture is always a highlight of the Allstars calendar. So once again, 11 of us looked forward to our encounter with the Gents on a sunny afternoon at Allstars HQ in Barnes.

After winning the toss, the Allstars looked very comfortable with the bat for the first few overs. Dave Halladay in particular hit a couple of glorious strokes towards the boundary. We then fell into a bit of bother, losing three wickets in quick succession: Pete Cresswell being particularly unlucky with a solid forward defence generating sufficient backspin to put the ball on his stumps. Simon “Scratch” Begley, who had played one of the great Allstars innings when we first beat the Gents in 2005, and Farhan Aslam put together a decent partnership and seemed to look comfortable. However, as with previous games this season, the story of the Allstars innings was getting in but then getting out soon after.  Scratch fell for 25, LBW to Kumar; Farhan to a spectacular instinctive catch by Hemin Patel.

Allstars batting at our spiritual home

Out came Joe Silmon and Sirmad Shafique who both looked like they would hang around for a while. Sirmad in particular, following on from his impressive debut against the Heartaches, helped accelerate our run rate with a couple of boundaries before he was caught of Hemin Patel.  Sachin Singh, making his first Allstars appearance of the season, also made an impressive cameo appearance, but was bowled by Buck after also looking well set. With the tail failing to meaningfully wag, the Allstars were bowled out for 106, 9 overs short of our allocated 35.

Allstars and Gents take tea – compliments to the chef!

After a splendid tea – a particular highlight being Pete’s chicken and sweetcorn sandwiches – we went out for a bowl, believing we still had an outside chance of winning the game.  Even when we’ve been bowled out cheaply against the Gents in the past, we’ve always fought like tigers and made them work for every run, and today was no exception.

Martyn Langridge and Haroon Khalid opened the bowling, providing a combination of pace and control. Wickets were hard to come by though and runs were coming freely, neither helped by the Allstars having an especially poor day in the field. Martyn eventually got the breakthrough by dismissing both openers, Buck being pinned LBW and Hemin Patel being caught by Scratch.  Martyn finished with an excellent spell of 2/26 from his 7 overs to give us a glimmer of hope.

It wouldn’t be Barnes without a delay to look for the ball …

Sachin then came on and immediately proved a real menace with the ball, stemming the flow of runs.  I replaced Martyn and got another double break, bowling both Chatharaju and keeper Krishna.  Sachin continued to bowl tightly and picked up two richly deserved wickets in his final over, bowling both Newcombe and our old friend Mark Sciberras, to end his spell with a superb 2/14 from his 7 overs. Having been 68/3, the Gents were now 95/6. Could we pull off a spectacular comeback?

Gents stalwarts Andy Burman, scoring, and Hemin Patel.

Despite the very best efforts of Joe Silmon and Haroon – both of whom were unlucky to finish wicketless – the final breakthroughs never did come. The Gents knocked off the remaining runs to win the game by 4 wickets and with ten overs to spare.

All agreed though that another 20-30 Allstars runs could have made things very interesting. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable day out in the sunshine with good food, good company from both teams, and some good beer in the Sun Inn afterwards.

Gents – a very happy 30^th anniversary and hopefully plenty more games between us to come in the next 30!

Our second fixture of the season, and always a favourite, took us to Oxfordshire to play Sir Tim Rice’s Heartaches. After a late change of ground to Chinnor (Aston Rowant being double booked), the Allstars batted first.

Openers Pete Cresswell and Dave Halladay began steadily, the grassy outfield slowing run scoring, before both were dismissed to spark an early collapse – skipper Paul Bowman and our Lord’s scoreboard star Umar Asghar also falling early to leave us on a perilous 9 for 4.

Joe Silmon and Sirmad Shafique mounted a spirited Allstars fightback. Sirmad, on his Allstars debut, took the attack to the opposition with some crunching drives, and Joe provided solid support and also began to find the boundary. Their dismissals brought together perhaps the Allstars’ oldest batting partnership – Tony Grant being joined by KP’s dad Derek, making a Father’s Day appearance while visiting from New Zealand – but the Heartaches bowling continued to send Allstars on their way. Even their 11 year old Jackson was a pretty handy bowler, finishing off the tail as we were bowled out for 64.

The Heartaches’ tea is always the best of the Allstars season, and was enjoyed as much as ever. We needed early wickets to give us a chance, and Haroon Khalid and KP both opened with excellent spells. But Heartaches’ opener Torquil Riley-Smith has been a tough opponent over many years – we’re still yet to dismiss him – and he began to find his touch with some thundering off drives. TG came on and struck with his second delivery, trapping AD Fox lbw – but we just didn’t have enough to defend as Heartaches eased home by 9 wickets.

Generous hosts as ever, and we’ll look forward to playing them again next season. We will get Torquil out one day…

Garreth Duncan