Mill Hill Village CC, Sunday 27 April 2025.

Edgware CC 117-1 (9 overs; Rahul Kothari 75*) beat St Anne’s Allstars 113 all out (Nic Knight 30; Rahul Kothari 4-8; Vraj Patel 3-15) by 9 wickets.

Allstars Debuts: Luke Dooley, Ollie Slatford, Zain Ul Abidin.

Report by Matt Biss – Photos by Nathaniel Hill and Samer Hafiz

We’re back at Mill Hill: where the Misery Line goes to die.

It’s about as rural as it gets by tube, with Mill Hill Village CC nestled between hedges and pasture and hillocks and Europe’s most overpopulated garden centre with queues round several blocks. And maybe that was the problem. Or maybe everyone was joylessly watching Manchester City get from Wembley to Wembley in the FA Cup. Whatever the cause, by 1pm when we’re due to be playing Edgware CC 2^nd XI, just like the fans of the invisible man: we’re not really here.

A good job then that upon losing the toss, stand-in skipper, stand-up bloke Samer Hafiz was asked by his opposite number if he fancied batting first. And following a short delay while enough reinforcements arrived to umpire and pad up, he and Zain Ul Abidin strode out to face a challenging opening burst from our oppo, under strict instructions to stay there as long as possible to increase the chances of some other blokes showing up to replace them.

Opening is second nature to Samer, and he set about blunting the sharpish outswing of Rahul Kothari and the canny cutters and induckers of Tushyam Sonecha with soft hands, a clear mind and a grasp of where his off peg was living. But these things don’t come quickly or easily, and Zain takes great credit for fronting up on debut as Samer’s opening partner – a tough assignment against decent bowling. He was unfortunate to chip one to cover that maybe stopped a little in the pitch to end his resistance. We look forward to seeing what his spin bowling and wicket keeping can do for us in the coming fixtures.

By this time our numbers had been boosted not just by Slats, but Slats and Stepslats as well. Those Slatses in full courtesy of Slatsguru [TM]: Allstars legend and gloveman supreme Richard Slatford – who’ll continue to be slated as Slats, and two debutants: Slats’s nephew Ollie (who we’ll deSlatsify for now and call Ollie), and Slats’s stepson Luke Dooley.

It was Ollie who stepped up at three, and proceeded to show he had a bit about him with a gorgeous punch through cover point for four – our first boundary, and only one for a while. We started to rotate the strike before Ollie was undone by one from Kothari that maybe kept a touch low.

Time for the OG Slats and Samer to rebuild, although from 11-2 it was more a case of laying the foundations. Whatever – we started to get a toehold in the game, Samer calmly absorbing the early pressure, and Slats working the ball around nicely, a lovely dab/cut for four backward of point catching the eye. We’d got through the openers’ spells with no further damage, but the signs that it wasn’t going to be our day were there: a sumptuous Samer straight drive rearranged the non-striker’s stumps via the fortunate fingertips of Vraj Patel. Slats had been backing up properly, and was run out for 13. It’s not a game of justice.

Vraj then removed Vijay Mishra and Nathaniel Hill, both of whom were unfortunate to get good ones early up which bowled them, neither of whom got out of round figures.

In between times, Samer’s stout resistance was ended unluckily as he was strangled down the leg side, again off the marauding Vraj, whose 3-15 would have been the outstanding figures on most days. The book says 7 off 51, but it was a proper contribution from the skipper who steered the ship beyond 50, picking up extras and rotating the strike nicely. Nonetheless, we found ourselves 55-6, and in a bit of strife.

Better news: our Knight (Nic) in shining armour (Chingford CC whites and a nice cableknit jumper) had by now been able to join us and he and Luke ‘Deadbat’ Dooley saw us to drinks (61-6 off 20) and well beyond, with a combination of assiduous self-denial, good shot selection and no little skill.

Nic was the relative aggressor, popping a six over extra cover and another over long on to lighten our moods, in between sustained periods of solidity. Luke, meanwhile, was a cool-handed foil throughout, absorbing pressure, giving Edgware nothing, and batting with a maturity belying his newness to the game. As with Samer, his numbers (5 off 45) don’t tell the story of how well he batted. Both departed in consecutive balls, Luke pinned plumb in front by the dangerous quick leggies of Jaimin Patel, and Nic caught off the returning Kothari for a well-compiled 30.

Phani Sainath and Anindya Roy found themselves lower down the order than they or we would have liked, given the logistically chaotic nature of the day – Roy had the misfortune of getting his pad blown off by a good one from Kothari early up, before Sai’s resistance was ended by another good one from Jaimin a few overs later.

As ever we needed Eric Xavier Tras to keep things ticking for us, and our most consistent performer didn’t disappoint with 48, thanks to 13 from Brian Yes and a 25 from the mercurial Walter Ides that could have been more were it not for umpiring lenience. Us: 113 all out in the 38th over.  

We won’t dwell on the chase, because Edgware chose not to dwell on it either. 9 overs in and they’d amassed 117 in what analysts are calling a shellacking. Shorn of our regular seam attack (and indeed any other seam attack), Ollie and Vijay were, it transpired, the sacrificial lambs.

Clearly concerned that he wasn’t getting his match fee’s worth, Edgware sent Rahul Kothari to open the batting alongside Yash Bhatt (the answer to the question: “Mr. Connery, on a 30 degree day with a flat wicket would you do the obvious thing at the toss?”), and he wasted little time in walloping our attack to all corners of the field and some adjacent fields too. Both Vijay and Ollie did little wrong and showed character to keep coming in when the punishment kept being meted out. Vijay found a nice length and will doubtless get his rewards on another day, while Ollie even got a triptych of rewards himself: a wicket (Bhatt, smartly caught and bowled for a 6-ball 14 that did not involve playing yourself in), a maiden(!), and the first figures of 4-1(!)-56-1 in the country this century, I’d be confident in guessing.

Samer brought himself on to spare the others further punishment after Kothari reached 50 off 28 balls and then, rather than retiring, decided to accelerate, somehow. The eighth over was a four ball over by which I mean there were six legal deliveries but four discrete spheres of leather employed sequentially after their predecessors had been yeeted into ditches/thickets/parts unknown.

Edgware 2^nd XI won by 9 wickets, and Rahul Kothari’s 34-ball 75 and 8-2-8-4 should mean he’s at least in the conversation for a 1^st team call-up sometime soon.

We, meanwhile, can content ourselves with the fact that we’ve some new blood that will improve us, and that tomorrow (well, May 11^th at Valley End, if it exists) is another day.

Dulwich Sports Ground, Sunday 13 April 2025.

St Anne’s Allstars 213-7 dec (37.4 overs: Lipu Rahman 113, Sanjay Dindyal 50*, Dan Forman 3-21) drew with Mandarins 184-7 (34 overs: Chris Healey 70 ret ht, Vivek Seth 2-18, Sanjay Dindyal 2-31, Shahed Ahmed 2-45).

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Anindya Roy, Garreth Duncan, Sanjay Dindyal and Vivek Seth

There is nothing quite like April to announce the new season. Cricket is with us again, and the County Championship is already in full swing. Across the Atlantic, one of the greatest ever final days to a Masters was beginning to unfold at Augusta, as Rory McIlroy’s titanic struggle between his own genius and fallibility ended with him clinching the career Grand Slam as he finally overcame Justin Rose at the first extra hole. And, in south London, the drama was just as tense as we fought an equally fluctuating contest with Mandarins, which both sides had chances to win but ended with them clinging on for a draw.

The announcement of the fixtures for our 25th season brought a wave of enthusiasm unrivalled in our history – with an amazing 17 players signing up for the opening game, we had to take the unprecedented step of asking players to stand down. Before we began, we formally welcomed our new intake of the past 18 months, with Nathaniel Hill, Anindya Roy and Mathan Olaganathan being presented with their Allstars caps. The south London Allstars connection remains strong, with Martyn Langridge, holder of our all-time record bowling figures, popping along to say hello to us all again.

With skipper Vivek Seth amongst several caught in traffic, I won the toss and decided to bat. Jimmy Scott and Lipu Rahman began well against a testing opening attack of Wahaj Siddique and Harry Forman Wilshaw, with Jimmy defending well while Lipu struck some early blows to get us going. They had just about seen them off when Jimmy was given out lbw on the front foot. Sam MacDonald, returning to his old stamping ground after some time up in his native Norfolk, started slowly but then began to unfurl his shots, hitting spinner Ramani for a sparkling drive over mid-off. With Lipu also finding his range, the score had quickly advanced to 72 before Sam was also given lbw.

Mandarins skipper Dan Forman brought himself on to bowl, triggering a mid-innings wobble – Shahed Ahmed being the third lbw victim of the day, Nathaniel blocked his first two but was undone by a good one, and Mathan crunched a boundary before he too had his stumps knocked back. After a promising start, we were 95-5 with plenty overs still left to face.

Lipu was continuing to look in imperious touch, and Sanjay Dindyal helped him to stop the rot before upping the tempo against the change bowlers. After three weeks of glorious sunshine, the rain just had to arrive as a squally shower prompted a scramble to get all of the kit away in the scorebox. But nothing disturbed Lipu and Sanj as they moved through the gears, with Lipu completing a glorious hundred as the pair put on 105 for the sixth wicket before he finally holed out at long-off.

Siddique returned to have Iain Wilson caught behind, bringing me to the wicket. With the weather closing in, I wore one on the glove from an accidental beamer – but there was still time for Sanj to complete his first Allstars fifty (the Mandarins scorer recording his 50th as a leg bye, but Sanj assures us he hit it!) before we all dashed for cover and the tea break.

Dulwich’s tea was well worth their considerable match fee, and suitably refreshed and with the rain relenting, we began again. Mathan, watched by wife Priya, began with an excellent spell, beating both openers but without any luck. It was skipper Vivek who provided a double breakthrough, an unplayable shooter pinning Sam Brand lbw, before Sanj made a stinging catch at cover look easy to dismiss Wilmot and leave Mandarins 13-2.

The Forman family were enjoying a good day, father Dan watching from square leg umpire – and his son Harry looked in ominous touch. He greeted Shahed’s arrival with a monster six over mid-wicket – but Shahed provided the perfect response with the very next delivery, a quicker ball which he inside edged onto his stumps. This brought left-hander Healey to the crease, and he instantly went to work. Immensely strong square of the wicket on both sides, he mixed deft cuts with dismissive pulls – and with opener Baxter also set, the scoreboard moved on quickly as the last 20 overs began. It needed something special to break the stand – and Sanj provided it again, continuing his fine all-round day with a direct hit to run out Baxter.

Stan Forman proved just as handy a batsman as his brother, and with Healey passing fifty we seemed unable to stop the flow of runs. Sanj continued to charge in, and got the next as he bowled Stan Forman. But with the last 10 overs to go, and Mandarins only needing a run a ball, they looked like cantering to victory – and we were fortunate when Healey retired hurt with an elbow injury. With the danger man gone, we sparked into life once again. Sanj grabbed a second as he trapped Siddique lbw, and Shahed returned to take his second by bowling Ramani.

With 3 overs still to go, and Healey seemingly unlikely to return, Mandarins were 178-7 and with no choice but to shut up shop and play for the draw. Skipper Vivek closed in the field – only for a pure Allstars moment to save Mandarins. The ball lobbed high in the air off Hawkins’ bat – several shouting “mine!” but none actually going for the catch – and he survived. Jimmy came on to bowl the final over, and teased both with his off-spin – but Hawkins and Gidwani closed it out.

A draw was a fair result in the end, and a good way to start the season after an excellent and friendly contest as we enjoyed a drink in the bar. We wish Mandarins the best for their season ahead – but next, we’re back north of the river as we take on Edgware at Mill Hill in 2 weeks’ time.