At the TAS Turkish restaurant in central London, the Allstars gathered to celebrate a fantastic 2023 season and honour this year’s award winners!

Greenwich Park, Saturday 30 September 2023.

Salmagundi Gardeners 164-7 (34.1 overs; A Parmar 56) beat St Anne’s Allstars 163-4 (35 overs; Oli Barnes 71) by 3 wickets.

Allstars Debuts: Oli Barnes, Raman Reddy.

Photos by Matt Biss and Nathaniel Hill

Ivivoj

Eastcote CC, Saturday 16 September 2023.

Eastcote CC 80-0 (7.2 overs) beat St Anne’s Allstars 76 all out (24.5 overs) by 10 wickets (and also won the T20 beer match which followed).

Allstars Debuts: Nathaniel Hill, Guna Subramani.

Report by Sheahan Arnott – Photos by Nic Knight and Amit Deverathippa

As you can gather from the scorecard, this was not a very good day at the office for the Allstars. However, in an effort to take something from the game, here are 5 things I thought were good about the day on reflection…

The venue. The ground couldn’t be more beautiful. Built in what was once a stately home, the ground and the clubrooms were a postcard-picture of English cricket. The weather was beautiful, they supplied an umpire and scorer who were both very welcoming, and the pitch/outfield played (mostly) pretty well.

The bar. The barman – one of the players from their First XI team – was very welcoming. The drinks were cheap and I suspect the afternoon tea would have been solid. 

We welcomed two new Allstars. Keen cricketer Nathaniel Hill has joined our number in recent weeks, and he notched the highest score of his fledgling career so far in the “official” game. Across both innings, he outscored a couple of seasoned stalwarts and was tireless with his efforts in the field. Guna Subramani is our newest Banbury boy and played with the same attacking flair that we’ve come to expect from our Northern contingent. He bowled very tidily in the T20 as well.

Someone had clearly shoved a cricket bat through the drywall in our changing room. Not sure who, or why, but it’s always funny to see that it’s happened. We all have days like that sometimes.

The pub we went to after the match had a lovely beer garden. On reflection, we should have spent the afternoon there instead of chasing leather!

My Allstars season has come to an end, and many of you will know that outside of cricket, I write and podcast about American Football, so as my sporting calendar ticks over from one helmeted sport to another, and my life begins its next chapter, I leave you with (some of) Grantland Rice’s immortal Football Alumnus:

But one day, when across the Field of Fame the goal seemed dim,

The wise old coach, Experience, came up and spoke to him.

“And, kid, cut out this fancy stuff – go in there, low and hard;

“Oh Boy,” he said, “the main point now before you win your bout

Is keep on bucking Failure till you’ve worn the piker out!”

Just keep your eye upon the ball and plug on, yard by yard,

And more than all, when you are thrown or tumbled with a crack,

Don’t sit there whining-hustle up and keep on coming back;

“Keep coming back with all you’ve got, without an alibi,

If Competition trips you up or lands upon your eye,

Until at last above the din you hear this sentence spilled:

‘We might as well let this bird through before we all get killed.’

“You’ll find the road is long and rough, with soft spots far apart,

Where only those can make the grade who have the Uphill Heart.

And when they stop you with a thud or halt you with a crack,

Let Courage call the signals as you keep on coming back.

“Keep coming back, and though the world may romp across your spine,

Let every game’s end find you still upon the battling line;

For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,

He writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game.

Alexandra Park CC, Sunday 13 August 2023.

St Anne’s Allstars 6/265 (35 overs: Raghavendra CR 104 ret, Matt Biss 50 ret, Sanjay Dindyal 43) beat Gradcasts 114 all out (27.1 overs: Sheahan Arnott 3/20, Ben Pullinger 3/36) by 151 runs.

Allstars Debut: Ben Pullinger

Report by Sheahan Arnott – Photos by Pradesh Deveraj and Sheahan Arnott

Alexandra Palace is more than just the home of the PDC World Championship. The world’s first ever TV broadcast happened there in the mid-1930s. The iconic broadcasting antenna was used to jam German signals during the Battle of Britain.

And closer to home, I walked every inch of the grounds one government-permitted hour at a time during the first COVID lockdown. The park was an island of normality in a sea of uncertainty throughout 2020 with date night picnics, rule of six catch ups and an excursion to buy my first ever “real” Christmas tree happening within Alexandra Park as we struggled to maintain our sanity as the world burned around us. Ally Pally holds a very special place in my heart.

But after 150 years of history, The People’s Palace can add another historic happening to its honours boards alongside Phil “The Power” Taylor’s 14 World Championships and my post-match-pint-inspired nostalgic melancholy – the St Anne’s Allstars’ record winning margin.

Opposition skipper Mark Hazelhurst called correctly as I tossed the commemorative Wills and Kate Australian 20c piece and elected to field. I’d gone back and forth on what our batting lineup might look like all week, but I knew I wanted de rigueur aggression at the top of order. Enter C.R. “The Ravager” Raghavendra.

Ragha has been one of the finds of the season, with his match-winning century against Mighty Wanderers among the greatest in our club’s history. Today, without the pressure of a chase, he swung injudiciously at the bowling and swatted Gradcasts’ best bowlers around The Racecourse Ground. When he raised his 50 in the 10th over, I mentioned that he would have to retire either at 100 or drinks – whichever came first. Embracing the theatrical history of the location, he raised his century off 59 balls, one ball before drinks.

He was ably supported by Pete “The Kiwi Kavalier” Cresswell and Sanjay “Mike Proctologist” Dindyal after Pete lost his off peg to Boatman, and they took the score to 129 at drinks when Ragha retired.

Matt “Bassman” Biss replaced the retiring Ragha, and he soon found his groove in a brisk partnership of 51 with Sanj. Despite relatively short boundaries, the outfield was slow, which made scoring difficult if you weren’t dismissing cricket balls like Ragha was.

Sanj was run out for a well-compiled 43, as Matt cruised to his 50 off 46 balls, supported first by debutant Ben “Ally Pully” Pullinger (who swung so hard at one ball the bat flew out of his hands), then a trademark hard-hitting innings from Amit “The A-Bomb” Deverathippa.

Richard “Lightning Hands” Slatford and Neale “The Croydon Adonis” Adams added some icing to the cake to take us to 6/265 – a healthy score in any man’s language.

I’d like to make special mention of Barathwaj “BazBall” Nagarajan who graciously took the field for our opposition to help them get to 11. Baz bowled his leggies exceptionally well, and I think we can look forward to him taking plenty of wickets for us to end the season.

A prepared tea is a rarity these days, and we tucked in with gusto during the innings break as we watched the end of Brentford and Tottenham battling to a 2-2 stalemate, and I was quietly thankful we’d not sold our greatest ever player to a German cricket team for pennies on the dollar with a potentially explosive bowling innings ahead of us.

Our fielding innings got off to a perfect start with Pradesh “The Devastator” Deveraj running out the dangerous Gavin Collins for a diamond duck off the last ball of “Slammin'” Samir Hafiz’s first over, bringing Barathwaj to the crease.

Pradesh and Amiya “The Missile” Ranjan were fired up to bowl to their mate, but Baz was more than up to the task. Lipscombe chipped an easy catch to me at mid-off in Pradesh’s third over, and Baz followed suit with a return catch in my first.

Pradesh continued to toil away, as I added a notch for my opposing number to my bowling bedpost, and a third wicket an over later with Harris-Cooke picking out Amiya at mid-off. Boatman survived two wholehearted (i.e. stone, motherless plumb) LBW shouts to finish my fifth over, and we went to drinks with Gradcasts at 5 for not too many. I’d be lying if I didn’t think about the poetry of winning a game by ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY runs at Ally Pally during the break.

Ben Pullinger gave us a bit of everything in his first Allstars over with his Harbhajan Singh-esque action delivering a mix of full bungas, John Howard-style multiple bouncers and some genuinely unplayable balls, to finish his first six legal balls with 2-9 including 5 no balls. Pully added a third wicket in his third over to finish with 3-36.

Samir was typically miserly at the other end, picking up the wicket of Hazelhurst, caught by Sanj at short mid-wicket. Davis and Hancox batted well at the end of the innings to take Gradcasts’ total past 100 before Amiya rearranged Morris’s furniture off the first ball of the 28th over, and ended the contest.

Despite the result, I’m not sure the teams were as far apart on practice as they were on paper. Gradcasts bowled well without luck, and had they held their catches, our total would have been significantly fewer. That said, it was an outstanding batting performance from Ragha, Biss and Sanj to set up the win.

The only dampener on the day was Alexandra Park Cricket Club trying to charge us £4 per jug of squash at drinks!? The People’s Palace indeed! But we march on, and return to the oche against Crossbats at Marble Hill Park on Saturday 26th.

St Aloysius Playing Fields, Highgate, Sunday 23 July 2023.

St Anne’s Allstars 177 all out (37 overs: Matt Biss 38*, Sanjay Dindyal 25, Jibran Fardos 4/12) tied with Railway Taverners 177 all out (44.5 overs: Dom Moger 61, Matthias Winter 24, Pradesh Deveraj 4/52, David Nandi 2/26, Adam Croughton-Kehoe 2/0).

Allstars Debuts: Adam Croughton-Kehoe and Mya Vale.

Report and photos by Sheahan Arnott

Cricketing parity is de rigueur this summer. From the drawn Women’s Ashes (where Australia retained the Ashes), to the drawn Manchester Test leading to a potentially drawn Men’s Ashes series where – you guessed it – Australia retained the Ashes. 

Well, as so often happens, the trends in professional cricket trickle down to our humble level and cricketing parity found a home in Allstarville, a mere stone’s throw from the site of Pete Cresswell’s epic 91. 

With rain falling fairly consistently on Saturday, the day predictably started with some cover wrangling, as those assembled early from both sides tackled the elements and a lack of engineering know-how to uncover the pitch and put away the covers without dumping the pooled water all over the playing surface. 

I agreed with the Taverners’ captain to stick to the tube strike-friendly timed game proposed earlier in the week, drafted two supernumeraries from the Tavs to make up our XI – captain Jock Vale’s daughter Mya and her boyfriend Adam Croughton-Kehoe who were itching to score some bragging rights – and negotiated to bat first.

Pete and Steyn Grobler opened the innings, with Steyn picking up where he left off against the Gents taking a long handle to anything pitched even slightly short. At the other end, Pete battled hard against Dom Moger who sent down one of the best spells of bowling I’ve seen in a long time, eventually losing his off-stump only to see it called a no-ball! There’s been a bit of that this summer!

With the score on 29, Steyn picked out the only fielder in front of the wicket on the legside and Epernay took a juggled catch that would have been far more painful for her 10 male teammates. Pete departed shortly after – caught at point by Akshay who had dropped him a few overs earlier – uniting Richard Slatford and Sanjay Dindyal at the crease. 

Slats played one glorious flick off his pads before offering a simple catch to mid-off next over, and the potentially devastating Raghavendra was run out from a direct hit leaving us precariously placed at 60/4 with Matt Biss walking out to join Sanj. 

Sanj and Biss battled hard through the middle overs to restore some control, putting on 49 before Sanj finally succumbed to Brady’s unconventional left-arm slow. It was tough going for both batsmen as they sought to right the good ship Allstar. 

David Nandi came and gave without taking – sending balls to and over the boundary – before Farman Zakhel sent him away. I came and went without firing a shot, leaving Pradesh Deveraj and Biss to take us up to a defendable target. Pradesh tried to hit out one too many times, and Adam and Mya performed a sort of cricketing AmDram version of Romeo and Juliet departing shortly after each other.

Biss ended up undefeated on 38 – an innings of concentration and determination in tough circumstances. I think it’s also worth noting he gave up the opportunity to get himself to 50, by not protecting our two guests from the strike. It also meant I was then not able to declare, given we were all out for 177 on the stroke of tea. I felt like we left quite a few runs out there, but also quietly felt like we probably had enough to defend if we bowled well with a pretty solid Allstars attack. 

When Akshay swatted a short-pitched ball from David in the second over, I was concerned about how quickly the game may get away from us if one of their batters got going, but Jimmy Nanderson got his revenge in his second over taking out his middle stump. Pradesh and David both bowled well, but Dom and Matthias Winter were equal to the task. 

Sanj – who bowled a fantastic spell – replaced Pradesh and Biss replaced David, but neither was able to get the breakthrough we needed before drinks, despite creating a few more half-chances. After drinks, Dom and Matthias began to push the scoring along, with some kamikaze running between the wickets almost costing them each their wickets multiple times. Unfortunately, a lack of crispness in the field meant we weren’t able to capitalise on it. 

A wicket felt close and a wicket would turn the tide, but when a simple skied catch led to multiple shouts of “mine” and a collision between Raga and Pradesh, it felt like the only thing we’d take away from the game would be an important lesson about how to call for a catch. 

I rolled the dice on bringing David back, which immediately brought about the end of Matthias’ vigil. There was no confusion this time as Raga took a simple catch. Sensing a moment to attack, I brought Pradesh on to replace Raga, who removed Dom with his first ball – an excellent catch from a full-blooded late cut by Pete in the gully – and Jock with his second ball – a tremendous catch behind the wicket by Slats. The pendulum had swung back in our favour. 

Dobson played his shots before losing his off-stump, and Rob was trapped in front by Pradesh who had swung the game with 4/11 in 19 balls. Pradesh’s second spell was incredible. His pace barely dropped over his 7 overs, despite being under an injury cloud all week. It was a Herculean performance to almost drag us across the line. 

But, of course, there were more twists and turns to come. Jibz Fardos hit out until he became the latest name on the list of people I’ve bowled. Sorry pal – you might think you’re God’s gift to cricket, but to me, you’re just another set of stumps to be knocked over. 

Enter Farman. Offered to us as a top-up player at the start of the day, he wasted no time making me regret my decision, bludgeoning boundaries off the indefatigable Pradesh who was 6 overs into his 3-over spell.

With the scores level and 3 wickets in hand, the Tavs looked home and hosed. Mya came on to bowl, and true to her punk aesthetic, didn’t seem to be constrained by the usual definition of the pitch, with Farman jumping out to knock the balls away harmlessly to avoid them being called wide – a wonderfully sporting gesture. 

Unfortunately, this was also his undoing as he called Guy Gibbs through for a single off the last ball of the over to win the game. Guy wasn’t interested, and David and Slats combined to run Farman out by half a pitch.

Our new friend Adam had never played a game of cricket before in his life. Whether this helped him relax and not be overwhelmed by the moment, I don’t know – he seemed like a pretty chilled-out cat anyway.  Standing almost still on the crease, he wheeled down his second ball – a searing yorker to remove Matt Brady. Scores tied, 1 wicket remaining. After a quick coaching session from Slats, Epernay – also playing her first game of cricket – was ready to face the music. After surviving two balls, her third went straight up in the air and Biss took the simplest of catches.

So Adam was the unlikely hero with 2-0 off 5 balls in his first ever game of cricket. It’s easy to forget why we play this great game sometimes, but Adam’s magic moment will stay with me for a long time, as I suspect it will for him too. 

There’s been a lot of noise about the much-ballyhooed, nebulous “Spirit of Cricket” this summer, but it really was the winner in yesterday’s game. Mya chased the ball tireless in the field for us all day, and Adam was asking questions to learn the game in the middle of playing it. Farman could have easily hit any of the balls he faced from Mya for 4, but he chose not to. To answer the question I allegedly posed to one of the Gents last week – yes this is the way I want to play my cricket. 

So our July of thrillers ends with two one wicket games and the first ever tie in the Allstars’ 23 year history – a cracking game celebrated in the Railway Tavern. But we still have lots to look forward to this season – beginning with our season highlight, as we all get together at Barn Elms for our Festival day on 6 August.