Week 10 – Kenton CC 1st XI vs Uxbridge CC 1st XI

After letting victory slip through the fingers at Wembley, Kenton looked to start the second half of the season in a positive manner against an Uxbridge side who could be fighting the promotion battle. Captain Sachin Patel and wicketkeeper Mark Sweeney were away. Jonathan Mills was back this week, and Sami Haider returned for the second half of the season, suggesting a boost to Kenton’s survival hopes. Kaushal Patel stepped in as wicketkeeper!

Kenton won the toss and elected to bowl on a flat wicket, previously played on by Middlesex in the week. Uxbridge got off to a slow start, with only 29 from the first 14 overs, losing 2 wickets, one each for Kumar and Aman. This new Kenton opening bowling partnership has restricted teams well, and the pressure was soon released after Aman had finished his spell and Mohsin Zubair came on to bowl. Uxbridge doubled their score in the space of 5 overs, with Zubair bowling 3 overs for 23. K.Patel was doing a job behind the wicket, letting no byes through for the first 20, and taking a stumping off the bowling of The Pro, leaving Uxbridge 3 down for 66 at drinks. Sami came on a few before drinks to test the waters, and although starting a little rusty, only went for 1 run in his first 2 overs. Uxbridge’s no.3 bat looked in fine form, playing his way to a fine 100, a stumping missed while he was in his 90’s with batsmen contributing from the other end. Finally a chance came K.Patels way, with Sami bowling a peach to the settled batsman, caught, stumped, the lot! David Sweeney came on at the death, and despite being smashed in the ankle after some good football, played a key role in restricting the opposition with a mix of seam and spin. With wickets falling at regular intervals, Uxbridge managed a modest 213 for 8. Not a bad job from Kenton in the field, or from K.Patel behind the stumps, only 4 byes!

Kenton looked positive when chasing, starting off with a flury of shots from Mills and Jooma, the ball being dispatched to the boundary regularly. After Mills was given LBW off a full toss, Jooma and Ashraf continued to keep the rate at 5’s, but a questionable LBW decision from the umpire saw Jooma (48) throw his toys out of the pram, eventually resulting in an ‘imaginary yellow card’. Ashraf looked in brilliant form on his way to a fine 53, and even hitting a maximum! Kumar got going with some big shots, including a maximum over extra cover. But when The Pro got himself out, Kenton started to lose wickets regularly. Rishi Kotecha provided an action replay of Kumars dismissal, followed by a brilliant catch to dismiss K.Patel and some smart bowling to get rid of stand in captain D.Singh. Kenton, who were cruising towards 10 points, were now looking to save the game, 7 down from 40 overs. After initially passing the 4pt draw mark of 175, Zubair and Sweeney comfortably negotiated for the rest of the game, earning Kenton a 4pt draw. Sensible cricket from the not out batsmen to secure points for a struggling Kenton side.

The second half of the season got off to an ‘OK’ start, but with previously bottom Bessborough beating top of the league Wembley, Kenton move to bottom of the table. A win against Indian Gymkhana next week would see Kenton go above them, and maybe up a few more positions depending on league results.