Helloooooo everyone, guess who's back, back again? Me, I'm back, with another one of these. I know you are all thrilled to hear from your favourite Kenton CC member again. Well maybe not everyone's favourite as for Henna that would most likely be Karsh, and for Musa, it's probably Kalpesh. This was not a great weekend of cricket for the club as only the CV side managed to pick up a win. We're going to do things differently this weekend and start with them because they made me happy, made me smile. Here we go!

Graces CC CV XI vs Kenton CC CV XI

The CV side travelled to the truly marvellous Broxbourne Sports Ground to take on Graces CC and were batting first on an absolute road with a luscious green outfield which is pretty rare in this drought after skipper Hem Shah finally managed to win a toss. Hem was dismissed early on after smashing his front pad and was given caught behind. The experienced Bishan Shah and the man in-sunday-form Saif Butt set the foundation. Once Bishan’s wicket fell, chopping on, it was the partnership of 141 between two of our colts graduates Saif and Devesh Kerai that got us going. Saif tonned up yet again to make it 2 in 2 weeks whilst Devesh brought his first half-century of the season up before he was dismissed run out on 61 (65). Allegedly he tried to up the ante, but I think Saif just had enough of him. It was a pretty wholesome moment to see the two best friends hug it out and celebrate each others milestones, it is a true testament to their own hard work since their colts days. Saif called his father Sohail Butt after he was dismissed on 113 (105), also run out, in the changing room after his knock. After Saif told him he scored a century, he replied "What is wrong with you?" as Saif had disturbed him at work. It's ok Saif, I am sure he is proud! Mark Giffin, Chair of Selection and Club Legend also congratulated him on his ton by telling him to start thinking Saturdays are Sundays.

Saif also asked Kenton's very own Zayn Malik, Prithvi Nakrani what he thought of his innings and Prithvi's response was he doesn't know because he fell asleep during it, twice. Don't worry, it wasn't cos of how boring his innings was it was because of his heavy night out the previous night. And when he woke up, he was too busy on Hinge, the playboy. It was then left to sleeping beauty Prithvi, Yug Patel and Devhm Parekh to finish the job and that they did as we got up to a massive 313/5 in 45. Prithvi, staking his claim as an allrounder, scoring 37* (26). He then got the bowling innings going with 2 early wickets, actually hitting the stumps for once before the spin of Zakirullah Khiyal, Devhm Parekh and Hem Shah tore apart the middle order. Anish Kerai was then promised fresh white socks by Prithvi and this made him really keen so he then took 2 wickets in 2 balls. Rishabh Desai finished the job and celebrated with a leap into the air. The centurion Saif also proved he has “Saif” hands as he took two important catches, with one of them being their number 3 who was on 89 at the time. Big win for the CV side by 93 runs, lifting them off the bottom of the table.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7231280

Kenton CC 1st XI vs Winchmore Hill CC 1st XI

The 1s hosted Winchmore Hill and were batting first after stand-in skipper Viraj Patel won the toss. Normal skipper Dylan Assani was in the Canadian mountains on his honeymoon and was hoping the boys could bring back the points. There were starts from the dancing queens Viraj and Kalpesh Kerai at the top of the order, and Yashil Kamdar at 6 but the only real highlight was Kaushlendra Singh’s 43 (35), hitting some huge sixes but the boys could only manage 157ao. WHCC made the chase look easy with MCCL all-time leading run scorer Jim Gatting coming out all guns blazing before Hem Shah dismissed him for the 3rd time in the 3 times he has faced him. I had to scratch my eyes when I saw the scorecard read an Owen O'Neill-Khaled wicket??? How have Winchmore let that happen then? Owen celebrated in true 2013/14 Daniel Sturridge fashion (streets won't forget). Hopefully Owen doesn't slip up like Steven Gerrard that season, and continue to smash runs for us in the remaining games. Anyways, loss by 7 wickets and the 1s will be back stronger next weekend.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7258397

Wycombe House CC 2nd XI vs Kenton CC 2nd XI

The 2s made the trip to Wycombe House and were bowling first after skipper Dilan Wanniarachchi lost the toss and Abhishek Jha got the boys going with the first ball of the game, caught in the slips by skipper Dilan. Devhm Parekh was the pick of the bowlers on 2s debut as he took a 5-fer, finishing with 5-46 in 15.1 overs. At 152/8, the 2s were on top however, some sort of a tail wag helped them up to 214ao. The boys could only settle for the losing draw as Sohail Butt scored 57 (116) with a broken toe after getting hit with a yorker. An absolute warrior to hobble through and ensure the 2s came home with some points. Fun fact for you all, since Play-cricket records began in 2004, Sohail is the clubs' leading run scorer with 4891 runs! Wow that is a lot of runs! Puneet Pattni was not out on 34 (36) as well to ensure the draw was confirmed with the score 183/7 after 50 overs.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259074

Kenton CC 3rd XI vs Brondesbury CC 3rd XI

The 3s hosted Brondesbury 3s and were batting first after skipper Devesh Kerai lost the toss. They were joined by Ankit Shah's sons Yuvraj and Kabir who you'd think would be there to watch their dad and their uncle Bishan. But in truth, they were there to remind everyone how good they think Arsenal are. The 3s were really grinding it out in the batting innings. Nihal Halai really dug in with his 45 (113), but the boys could only manage 165/9 in 50 overs. We didn’t make the chase easy and had them 7 down with Zakirullah Khiyal pick of the bowlers with a 3-fer, finishing with 3-36 in 8 overs. Shoutout to Raj Parmar as well for his catch on the boundary, having to relay the ball to himself after throwing it up in the air, stepping over the rope, and catching the ball inside the field of play again. Top effort that, someone has been watching too much IPL. Mr O'Neill-Khaled will be taking some sort of credit for that catch I am sure, probably out there somewhere saying that Raj only took that catch because of his fielding drills on Wednesday. Genuinely has main character syndrome that man, but you can't blame him can you when he hits a cricket ball as far as he does. The 3s fought until the end but unfortunately it was a loss by 3 wickets.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259551

Brondesbury CC 4th XI vs Kenton CC 4th XI

The 4s were back at the Metropolitan Sports Ground in back to back weekends as they took on Brondesbury 4s and were batting first after skipper Deepak Singh won the toss. Club Treasurer Samit Patel and professional padel player Roshan Desai were both dismissed early. At 3-2, no not the England vs Mexico score, I'm talking about the 4s score, we looked in trouble. Jameel Shah’s 52(47) supported by Hiten Kara and Shubham Patil helped us get back on track but the boys were all out for 189. Shoutout to the lower order for their fight with the bat too. Jaisal Jansari's 13, Rishabh Desai's 14* and M Ullah Abdulrahimzai's 20 also helped massively. Again, the bowlers toiled hard but despite Shubham’s first Kenton 5-fer, finishing with 5-69 in 13 overs, we couldn’t get the job done. Loss by 4 wickets.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259907

It can't get any worse can it? (It can).
Apart from the CV side's win, the only real positive from this weekend is that no one was dismissed caught behind, with finger-clicking coming from the slips.

On a serious note, the boys will return next week and look to rectify this week's errors. We have had weeks like this before and we always come back with a statement in the next. The boys will work hard in training to ensure this happens. Go check out the Instagram to see who made the TOTW! See you all again next week!