Good dayyy to you all, I hope you are as splendid as I am! I know I am a week late with this one but I was too busy enjoying a hot tub with many a Corona's. Cricket season continued without me and the blazing heat showed no signs of stopping. Another absolutely scorching weekend but who doesn't love two drinks breaks ay? Anyways lets see how we got on in GW13!!

London Tigers CC 1st XI vs Kenton CC 1st XI

The 1s were on the road and it was to London Tigers. Still without skipper Dylan Assani, stand-in skipper Viraj Patel lost the toss and we were bowling first. Prithvi Nakrani, back in the 1s, and Charlie Erdwin set the tone in style with the new ball to have LTCC 21/4 early on. Prithvi removed their skipper and number 3 in quick succession, both caught behind by Viraj. Hem Shah with a run out to get the key wicket of Y. Ganatra was the 4th wicket to fall. A fightback from the middle/lower order helped them up to 211/9. Kalpesh Kerai was pick of the bowlers with 3-81 in 18 overs. Shoutout to skipper Viraj who contributed to 4 dismissals, taking him to 98 1st XI MCCL dismissals across his career. The boys were in full control of the chase at 124/2 however, after Viraj was run out on 45(60), wickets kept tumbling and it was a mega collapse to 160 all out. Loss by 51 runs.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7258403

Kenton CC 2nd XI vs Harrow Town CC 2nd XI

The 2s hosted Harrow Town and were batting first after stand-in skipper Dilan Wanniarachchi won the toss. Once again, not the greatest showing with the bat as Bishan Shah, playing his first 2nd XI game since 2021, top scored with 44(69). No one else in the top 6 was able to push past Puneet Pattni's 21 and make a big score which has been the story of the 2s season so far to be honest. Although 5 down, HTCC completed the chase with relative ease in just 24.1 overs. Devm Parekh was pick of the bowlers once again with his 3-45 in 8 overs. The 2s know they need to work harder in the remaining 5 games to avoid relegation and knowing the lads, they will give it their all. Loss by 5 wickets.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259076

Acton CC 3rd XI vs Kenton CC 3rd XI

The 3s were away to Acton and were batting first after skipper Devesh Kerai lost the toss. I said last week it couldn’t get worse could it? And for the 3s it seemed like it can. Good thing drinks were not provided in this one as we never got going at all and crumbled to 82ao. I think Dhiresh Kanji was auditioning to be a potential candidate for the 2s umpire for next season with his slightly controversial decision to give skipper Devesh out. Chirag Purohit, who joint top scored with 17 alongside skipper Devesh, was the only bowler to take a wicket as Acton completed the chase 1 down inside 17 overs. Not much to say about this one apart from the fact that the 3s need to now work extra hard to get themselves out of a tricky situation in terms of relegation. Loss by 9 wickets.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259552

Kenton CC 4th XI vs South Hampstead CC 3rd XI

The 4s hosted the 8 men of South Hampstead 3s and were fielding first after their skipper remarkably chose to bat first, despite only having 8 men. A decision that filled 4s skipper Deepak Singh with absolute delight. Genuinely we have not seen that guy smile as much as he did when SHCC's skipper said he wanted to bat. Skipper Deepak hobbled back to the changing room, changed into his whites and it was time for the 4s to do the job. Jaisal Jansari and Anish Kerai both took 2 each despite SH posting a strong 259/4 in 50. Jaisal ended with figures of 2-34 in 14 overs and Anish 2-36 in 9. There was some funny business going on with the SHCC umpiring that got on the nerves of skipper Deepay and wicket keeper Samit Patel but Deepak told him that whenever their skipper scores a ton, which he did, SH lose the game. I don't think Samit was too convinced, up until the first over of the chase anyway. This chase is one that will go down in Kenton Cricket Club History. Mr Treasurer Samit Patel and Soham Khurjekar (who had just come back after breaking his nose playing Badminton... yeh not sure how that's possible chief) opened the batting and broke a 57 year old record! 57 years, can you believe that! England had just won the FIFA world cup 3 years prior, the man behind the bar, club legend Mark Giffin was only a young boy when the previous highest club opening partnership of 240 was achieved and 4s skipper Deepak Singh wasn't even born! The highest Kenton CC opening stand ever with 260 to bring the boys home by 10 wickets inside 30 overs. A truly remarkable partnership, that genuinely has me lost for words. Samit hit 19 fours and 4 sixes whilst Soham hit 11 fours and 5 sixes. Samit was the initial aggressor as he took 19 off the first over, before bringing up his 50 in no time. He continued to pull and cut away before eventually bringing up his ton. They say Rohit Sharma is the best puller of a cricket ball but they've never watched Kenton's Samit Patel! Soham took his time but once he was set, he started to really flex his muscles. And no, this is not a figure of speech because the man's shirt was genuinely about to rip. Please pass over the chest and arms routine Mr Khurjekar! When we say at Kenton, not many people are as crazy as 4s skipper Deepak we mean it. Soham's previous high score was 12 and only Deepak would be crazy enough to visualise what was to come by sending him to open for the very first time. Some people just know the game better than others and when you constantly back your players, the results come and this was no different. Soham delivered in some style. I saw the man on Wednesday and I don't think the smile has left his face ever since. Both men, completely toying with the bowling and the (lack of) fielding to bring home our only win on Saturday by a massive 10 wickets!!

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259915

Kenton CC CV XI vs Brentham CC CV XI

The CV side hosted Brentham and were fielding first after skipper Hem Shah lost the toss. Brentham came out with an aggressive mindset, and only in gear 4 and were 145 all out inside 28 overs. You would think after a few quick wickets had fallen and not that many runs on the board, the Brentham batters would start to reduce risk and bat a bit more smartly but apparently I know nothing about cricket. Zakirullah Khiyal the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets in just 2 overs as he returned figures of 3-12. Prithvi Nakrani and the CV side's number 1 fan Charlie Erdwin, who was rewarded with a spot in the XI for making his trip to watch the side away at Graces, set the tone once again with strikes with the new ball before Abhishek Jha took 2-31 in the 7 overs he bowled and Zakirullah then finished the job. The chase was very much straightforward thanks to skipper Hem’s 70(61) including 7 fours and 3 sixes before Charlie and Prithvi, this time with the bat finished the job off with Prithvi sealing the deal with a boundary. Huge result for the CV side as they picked up important points in their fight to stay up. Win by 6 wickets.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7231209