The 1s hosted top of the table Eastcote CC at the Alan Digby Ground and were bowling first after skipper Dylan Assani lost the toss. Dylan and Asif Mohamadi gave the Eastcote batters nothing in the first 10 overs leaving them just 12/1. Asif was rewarded after a fiery spell with a 4-fer and then Charles Erdwin ran through the middle order taking 3 wickets in 4 balls to also end with 4 wickets. Chasing 218, the chase got off to a flyer, Schopun Jooma took it to the Eastcote opening bowlers with his 53 (23) hitting 6 sixes in the process! Abbas Ilyas hit a composed 58 (59) and we got home in just 28 overs with Owen O'Neill-Khaled and Akshay Powale seeing us home. Win by 5 wickets.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/6753392

Kenton CC 2nd XI vs Harrow St. Mary's CC 2nd XI

The 2s travelled to already promoted Harrow St. Mary's and were also bowling first after skipper Roshan Patel lost the toss. HSM got off to a flyer as their opening batsman took the attack to our bowling but Yashil Kamdar led the comeback ending with a 4-fer in his 9 overs. Chasing 244, the chase did not start well and we were 43/3 after losing Cedric Mendes, Saif Butt and Viraj Patel. Nihal Halai, Yashil Kamdar, Waaris Deen and skipper Roshan tried to fight back and but it wasn’t enough. 193 all out and a loss by 50 runs.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/6754067

Kenton CC 3rd XI vs Highgate CC 3rd XI

The 3s hosted Highgate 3s on the bottom pitch at the Alan Digby Ground and were bowling first after skipper Jonny Rye lost the toss. You would’ve thought it was a basketball game with how the game started. 6-4 then became 26-6 as Abhishek Jha and Jameel Shah ran through the Highgate top order. Abhishek ended with 4 wickets and Jameel with 3. Ultimately a fight back from the lower order helped get them to a somewhat competitive total of 154 all out. The chase in the end was relatively simple as the in-form skipper Rye and Rajiv Soneji brought up 50s before Puneet Pattni with 25* off just 12 finished the game with a flourish as he hit 3 fours and 2 sixes to win the game in just 20.3 overs. Win by 7 wickets.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/6754520

The 4s travelled to Stanmore CC 3s and were also bowling first after skipper Samit Patel won the toss. Vijay Prajapati got us going with the 1st ball of game with an in-swinging full toss and ended up with 4 wickets in his 9 overs, before Rishabh Desai finished the job with the old ball, taking the final 2 wickets. Shoutout to U13 Jaisal Jansari who bowled 7 great overs, even receiving a lot of praise from the opposition. Chasing 239, we were going well at 109/2 however a middle order collapse turned the tide against us. The Stanmore spinners made scoring difficult. Samit made 67, his first half century of the season. His innings included 7 fours and a 6. Rahil Patel with 25 and Rishabh with 15* who put on 48 for the 8th wicket, tried their best, running extremely hard between the wickets and did restore hope that the chase could be done, but it wasn’t enough and we were all out for 207. Loss by 31 runs.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/6754699

Middlesex Trophy Semi-Final: Kenton CC 1st XI vs Brentham CC 1st XI

Onto Sunday, the 1s had their cup semi-final at the Alan Digby Ground vs Brentham CC and were bowling first after skipper Dylan Assani lost the toss again. Dylan got us going with 2 up front before Prithvi Nakrani and new father Kalpesh Kerai tamed the middle order, taking 2 wickets each. Asif Mohamadi finished the job and cleaned up the tail as he ended with another 4-fer. A nice moment for him with his family celebrating while watching on. 191 was the target for the 1s to book themselves a spot in the final. Viraj Patel, back in the 1s got us off to a flyer in the chase with his 40, before he was controversially dismissed. It was then left to Dilan Wanniarachchi and Akshay Powale to finish the job after Kalpesh Kerai and Nihal Halai were dismissed and that they did. Chich with 87* and Akshay with 33* to see the boys home comfortably by 7 wickets inside 34 overs and into the final vs Harrow CC. Was great to also see the club turn up in numbers to cheer the lads on.

Scorecard: https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7175801

21 points this week and Middlesex Trophy final qualification! We head into the final 2 weeks of the league season now with plenty of points still to be won!