The time has finally, but sadly come... I present to you the final weekly round-up of the 2026 season. A season full of ups and downs but a season that many can be proud of. Saturday was definitely one of my most enjoyable days as a Kenton member and I'll miss all of you. Not sure too many of you will miss me, I don't blame you to be honest but I know you'll all miss my weekly round-ups at least! So let's go for one final time in 2026...

Bessborough CC 1st XI vs Kenton CC 1st XI

Our 1s took on Division 2 champions Bessborough CC and were bowling first after stand-in skipper Viraj Patel lost the toss. Prithvi Nakrani was on absolute fire with the new ball as he took his first 1st XI 5-fer. Bessborough were reduced to 29/4 and then 39/5 very quickly after as Prithvi had scalped all 5 of the first 5 wickets. What a Saturday night the Empire State Building had, there's a lot more that happened, but I'll let you lot ask him about that, although I'm not sure he remembers too much of it. Devm Parekh, who was making his 1st XI debut bowled an economical spell of 2-13 in 6 overs to take him to 30 wickets for the season. Qudratullah Khiyal also scalped the important wicket of their skipper. Kalpesh Kerai finished the job with 2-32 and Bessborough were bowled out for 137. At 67/1, we looked quite comfortable but we are Kenton and that comfort didn't last long. 67/1 quickly became 93/7 with runs only coming from social media famous Sajan Shah as he hit 55 (37) as we were bowled out for 118. Loss by 19 runs.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7258425

Kenton CC 2nd XI vs Harrow CC 2nd XI

The 2s took on already-promoted Harrow CC at home and were bowling first after stand-in skipper Dilan Wanniarachchi lost the toss. Thanks to Kaushlendra Singh's 5-36 in 9 overs and Neel Patel’s 3-27 in 5.1 overs, they bowled Harrow out for 207. It was the first time Neel's bowled all season and I'm sure he will be letting his skippers know next season that they can throw him the ball. Apart from Cedric Mendes' 34 (26), the chase never got going, which has been the case on a few occasions for the 2s this season; however, fireworks from Abhishek Jha in at number 10 meant he brought up 50 (34). Despite this, it was 132 all out for the 2s as, apart from Abhishek and Cedric, only Yug Patel managed to reach double figures with bat in hand. Loss by 75 runs.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259101

Kenton CC 3rd XI vs Brentham CC 3rd XI

The 3s took on also already promoted Brentham CC 3rd XI and were bowling first after Skipper Pranav Shah lost the toss. Skipper Pranav led the charge as he took 5-17 in 6.3 overs and he was backed by Jaisal Jansari’s 2-36 in 6 overs on 3s debut. Zakirullah Khiyal and Roshan Madhaparia also took 1 each to reduce Brentham to 162 all out. 163 was the target and the boys made lightwork of it. 40 (62) from Devesh Kerai and 39 (59) from birthday boy Kaushal Patel will give those 2 a lot of confidence going into next season but they will still be gutted to miss out on half centuries. 31* (34) from Vraj Bhatt and an explosive 24* off just 10 balls from Jameel Shah sealed the deal, with Vraj finishing the game off with 2 boundaries. Fantastic win by 7 wickets to end what can only been described as a below-par season for the 3s.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259581

North London CC 4th XI vs Kenton CC 4th XI

The 4s were away to North London CC 4s who were also already promoted, and against a strong batting lineup with small boundaries conceded 340 after skipper Deepak won the toss, despite 2-78 from Vijay Prajapati and 2-87 from Dhiresh Kanji. Ravi Patel took the first wicket, caught by Sahil Goswami, Vinay Halai took a wicket in his first overs of the season and Rahil Patel also scalped a well-deserved breakthrough after a few close calls on the last ball of his spell. The boys never backed down from the chase and it looked like at many points in the game we were gonna chase it. Roshan Desai and Samit Patel got the chase off to a flier. Samit is known for being one of the best pullers and cutters in the world but he hit the best lofted straight drive for 6 that I think many people have ever witnessed. Rahil Patel, umpiring at square leg looked back at the boys in disbelief, eyes wide open and hands on his head. A bit of an anti-climax as he was run out soon after but Desai and Vinay continued to attack. Desai hit some genuinely huge sixes as he brought up 50 in just 29 balls. Looks like all that padel is helping with that hand-eye coordination. Vinay with a very well composed 66 (71), hitting 10 fours and 2 sixes as well as Soham Khujekar's 57 (56) were also important innings that kept runs ticking. Perhaps the turning point in the game was Sahil Goswami's wicket as he hit a wide full toss to deep cover. The man was hitting the ball so cleanly and received praise from Middlesex Premier Division champions Crouch End who stopped to watch the man bat. 270/4 became 296/8 and unfortunately too many wickets fell in the last few overs and we were all out for 310, a mighty effort nonetheless that the batting unit can be proud of. Loss by 31 runs.

Scorecard:https://kenton.play-cricket.com/website/results/7259939

Not the best way to end the season as only the 3s won despite us having 4 very difficult fixtures, however the vibe at the club was still sky-high thanks to Henna Haria, Roshan Patel, Viraj Patel, Devesh Kerai and Rishi Toor who all ensured Curry-Oke ran as smoothly as possible and everyone had a great laugh and probably lost their voices by the time the night ended! Was so good to see everyone singing their hearts out together, and the vibe eventually caught onto Kalpesh Kerai who let his dance moves run wild. I don't think there were many issues with 4s skipper Deepak Singh's knees when 'Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge' came on. Everyone was excited to see Devesh Kerai and Prithvi Nakrani's rendition of 'Castle on the Hill' by Ed Sheeran which had the bar in tears of laughter. Rishi Toor's angelic rendition of 'Angels' by Robbie Williams was definitely a highlight of my night as well as Devm Parekh singing 'One Kiss' with Rahil Patel. Nihal Halai and Vinay Halai got in their feels with Justin Bieber's 'love yourself' but perhaps the most wholesome moment of the night was when birthday boy Kaushal and his wife Henna sang Ed Sheeran's 'Perfect' together. What a night, thanks to everyone that came, the food was banging, the singing sometimes not as good but overall definitely a success. See you next week for club day and the AGM and as always, TOTW on instagram!