Seeing as you guys love a weekly roundup, I decided that I’ll spend some time writing a Club Day roundup too! Consider this an early Christmas present from me to you.

Last Saturday, we hosted a club day for the first time in a couple of years and it was a great success. Was great to see so many people at the ground on Saturday!The planning behind the scenes from Devesh Kerai and Rahil Patel was so important in ensuring the day went smoothly but help on the day from Roshan Patel, Viraj Patel, Dylan Assani and Henna Haria all helped to ensure the day ran as smooth as butter. We must of course, give a huge thanks to our sponsors for not only their help throughout the season but also for turning up on the day and really getting involved and we hope they all enjoyed themselves! After the pre-tournament formalities were out the way, the tournament began…

Kiboko Coffee vs Tutor Doctor

The first game of the tournament was between Kiboko Coffee and our Junior Sponsors, Tutor Doctor. Apparently Kiboko won the toss and elected to bowl but I’m pretty sure this was decided by a classic game of rock paper scissors. Anyway, Roshan Desai and Bishan Shah opened the batting and Pranav Shah with the new ball. Yeah, I bet u didn’t expect to hear “Pranav Shah” and “New ball” in the same sentence. But clearly, it was a masterstroke as he took a wicket on the 2nd ball, a juicy drag down gobbled up by Raj Parmar at deep square and Bish went on his first ball. Now that Pranav is 3s captain, good luck to you seamers trying to take the new ball for the 3s. Desai fell in the next over and Kalpesh Kerai in the 3rd over, not before he hit a 6 and a 4. He got the innings going with Rahil Patel who seemed to take a liking to the pace of Raj Parmar, hitting a couple of nice boundaries over cover as he and Abhishek took 20 from that over. Abhishek Jha was the next man to go on the first ball of Soham Khurjekar’s spell, Genuienly can’t remember how he got out but apparently he was caught by Pranav. Hiten Kara was then absolutely burnt on a barbecue by Rahil, run out on his first ball. Rahil then scooped Soham for 4 before trying it again on the next ball but straight into the hands of Owen O’Neill-Khaled behind the stumps. Good effort from Tutor Doctor to get up to 60 in their 5 overs. The chase started well with fireworks from Raj Parmar who was given a lifeline as he was caught on a free hit but Shubham Patil held the innings together. The man had a great tournament with the bat to be fair to him. Rahil dropped him in Kalpesh’s over because he didn’t want Owen to come out to bat. And with 14 needed off 4 balls, he came to the crease. Now, I’d like you all at home who didn’t witness it to guess what Owen did. Yep you’re right, he hit Bishan Shah for 3 sixes in a row, and they were quite big hits. A win for Kiboko Coffee put them in the semi-final of the Cup bracket whilst Tutor Doctor ended up in the Plate semi-final.

Alan Digby 7s vs Phillip Shaw

Onto game 2, which was our returning old boys, representing the Alan Digby 7’s up against Phillip Shaw. P Shaw won the toss and decided to bowl. The scorecard here says Steve Mehra retired after 7 runs, I’m assuming this why he was lying down the rest of the day. Bhavesh Tapariya was the star of the show with his 35* (12), and this helped the old boys up to a very strong 76 in their 5 overs. Now a team of Viraj Patel, Roshan Patel, Dylan Assani and Manoj (Mango) Prasanga would on paper be favourites to win the whole tournament but apparently not. Waaris Deen’s umpiring however is something else we need to look at in this game after he gave Mango out lbw in a shocking decision. He would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for David Sweeney’s meta glasses. Fancy coming out of retirement Dave and using those glasses in some games next season? Beel Tun removed Dylan for 10 and despite. 29* from Viraj Patel, P Shaw fell short by 7 runs. Akhil from P Shaw said he’ll he working on his bowling for the tournament at the end of next season so hopefully we see less runs conceded by them next year. They ended up in the Plate semi vs Tutor Doctor and the Alan Digby 7s were in the Cup semi vs Kiboko.

KP & CO vs Sterling

Our 3rd game was between KP & CO and Sterling, who came with a team of their own. KP & CO led by the CEO’s son Puneet Pattni won the toss and bowled first. Another strong side here with Puneet, Hem Shah, and Qudratullah Khiyal all playing 1s cricket this season. Poor display from these lot as Sterling scored 59 without losing a wicket. One retiree in Mitul Amin and the other two not out, with Kushal K on 26. Devesh was dismissed to a fantastic caught and bowled and apart from skipper Puneet’s 26 retired, no one else fancied chasing the target down and KP & CO finished on 51/3 and fell short by 8 runs to send them to the Plate semi and Sterling to the Cup semi.

Mark Giffin 7s vs Pepe’s Piri Piri

The 4th game was between the Mark Giffin 7s and our food providers on the day, Pepe’s Piri Piri. Special shoutout to Kingsbury Pepe’s for providing the food on the day, genuinely one of the best food joints in England. Pepe’s won the toss and were batting first. I genuinely can’t tell you who scored runs as the scorecard is all over the place but what I do know is one of the Pepe’s guys can hit a very very long ball and he did a couple times. They also had Soham and Qudratullah play for them in this game I think. Apparently Abhishek scored this game wrong but I’m not sure at all. Vinay Halai and Zakirullah Khiyal at the top both retired on 27 but some good death bowling from Pepe’s meant they came out on top by 2 runs as Nihal Halai was caught on the last ball with 3 required to win. This meant Pepe’s took on Sterling in the 2nd Cup Semi and the Mark Giffin 7s took on KP & CO.

Plate Semi-final 1: Tutor Doctor vs Phillip Shaw

The first of the semi finals were up now and it was the Plate games first. Junior Sponsor Tutor Doctor taking on adult’s front of shirt sponsors Phillip Shaw. P Shaw won the toss and were bowling first. Rahil Patel was the first to be dismissed after hitting a couple boundaries as Abhishek returned the favour to him and barbecued him. Abhishek followed him the very next ball. Fresh from his 0 (1), Hiten Kara with 26* (12) guided Tutor Doctor to a massive 88/2 in 5 overs alongside Kalpesh with 24* (7). Viraj was the first to be dismissed, off the bowling of Anish Kerai, caught on the boundary by Bishan. Come on my g Anish! A send off was given to Viraj by wicketkeeper Rahil before he ran his cousin Dylan Assani out and gave him a send off too. These guys didn’t fancy chasing the target down, and were more focused on drinking their pints afterwards and the sidearms of Roshan Desai finished the job with a tidy over for 7 runs and P Shaw managed only 43 in return. Win by 45 runs and a spot in the Plate final for Tutor Doctor.

Plate Semi-final 2: KP&CO vs Mark Giffin 7s

The next game was KP & CO vs the Mark Giffin 7s and KP won the toss and were batting. Saif Butt with his seam-ups took 2 wickets, including Qudratullah for a first ball duck, wow. Hem Shah’s 23 and Puneet’s 16 helped them up to 50 in 5 overs. Saif opened with Mr. Independent Prithvi Nakrani and Saif didn’t last long. Prithvi (allegedly) lasted longer scored 25 off 8 retired, a few big sixes from the Chrysler Building. Dhiresh Kanji also thumped a huge six, much to the surprise of Kalpesh, but it wasn’t enough and they fell short again by just 2 runs, sending KP & CO into the Plate final vs Tutor Doctor.

Cup Semi-final 1: Kiboko Coffee vs Alan Digby 7s

At this point, Owen was getting restless as he just wanted to play some cricket. His time finally came as the Alan Digby 7s took on Kiboko Coffee. Kiboko won the toss and were bowling first. Bhavesh again retired not out with 30, hitting a 6 on 24 is cold fair play. Highlight of the innings though was definitely Mitul Shah’s first ball duck, lbw on the last ball of the innings. Kiboko’s innings got off to a flyer with Soham’s 25 off 10 retired. Pranav Shah hit 19* off just 6 to win the game and send them into the Cup final and send the old boys to where they wanted to be - the bar.

Cup Semi-final 2: Pepe’s Piri Piri vs Sterling

The 2nd Cup semi was between 2 full sponsor teams, Pepe’s and Sterling. Sterling batted first and Pepe’s recruited Roshan Patel and Waaris Deen for this game too if I’m not mistaken. 26 retired not out off 11 from one of the Sterling batters helped them up to 49 but Roshan Patel’s 18 helped Pepe’s chase the target comfortably in 3.5 overs and send them into the Cup final vs Kiboko.

Plate Final: Tutor Doctor vs KP & CO

The Plate final was upon us and having missed out on batting in the Pepe’s game, Waaris Deen came out to open with Rahil Patel. Rahil with a genuine stinker 1 off 7, getting yelled at by Kalpesh the whole time who didn’t do much better with 1 off 2. The pitch got harder to bat on at this point but Waaris’ 25 off 13 helped them to 41 in 5 overs. The defence started well for Tutor Doctor as Kalpesh removed younger brother Devesh lbw and a fantastic bit of fielding from Abhishek Jha sent Hem Shah packing. Something about representing his father brings out the best in Puneet Pattni as he hit an important 20. Roshan Desai with the last over with 7 to defend removed Puneet in the first ball. A lucky edge from Qudratullah brought the equation to 3 off 3. He then made it difficult for himself by bringing it down to 3 off 1. Anand Majithia, 1st XI scorer was umpiring and decided to signal a no ball on the last ball and the batters crossed for 2, winning the game for KP & CO, robbing us of a potential super over. Congratulations to KP & CO who were crowned Plate winners for the 2026 KCC Club Day tournament!

Cup Final: Kiboko Coffee vs Pepe’s Piri Piri

It was then time for the Cup Final. They said the most prestigious game in club cricket is the ECB national cup (massive congratulations to Shepherd’s Bush on bringing the cup back to Middlesex) but the truth is, that game is second to the Kenton CC Club Day: Cup Final. Kiboko Coffee up against Pepe’s Piri Piri who now had Dylan Assani in their side. The man who opened with him hit 27 off 9 whilst he only managed 9 off 10. Contributions lower down helped them up to 69/2 in 5. Owen really really wanted to win this game and opened the batting. The man however, only faced 6 balls. Those 6 balls went: 164466. Genuine freak of a human. Shubham Patil finished the job in the last over with a four through cover to tie the game up and then readjusting himself to guide one past wicketkeeper Roshan Patel for four more to seal the game for Kiboko Coffee. This sparked wild celebrations in the dugout between Owen and Soham. Congratulations to your KCC Club Day Cup winners, Kiboko Coffee!

What a day! Good weather, good food, sometimes some questionable cricket, the families were out and thanks to Mark Giffin and new chairman Ravi Patel, the bar was operated amazingly. Was great to have the old boys back in town as well and they’re always a good laugh. Mark Sweeney took some excellent pictures and he’s told me he’ll be back next season so get your modelling training in over the summer lads. See you next season (for real this time now!)