Match Report: 4s vs Hornsey CC 4s (11/06/2022)

Kenton 4XI win by a massive 227 runs

Hornsey CC won the toss and elected to bowl first. A toss the captain was happy to loose. As usual several changes to the team but they paid off!

The 2 opening bowlers had taken 8 wickets between them the previous week against Crouch End so it was going to be a hard task for our top order. Despite loosing Snehal (dubious LBW Vijay!) and Harshdeep a few overs later (20-2), KP & Wahid had to play cautiously in order to rebuild after a poor start. They did this with patience and sound defence. Runs were hard to come by early in the partnership and we were 76-2 off 21 overs when the pace of the innings changed. KP & Wahid began to dominate the bowling and the 100 partnership came up in the 29th Over. Both started hitting boundaries and the score quickly accelerated to 193 in the in the 35th over. When KP (57) was dismissed by the young female spinner Vijay supported Wahid in plundering the ball to all parts of the ground. Wahid's 100 for Kenton on debut, with more to come I'm sure, was a pleasure to watch. He and Vijay put on 57 in 6 overs. At 250 off 40 overs it was time to consider the declaration. The captain wanted the 4's to score 300, something the team has probably never achieved but at the same time was wary of the Hornsey game of 2019 where Hornsey dead batted to a score of 47-9 off 42 overs. When Wahid (137) and Vijay (30) fell followed by Mansoor Kenton went from 250-3 to 265-6. We were in danger of loosing the momentum the batsmen had built however Zab (25n.o.) and Hashmatullah (18n.o.) with lightening fast running between the wickets and some lofty blows from both we managed to reach 303 off 44 overs. Time for the declaration and 48 overs in which to get the 12 points.

From ball 1 of the Hornsey innings the opening bowlers Vijay and Zab were on the money. We had to be patient. Horney weren't looking to chase the total and weren't scoring runs. Catch dropped by Mihir, dolly. Hopefully this was not going to be one of the days, however this year the 4's have been taken their catches with only 1 drop per game. Mihir quickly got over the drop to take a catch and Mansoor also had his hands warm for a sharp chance. The openers were both gone to Zab's bowling, quickly followed by Vijay's first. Hornsey were 3 down with not many on the board. We knew that LBW's were going to be hard, based on previous experience but no one expected the umpire to turn down a clear run out. The no 4 batsmen settled in full defence mode and had some support from the lower order but we continued to take wickets. Vijay was miserly as usual and took 3-11 off 12.1 overs, Zab with his regular contribution ended with 2-21 off 8 overs. Mihir persevered without much reward but it was the leg spin of young Hashmatullah that made a big difference, alongside the decision to bring Vijay back from the end he opened and to take Hashmatullah off and he took the final wicket with 3.5 overs remaining. We had to dig deep to get this win, Oppo total 76 doesn't say anything but 44 overs speaks a lot. The ground fielding, catching, batting were all on point and we deserved the 12 points. A victory margin that reflects how we have been playing this year, from game 2 that is. The 4XI have been building a ruthless approach this year and the opposition teams now know we are ready for a fight regardless of who we face.

We need to keep this momentum going against 2nd place North Middx and make it 6 wins in a row to stay top of the pile.