Match Report: 4s vs Alexandra Park 4s (04/06/2022)

Toss: Alexandra Park won the toss and decided to field first.

A home game versus Alexandra Park 4th XI on week 5 with a delayed start due to a damp outfield. The toss did not turn out to be as crucial as first thought with overcast conditions Alexandra Park had no hesitation in choosing to field first. A lot of change at the top of the order once again meant that the new opening batsmen on the back of a unbeaten 50, Harshdeep now had Searan back in the side to get Kenton off to a solid start. They helped negate the opening bowlers with some good rotating of the strike and boundaries to take us to 56. Searan was dismissed on 21 after 11 overs but had given the team the start we needed and allowed Roshan Desai to build on the platform that was created. Harshdeep departed when the score was 72 after contributing a solid 25 and meant Roshan had to build a new partnership with the debutant Hashmatullah. Hashmattulah played a couple of good shots before loosing his head. Amit followed shortly after but Roshan was excellent running in between the wickets and scoring boundaries regularly. After deciding to change the batting order to try and upset Bagley who was bowling a consistent line and length, wicket to wicket it was time for Quadratullah. He smashed 6 boundaries in no time when we were in a precarious position at 107-4 and both batsmen took the score to 154-5. It was good to see clean hitting from the 13 year old in his first senior innings. 154-5 quickly became 158-6 with Roshan departing on 47 and missing out on a half century. Time for the now experienced 4th XI colt in Zabiullah. With the captain struggling at the other end to get the ball away Zabiullah played some sumptuous shots on his way to an unbeaten 50. Their partnership took the game away for Alexandra Park, from 158-6 when Roshan departed to 224-7 after 42 overs. The target was always 200+ but with some swift running, four 6's from Zab we ended up on 244-8. A total we felt we could defend.

It was the first time our new Afghan colts were going to open the bowling in tandem. A decision I'm glad I can make with such talent available. An early wicket in the first over with Ethesham fielding in short making a diving catch was the perfect start. Although Zabby was struggling towards the end of his spell with accuracy the younger Quadratullah at the other end was bowling with real pace, swing and accuracy. He picked up 2-13 in his 6 over spell with Zab taking 1-26 in his 6 overs. Alexandra Park were struggling at 41-3 off 12 overs when the youngsters finished their spells and the older duo of Amit and Ethesham came onto bowl. Amit bowled his wicket to wicket away swingers and didn't let up on the batsmen picking up 2-16 off his 8 overs. Ets struggled with his length and line so only bowled 3 overs allowing Mihir to make an entrance. Although Mihir did not pick up more than 1 wickets in his first 8 overs he had only conceeded 22 runs. This meant the game had been won with an unmanageable run rate required. He did get his reward towards the end of the innings finishing on 3-25 off 11.5 overs. At the other end was our debutant, Quadrullah's older brother, Hashmatullah. He bowled leg spin with pace!! Batsmen could not score at both ends and both spinners ensured a comfortable win bowling out Alexandra Park for 123, a win by 122 runs!

4 wins in a row has taken us to equal top. Hard work from the players, some exciting young and raw talent is paying off and we must keep this going if we want to consider promotion this year. Bring on week 6 and what will be a tough game against Hornsey 4's in the start of 9 timed games.