Match Report: 4s vs Highgate CC 5s (25/06/2022)

Toss: Kenton won the toss and decided to bat first

Kenton travelled to Old Camdenians to play a Highgate team that somehow had beaten Crouch End the previous week. The boundaries were small so a score of over 200 would be needed. It was good to have Rikin in the side for his first game of the season and to give Vinay Halai his league debut.

Another good opening partnership for the team saw Searen and Harshdeep cautiously take the score to 61 in the 17th over before Harshdeep once again fell to a full toss delivery. Enter Vinay on debut who played himself in and started to build a good partnership with Searen who now started to open up and increase the scoring rate. Both batsmen took the score to 124 before Vinay (32) and Searen (62) both departed. With a total of 130-2 in the 32nd over it was time to increase the scoring rate to reach the 250 score we were looking for. Wahid and Rikin did just that. Wahid stroking the ball to all parts of the ground with 7 4's and a 6 scored a quick 44 and Rikin who played himself in before hitting several boundaries in his maiden 50 for Kenton. He also hit 7 4's and a 6 on his way to 52 not out. He was well supported by Zabi who scored a quick 30. We reached our target of 250 in the 45 over but the captain decided to let Rikin reach his milestone and therefore declared after 47 overs leaving us 45 overs to get the 12 points.

Zabi and Amit opened the bowling and kept the scoring under wraps. Zabi took a sharp caught and bowled to remove the opener and Harshdeep with a smart run out the other. Amit removed the no 3 which left Highgate 26-3. Clearly Kenton on top at this stage. Two senior batsmen at the crease we had to wait for the breakthough. Quadratullah was bowling fast but wasn't as accurate as we needed. In his 6 over spell he did remove both the Highgate skipper and their highest scorer Spibey 21. At 59-5 it was clear that Highgate were going to block our for a draw. Mihir once again bowled good line and lenghts and got his rewards bowling 14 overs, 9 maidens and taking 4 wickets for just 10 runs. Hasmutallah wasn't as successful so it was time to rotate the bowlers. Highgate were 73-7 and then 94-8 but Zabi, Rikin and Amit all could not get the last wicket we needed. We did not target the stumps enough and Highgate last pair batted out 10 overs for a loosing draw.

7 points dropped and lessons to be learnt In how to bowl against a team who were dead batting the ball (when made to play). If we want to be in contention for promotion we need to win these games for the remainder of the season considering some strong oppo and an inform Hampstead team shooting up the league.