Brentham v. Gentlemen of West London

Monday 30 August 2010, Brentham CC, London W5. Toss agreed. Sunny, 21C

Drawn

The Gents produced one of their performances of the season (writes Ken Toft) to emerge with a deserved draw against a strong Brentham XI at their excellent Ealing ground in an incident packed game. Much credit goes to Andy Burman who was able to secure this prestigious fixture through one of his many cricketing contacts.

Having had his fingers burnt in the Old Tenisonians game, captain Gilkes opted for a timed game in preference to the other option on offer of 40 overs per side. An agreed ‘toss’ resulted in the home team having first use of a perfect batting wicket, although the outfield was fairly lush from the midweek rain which made the long straight boundary at the far end a difficult prospect for all but the most powerful hitters. Brentham, containing 4 first XI players,  were keen to give some of their youngsters an opportunity up the order and almost to a man they were able to skilfully accumulate runs, giving the Gents arguably their hardest fielding test of the season. To their credit the Gents stuck to their task admirably, with decent spells from Druv (3-52), Sumit (2-46) and Sanjay plus the usual athletic fielding from Newcombe.

As often happens when the Gents lock horns with stronger teams, the extra effort required resulted in injuries and this was almost reminiscent of the ‘Retreat from Moscow’ game at Bedouins a few seasons ago. Caveney  became the first casualty when an attempted tumbling stop resulted in a nasty dislocated finger, the sight of which caused many team mates and opponents to move hastily in the opposite direction. Mr Burman stoically conquered his dislike of hospitals to drive Wayne to the local A. and E. and he returned patched up and smiling again during the tea break. Injuries in subsequent seasons are unlikely to have such a swift and efficient resolution after the ravages of the appalling ConDem government have kicked in.  Guest Steve Bignell was next to limp off with a hamstring injury after tripping on the sloping outfield, reducing the Gents to 10 men. No doubt his West XI team mates will exhibit due sympathy.

Perhaps it was therefore understandable that the Gents began to wilt as the innings wore on and Brentham declared on an impressive 240-6 from 38 overs. After an excellent tea, during which Masterchef Hemin Patel criticised the mixing of cheese with tuna, the Gents commenced their reply reasonably well with both Gilkes and Druv finding the boundary when given the opportunity by generally tight bowling, Budden impressing with his pace and accuracy off a short run up. After losing both openers and Kumar, the impressive Hamid Khan (7 x 4s) and Newcombe put on a fine 56 partnership which steadied the innings. Hamid’s mixture of stout defence and elegant drives when given the opportunity was exactly the approach required and showed maturity way beyond his years. Greg’s marathon 68 ball innings drew some negative comment as well as synchronised arm waving impersonations of the captains bowling from the fielders, but he was unlucky that many shots went to fielders and without his adhesive qualities the Gents would have lost the game. However there was still much work to be done when Sanjay came to the crease at number 6 and in typical fashion he counter attacked to great effect for a fine unbeaten half century (10 x 4s), ably supported by another talented  product of the prolific Khan line, Waleed.

As the light began to close in, Budden (5-33) returned and made important breakthroughs before I was controversially dismissed in the penultimate over. On being well beaten by a good delivery, a single outfielder appealed and the rather truculent elderly umpire, who had previously been disinclined to raise his finger, bizarrely upheld it. The consensus amongst the close fielders was that I hadn’t made contact and a withdrawal of the appeal was briefly discussed but somehow never happened, league players probably having no time for such niceties. Fortunately Sanjay batted out the final over to secure the draw and it had no bearing on the outcome. Later, to add insult to injury, as treasurer I paid the umpiring fee although what we were charged for the day was great value for money given the excellent standard of the venue.

The final Gents total of 170-8 was the clubs highest batting second in a draw and only their 7^th draw in total. It was certainly well earned as 46 overs were bowled after tea, a credit to Brentham’s over rate as well as the Gents batting resolve which has been absent for large parts of the season. Thanks are due to Phil Hill, who along with Steve and the Khan’s helped us put out a full team.