Clapham Inn won by 60 Runs

Match Report

The Gents reduced Clapham Inn to 52-6 on a slow wicket before Wildman (5 4s, 2 6s), with Thomson's stout support, took them to 155-8. It was not a chanceless stand, though either gave a chance until well set, but has to be applauded as the match-winner. A quick stand of 45 by the Patels, during which the stand-in oppo were rendered powerless, was the only high spot in The Gents' reply, the seventh defeat of the season the inevitable conclusion. Many a recent match report has bemoaned the inability of the 2011 to bat its full allocation of overs, but this display set a new depth record. After a mind-numbing 11-1 off 10 overs The Gents proceeded to lose 9 wickets in 17.4, something of a Twenty20 performance, but without the runs that are usually associated with the chav format. This was a pity as, despite a few drops, the bowling and fielding were sound.

Clapham Inn were reeled in on the Friday after Old Tenisons could not raise a team, so thanks are due to them. Sizing them up, the match reporter noticed a familiar face. Matthew Boa of Village! He who took 6-25 last September! Here he would inflict discomfiture with his accurate left-arm round mediums, ten weeks after the Village's Hindle and Bowman had batted St. Anne's to victor. Gent débutants Khalid and Sohail took the number of players used in 2011 to 39, a quite astonishing number. Thanks are due to them too and to chairman Khan who kindly facilitated their appearance. It is not so much the prolific number of players that is the problem as the last minute changes, which wrecks the captain's pre-planning. Hemin Patel kept his pecker up.

The Gents dominated the early stages. Iqbal, in a rare appearance, worked up real pace but on this track Sciberras was the more effective opening bowler. Ferreira holed out to mid-on Khalid who took an excellent tumbling catch before Kent and Holland misjudged the line and were bowled. Sohail struck twice before Hemin Patel deceived Penman in another challenging spell of flighted off-spin, polluted only slightly by his anger ball, delivered 20mph quicker and pitching halfway down the wicket.

Wildman and Thomson then turned the innings around, mastering the pitch and the bowling to score at five an over. Dhruv Patel's variations finally did for Thomson and latterly Boa, Wildman not out for a splendid 76. Tea had been rather luxuriously brought to the ground by taxicab after the match reporter's car had been smashed in by one of Ireland's finest suffering a spot of brake/accelerator confusion in the car park of J Sainsbury Plc in West Ealing. The grub seemed to hit the spot and the refreshed players resumed at 5 o'clock.

The opening overs were turgid in the extreme. Khan holed out but Sciberras batted eight overs for his single. Desai's four was a bright spot but the first six wickets fell quickly. Iqbal's straight drove a four but was caught and bowled going for a repeat next ball. Thus was birthed the stand of the Patels, of which another half an hour would have been most welcome. They did well enough until Hemin played his first false shot and that was really it, Eberstein cleaning up the tail. It had been a curious game, with most batsmen on both sides getting themselves out through impatience, but not one without quality. But another defeat it was, in what is statistically the worst season since 2005.

©The Gentlemen of West London Cricket Club 2011