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THE GENT
Tales from the corridor of uncertainty
A different perspective
INSIDE…
Contact the world’s most observant cricket magazine * via e-mail andrewburman_840@hotmail.com or mobile 07802-788424 * we recently watched “In Which We Serve” (1942) and recognised Major Gowen from ‘Fawlty Towers’ and Punch and Judy man Mr. Partridge from ‘He-De-Hi’ serving valiantly And another thing
West XI – a warning from history Despite losing all six 2003/4 games to West XI, The Gents did at least run them close, so it was a bit of a shock to witness the events of Whit Sunday. The day before the match, veteran cricket correspondents Bignell and Burman swapped predictions, the ageless pundits respectively opting for a West XI win by 50 runs or 5 wickets, the latter for a win for whoever batted first (The Gents by 20 runs or West XI by 40). The ultimate margin of 105 runs therefore defied their rational if slightly partial expectations.
While West XI equalled their 1990-1992 record of seven successive wins against the old enemy, the only record broken was The Gents’ lowest score in this series (previously 71), the Hemin Patel/Paul Turpin stand of 10 (the joint second best of the innings!) seeing the club past the 51 all out 1991 nadir meticulously composed against London Owls and, let it be said, West XI’s 56 all out in September 1994 (the previous BAMC lowest by either side). Nor was the margin of 105 runs a record, West XI 263-6, Gents 119 all out in 1992 saw to that.
It is becoming clear that, how shall we put this, VRG does The Gents few favours in this series. West XI have won the last five games there and their record before the first of these was none too shabby. They not only inflicted the Black Sunday hammering by 144 runs but also won in 1995 and 1998. The Gents won glorious victories there in 1993 (twice), 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2000. That’s 6-8 to the Westies at our own ground.
Despite the loss and the harsh words that follow later in the match report, it was a great day out. There were several reasons for this. The club’s post-match hostelry, the Victoria, is a vast improvement over the Lamb, nobody argued and above all West XI respected the U.N.’s World No Sarcasm Day to the letter.
In the absence of any words of encouragement before or words of consolation after the game from one Mr. Ashton, who has not seemed that interested since his shuffling cameo appearance at Berkhamsted in 2003, we leave it to his successor as the club’s eminence grise Mr. Snelling to provide the right words.
“It is very easy to become
disheartened when we are on the wrong end of a thrashing, especially against
the Beggars, but we must remember that key players like Jimmy, Sanjay and Dhruv
have not played that much this year for obvious domestic reasons. I’m
sure that the absence of Wayne and Rich did not help matters either.
Best before 1968 There was no disgrace in losing to a powerful Urban outfit on 22 May, even their 10 year-old was rather disturbingly a highly competent player. The Gents were lacking a few stars, including Saturday withdrawal Jim Wright, but HP, Dhruv and Sanjay rallied round with spares, so much so that a record FIVE Patels played, including debutant Nilesh. Angry Man Damon Wilson also helped out. Thanks are due to the guests.
It was an enjoyable game whose post-match socialising was spiced up a treat when George Best, the famous ex-Dunstable Town football player, was spotted in the Victoria. So overcome was he that Paul Johnson admitted what we had suspected for months, that the PALs League trophy aka the President’s Cup, scandalously was never handed over to 12 Angry Men by Urban in 2003. Indeed, it currently resides on Paul’s mantelpiece in Brixton, where it has feistily survived two burglaries, surely a candidate for the metallic equivalent of the Dickin Medal. The sighting of El Beatle, sadly now in his “Let It Be” rather than his “Help!” period, kicked off a lively Gent/Urban discussion about who was the greatest association footballer of all time, the Maradona faction seemingly having the best of it.
Saints alive The Gents’ XI which made the trip
North to play London Saints had something of a Barbarians feel about it, with
two West XI players, plus the Duke of Greenford (T. Haddow-Allen) and
prospective new recruit John Robson complementing seven Gents. Alas, well
though the amalgam gelled in the field a third successive defeat ensued, albeit
with only three balls to spare. Gentcabs ferried both the Duke and HP to and
from the game. They proved surprisingly diligent navigators and knew exactly
where they lived but failed to leave a tip.
Pak CC. Was it a Top 10 contender? 1. The game saw the fourth Gents’ victory by 1 run. The first was in 1992 when London Saints finished on 95/8, having failed to score off the last ball of the 35th. over. In 1996 Sir Harvey Wynford, in gung ho mood, yorked Sunderland’s last man, another sub-100 total, this time 90, sufficing for victory. However, one recalls that the last ‘man’ was lady scorer Andi Ansell (“Come on guys we can f***ing do this” encouraged Ashton as she took guard) and Sunderland had been barred from the pub where they had taken their pre-match refreshment for boisterous behaviour, so they may not have been at their sharpest. Berkhamsted 2002 is of more recent memory, The Gents’ 155 sufficing with neither side all out. For consistent excellence of play, the Pak game was the equal of that. 2. Pak are a talented team who play with a joyful lack of inhibition. Such carefree play has characterised many of their international players, though not perhaps alumni such as Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar. Indeed, when their first two players turned up tracksuited and looking it has to be said extremely likely, there was a comedy intake of breath from Mr. Wright. Though some of them had a bit of a funny turn with the bat there can be few better bowling sides on the circuit. 3. The Gents held their catches and two of the only three misfields in the Pak innings (also see 6.) were by the incomparable Scibo, which shows how well what Mr Ashton used to call “the whazzpackets” did. 4. Skipper Buck led from the front with bat, ball and in the field (three catches, a total never exceeded by a Gent outfielder). 5. There was a great atmosphere between the teams... 6. …but (and this proves there is a God of Cricket) several Pak players had a Dave Bender moment and jeered Ketan Patel who, while fielding in front of the pavilion, let one through his legs for four as the pressure mounted in the final overs. Now Ketan is a placid, almost mystical guy, but this riled him and he turned round and said enigmatically “It’s a long time, mate.” A few minutes later the accomplished Azeem lifted his head and was bowled neck and crop to give Gents victory. Ketan’s smile said it all. 7. Buck maximised involvement and used seven bowlers, in keeping with the precedent set by Pak. He might have bought back the opening bowlers earlier but such a move could easily have backfired. His was a triumph of captaincy and he deserved his first victory whilst at the helm (“and the last one till Enterprise” he quipped, though expect Keith D. to have something to say about that).
The Monday after the game, Bill Flack bumped into his colleague in the Home Office, Pak skipper Khurshid Ahmed who was despite the defeat very enthusiastic about the game and the company of The Gents. Bill being Bill then guaranteed a towering Pak win in the return by loudly shouting “Loser, loser” at him while amused colleagues looked on. The Gents will reap the whirlwind one fears.
Ade Ballcock reads Gent 98 “As ever, a magnificent tome. There appears to be one typo in the Angries match report, i.e. you refer to our opening stand as ‘chancy.’ I believe this should read ‘chanceless.’ Otherwise, good work sir.”
(Only now that the dust has settled can the culprits who dropped Ade be named. Buck dropped him twice at slip, Scibo once at cover and Hemin on the boundary at long-on. Ed.)
Balance and perspective “Sadly for Staefa the excellent Andrews sustained a bad injury trying to prevent a Vine boundary and had to be taking to hospital by ambulance. This at least served to even up the teams at ten each.” (S. Bignell, 2005).
Bet that cheered him up as he lay there on his drip.
Lowlife What, we ask, was the best thing the moron who shouted “There’s no black in the Union Jack” across the pitch during the Pak CC game thought was going to happen? Did he think someone like HP or Ken was going to rush over to him and say “Good point, never looked at it like that before. Can we be mates?”
In the present climate of moral panic young men in hoodies have attracted attention from the great and good of the land, so is there any chance Home Secretary Charles Clarke could send an armed police car down to VRG on matchdays or perhaps issue a few thousand Burberry condoms around the local estates? Game 3: Victoria RG, Surbiton, Sunday, 15 May. Gents won toss. Sunny, 19° (PALs League)
Gents Buck up to shade a classic
A game that ebbed and flowed all day ended in The Gents’ favour when Tony Buck bowled Azeem, and celebrated by jumping into Richard Gilkes’s beefy arms, where he stayed for a good ten seconds. So, two points to start a league campaign that will finish on 9 July but of greater importance was the burgeoning of a relationship with talented and interesting oppo. The Gents’ barmily constructed 147 all out – they were 8/3 off 8 overs and 146/6 23 overs later – thus proved a match-winner by the narrowest of margins.
Pak lived up to their reputation as a reliable, friendly side and we were away on the dot of 1.15pm as captain Khurshid Ahmed unleashed the excellent Nasir and Ghafar on a fast, bouncy pitch, soon accounting for Justin caught behind, Scibo and Moon Cat. HP dug in well to support Nabil to the fifty mark. In blistering form from the off, the young Pakistani rattled six fours and a short railway boundary pulled sixer as he and Jim (six fours including a masterful cover-drive ball one) despatched the bowling hither and thither. Nabil fell lbw for 47 but Buck was in masterful form before being caught at gully, posting five boundaries.
However, on came wily spinner Ahmed, from the Ditton Road end and in a jiffy he had two Patels and a Toft to his name. Mr. Butt carefully defended the only ball he faced before Jim was bowled for a fighting but elegant 35. Several Gents expressed disappointment at the total of 146 having hoped for 160-plus, but it had been achieved against very good bowling and youthful, athletic fielding. Even with twenty boundaries and plenty of extras, Pak bowled their overs in two hours, a commendable rate in the warm sunshine.
After a tasty vegetarian tea on an Eastern theme, the bowlers set about their task, Graham unleashing a glorious inswinger to remove Pak’s skipper. Arshad and Fahid then batted well before the former edged low to Buck at slip. For the next hour, the visitors went bonkers, popping up a series of catches which, with the exception of a shell back to bowler Nabil, were all taken. Truly was the spirit of FC Chad abroad in this crazed period of mayhem. Scibo had Anser well held by the skipper running in from long-on, Fahid departed lbw to Wright, Ketan at cover judged a skier well off Scibo to ensure Adnan’s departure before getting the wicket of left-hander Nabid himself courtesy of Nabil’s sharp catch at mid-wicket. At 51/6 Pak were bloodied over the eyebrow, but not down, and Ghafar and Azeem soon began to up the scoring rate off the spin of Hemin and Ketan.
Ghafar essayed one too many lofted drives (Buck again at long-on off Hemin, very nonchalant) and at 80/7 Pak were second favourites but Shez, originally down to bat No.3 had other ideas, assisted by a frankly unacceptable barrage of extras (10 wides and 14 No balls, though HP outperformed his counterpart 6 byes to 18). Jim Wright was the only bowler in the whole day to bowl his full quota and he could be proud of his 7-0-17-2. Buck and Nabil were now bowling in tandem, but runs still came, the batsmen timing their shots well and running like hares. After 32 overs Pak were 134/7 and Buck brought back a fired-up Nabil.
An over of cordite cricket in the raw then saw 8 runs but two corking deliveries to splay back the stumps of Shez and Fawad, six needed to win. Azeem then lofted brave Buck for four over long-on first ball of the 34th. over, blocked the second and gave the third the charge with the field brought in. He missed and it was all over. The first victory of the season, the oppo gracious in defeat, a sunny day, it doesn’t get much better.
Thanks to Ketan Patel for filling in – to some effect – to help ensure The Gents’ first victory without Sanjay or Snarler for many a year. It was in the top ten club performances of all time.
Gents (won toss); Norcott 0, †Denton 9, Sciberras 2, Gilkes 0, Husain 47, Wright 35, *Buck 29, H Patel 1, Toft 0, K Patel 0, Butt 0 not out, Extras 27, 147 all out (32.2 overs) FoW; 0, 7, 8, 53, 113, 146, 147, 147, 147, 147 Bowling; Nasir 3-17, Ghafar 2-9, Fawad 0-11, Arshad 0-17, Nabid 0-18, Azeef 1-11, Shez 1-24, Ahmed 3-11 Catches; Fahid 1, Anser 1
Pak; Arshad 14, *Ahmed 2, †Fahid 12, Anser 3, Adnan 5, Ghafar 24, Nabid 2, Azeem 25, Shez 30, Fawad 0, Nasir 2 not out, Extras 32, 146 all out (33.3 overs) FoW; 1, 26, 30, 38, 42, 51, 80, 137, 138, 146 Bowling; Husain 2-22, Butt 1-17, Wright 2-17, K Patel 1-29, H Patel 1-20, Buck 1-22 Catches; Buck 3, K Patel 1, Husain 1
Won by 1 run Game 4: Victoria RG, Surbiton, Sunday, 22 May. Urban Associates won toss. Bright, 17°
Urbi et Orbi
As the new Pope said for those who do not have the Latin, Urban flew off into orbit here, a promising Gents’ batting line-up having the talent but not quite enough self-belief to win. After a blistering, unbeaten Scott Kirk 79 saw Urban post their usual formidable total, The Gents fell gradually shorter and shorter of the required run rate as the innings progressed. A fairly comfortable victory for the visitors then but it did not look that way on 99/6 or 125/7, with The Gents for the second game in a row catching everything. But Urban rattled up 45 runs in the final five overs and with that won the match. Though one senior Gent felt them a tad patronising towards the end, Urbans rattled through the sportsmanship test, not once polluting the fixture with an unsporting run out or refusal to walk off a catch. The Gents’ recent record against them makes sorry reading. A Dhruv-inspired 2001 victory was the only one since Mr. Ashton’s fifty led his side to a narrow win in 1996.
The run up to the game saw late changes aplenty but one has to have a cut-off point somewhere, so there was no place for Nabil, who became available at midday. The Gents could have done with him but the stand-ins performed admirably and bonded well. Sanjay bowled Howard early doors to herald The Gents’ best period of the match. Kalra edged Nilesh low to a diving gully Justin before the guest juggled then caught the dangerous Joseph at cover, again off the skipper.
Bush was brutal but when Gathercole, a parry and catch effort by slip Dhruv, and him departed (Buck returning the compliment) Gent tails were atwitch. Alas, Kirk was striking the ball very well, going on to strike 12 fours, four of them in a single Hemin over. He did not give a chance. There were further catches for Moon Cat at mid-wicket and an excellent doubleton for HP late on, including a stunner of an edged full toss that he caught via his throat, but they were rare upbeat moments in the onslaught.
Totals of this size are rarely chased successfully at this level but after working so hard it would have been a pity had The Gents capitulated. Things did not look good though when Howard induced a Moon Cat edge to slip Bush via the gloves of ’keeper Naidoo and bowled HP, but Dhruv and Justin did well in their differing styles at the beginning and end of the innings, the former’s innings ending gracefully when he walked after a fine nick that the umpire did not hear, though everybody else in the park did. The soft dismissal of the skipper, caught and bowled off a part-time spinner, Charlie Clift, he had just blasted for two fours, was disappointing and though runs came steadily after that point they did not come quite fast enough. In truth, Urban were pretty comfortable at this stage and Kirk was able to use eight bowlers, including Graham Young’s brother (yes, like Mike and Bernie Winters there are two of them). Justin, and to a certain extent Hemin and Ken, batted themselves into form though a rare 150 total against this oppo proved ultimately elusive.
Urbans’ fielding was top rate, led by three-catch hero Mr. Bush. And talking of Bush, no praise can be high enough for Mr. Gilkes, who coupled square-leg umpiring with Beaver Patrol duty, keeping the younger Gents duly informed by mobile phone of the whereabouts and disposition of the park jailbait, though by all accounts nobody had a crack at it. Never mind, as the young popsies performed a brief girl on girl routine, which our spies describe as being bang on. Finally, we note that the game started at 1.30pm and ended at 6.35pm. The tea break was longer than usual to give the Urban sprog a bat, so it took about 4.5 hours to bowl (when you add in the ludicrous 38 wides) 75.3 overs, a very good rate indeed helped by the relative infrequency with which The Gents found the boundary.
Urban Associates (won toss); Howard 2, Joseph 15, Kalra 0, Bush 33, Gathercole 4, *Kirk 79 not out, Clift 7, †Naidoo 6, Young 2, Johnson 0 not out, Barnes-Bush did not bat, Extras 21, 175-8 (35 overs) FoW; 8, 19, 23, 54, 63, 99, 125, 167 Bowling; S Patel 2-30, N Patel 1-9, Buck 1-32, D Patel 1-31, K Patel 1-35, H Patel 2-37 Catches; Denton 2, Buck 1, Gilkes 1, Norcott 1, D Patel 1, N Patel 1
Gents; †Denton 9, Gilkes 2, D Patel 30, Wilson 7, *S Patel 11, Buck 6, H Patel 11, Norcott 25, N Patel 0, Toft 5 not out, K Patel 1, Extras 35, 143 all out (34.1 overs) FoW; 4, 15, 32, 56, 69, 79, 112, 131, 143 Bowling; Howard 2-30, Gathercole 2-21, Johnson 2-21, Clift 1-15, Young 0-10, Barnes-Bush 0-15, Joseph 1-10, Kirk 1-12 Catches; Bush 3, Clift 1, Naidoo 1
Lost by 32 runs Game 5: Victoria RG, Surbiton, Sunday, 29 May. West XI won toss. Cloudy, 19°
Gents bow to Whitsun whirlwind
After a fielding performance described by Stewart Taylor at half-time as “brilliant” The Gents’ innings exploded with the finality of the scuttled German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee outside Montevideo harbour in 1939. Thus West XI won a convincing victory at gusty Surbiton. It is difficult to see how The Gents can come back to win the 2005 BAMC from here, though it would be disappointing if the next two games were not closer, as many recent clashes have been.
The game started a little late with four men playing their first BAMC game. Though three of them would not have liked the result, they would have liked the atmosphere, which was competitive but always sporting and friendly. Taylor, depping for the injured Chris Wright, won the toss, ummed for a moment and decided to bat but his hesitation looked misplaced as Vyas and Dane set about the bowling after Vine’s early lbw to Sanjay. Dane was dropped twice before a diving Buck poached him at slip off Scibo, who along with Nabil was the pick of The Gents’ attack. Vyas batted 24 overs in testing circumstances before shelling a Dhruv full-toss to backward square-leg Hemin. This lifted The Gents as a flurry of wickets fell in the final 15 overs, seven of them and only 72 runs added. The fact that these runs alone would have been enough for West XI would not have dawned on the participants. Clarke impressed with the bat but there were no weak links in the field – The Gents even managed two comedy run outs as Taylor and Hill were undone by misunderstandings.
It was the best outfielding performance against West XI for many a game, the only downside being the drops and too many extras, 15 Wides, 6 No balls (none harshly adjudged, there was no Ling in the umpire’s coat), 10 Byes and 4 Leg-byes. The Gents need to look at this.
What made the second innings so depressing is that with the exception of Richard Gilkes it is the strongest the club can currently field in the continued absence of Wayne Thompson. Yes, everyone is entitled to an off-day, yes, the pitch was bouncy, yes, the bowling was competent (and in the case of Vine, hostile) but SIXTY ALL OUT? For the record Justin was bowled, Dhruv superbly caught by Laing at deep fine-leg off a top-edged hook and HP lbw after a strokeless vigil. That was 9/3 in 9 overs, the top order having nurtured a required run rate of 4.7 up to 6.0 in 30 glorious minutes. Wright (picking out mid-off Taylor), Sanjay and Buck (both bowled having a heave) then fell to poor shots. Only Nabil showed any technique, striking four fours and defending well before edging behind to give Vine his first wicket, whereupon the Aussie great white shark began his feeding frenzy.
An example of how bad it was. In the 21.5 overs the Beggars bowled, there were about 12 sit up and tap me to the boundary please full-tosses, only one of which went for four (a Turpin pull). Few even saw bat applied to ball, and this with a lightning outfield. Gents batting has to be better than that.
The spectre of a sub-50 total was averted with some commonsense batting from Hemin, Turpin and Butt but Tony Buck had by now affixed a white flag, which he waved from the pavilion at the end of the game in a powerful if grim gesture.
West XI’s own match reporter noted that “The Gents are obviously a team in transition but played as well as they could in the circumstances against a West XI outfit that seems unstoppable at the present time.” That was a charitable comment on our own beloved club but bang on regarding a disciplined, talented but above all likeable Beggar outfit, who were the better side here by a distance.
West XI (won toss); Vine 8, †Vyas 38, Dane 32, Clarke 30, Bapu 6, Walton 4, Bhatt 1, *Taylor 4, Hill 2, Bignell 2 not out, Laing 2 not out, Extras 36, 165-9 (35 overs) FoW; 20, 89, 112, 127, 138, 142, 147, 155, 157 Bowling; Husain 2-18, S Patel 1-31, Wright 1-21, Butt 0-17, D Patel 1-30, Sciberras 2-29 Catches; Buck 1, H Patel 1, Turpin 1
Gents; Norcott 2, †Denton 2, D Patel 3, Wright 1, Husain 20, *S Patel 1, Sciberras 5, Buck 2, H Patel 4, Turpin 9 not out, Butt 1 out, Extras 10, 60 all out (20.5 overs) FoW; 3, 7, 9, 23, 33, 42, 44, 44, 54, 60 Bowling; Dane 1-5, Taylor 2-12, Vine 3-8, Hill 2-21, Laing 2-4, Bignell 0-6 Catches; Vyas 2, Laing 1, Taylor 1
Lost by 105 runs Game 6: Old Haberdashers CC, Elstree, Sunday, 5 June. Gents won toss. Cloudy, 19°
Stalwarts resurrect Saints
A tense game ended in a deserved victory for Southampton, who took eight catches and paced their reply to a patchy 116 all out perfectly. With the majority of the runs and wickets, and certainly the best bowling spells, a fact capable of worrying interpretation to The Gents, the guests performed admirably and so nearly ensured a welcome win, but it was not to be. Yet again it was the batting that let the side down, though if one is in thankful for small mercies mode there were two promising early stands, the Tristan/HP project of 19 being 15 runs higher than anything else for that wicket this season.
Old Haberdashers was a new ground for the chaps but all bar the Sanjay retinue found it on time, V/C Burman by now having seen Mr. Thomas wrongly call tails and choosing to bat. It seemed a good toss to win, though the Saturday pitch was used and was a bit worn in places. A secure start was made against Frood and Burrrell (the latter returning after some years away) and the innings seemed to have survived the dismissal of HP but was then unravelled as the fifty came up with the introduction of the slow men, Tristan, Bhav, James and Justin falling in the blinking of an eye. The Saints took some good catches (they would pouch eight in all) as The Gents took the aerial route but good counter-attacking for Neepam, debutant John Robson (a big Bristolian) and Ken saw the ton up. Sanjay failed again, poor bloke, picking out one of the fielders cunningly placed by Thomas in positions three-quarters of the way to the boundary. Burman drilled back to veteran bowler Tony Grimes with 33 balls left unused and it was a below par but not disastrous 116 all out.
The skipper’s excellent pre-match pep talk had not obviously borne immediate fruit but at least the innings did not collapse totally. As the players tucked into their sandwiches (denounced as “full of slimy stuff” by Mr. Denton, who condemns salad, mayonnaise, pickle and the like as rabbit food – give him a ‘Steptoe and Son’ cheese doorstep with a raw onion any day) some amusement was had at the bizarre attempts by Mr. Lewis (who had earlier turned up in a pacy Alfa Romeo Cabriolet muffmagnet looking quite dapper and competent) to pour himself a cup of tea, something he had apparently never done before. Milk went everywhere.
Trevor Mayhew set about his task with panache, driving one four and slicing a second over the slips in the very first over. Graham had Cronin sharply held by square-leg Tristan and when Mr. Lewis chipped to square-leg at the top end Mr. Lewis, it was game on. A contest of rare skill between Bhavesh and Trevor saw the latter rather harshly adjudged lbw, though he might have been given two overs before. Bhav and Tristan bowled very tightly, conceding just 4 and 14 runs respectively in their spells
Mr. Thomas pointed out after the game that it had been deliberate policy to hold some batters back, and therefore that cock-a-hoop cavortings and proclamation of an extra half-day’s holiday for the whole school that greeted the fall of wickets four to seven may have been a tad premature. But at 80/7, though only needing a manageable four or five an over, Saints were on the ropes. But Peter Berkeley, a very good bat, and Gary Speedtwin, unorthodox but powerful, were not in the least bothered by the pressure and scored boundaries and scampered singles often enough to keep the run rate under control.
Runs never came in a torrent – they didn’t have to – but a couple of boundaries in Sanjay’s penultimate over swung the game Saints’ way. He was leading well under pressure but had to find a sixth bowler, and turned to James to bowl the final over with five to win. They came with a wide and two twos but James had done his best, as had everyone else.
Gents; Haddow-Allen 15, †Denton 7, Vyas 22, Lewis 0, Norcott 2, Robson 16, *S Patel 1, Bhatt 26, Toft 13 not out, Butt 0, Burman 1, Extras 10, 116 all out (29.3 overs) FoW; 19, 52, 52, 52, 55, 66, 75, 102, 104, 116 Bowling; Frood 0-6, Burrell 0-6, Pearce 0-16, Thomas 1-17, Berkeley 5-27, Griffiths 2-30, Grimes 2-3 Catches; Cronin 2, T Mayhew 2, Burrell 1, Grimes 1, Thomas 1, Wingfield 1
London Saints; T Mayhew 14, Cronin 6, Grimes 6, Griffiths 12, Frood 5, Burrell 2, Wingfield 15, Berkeley 21 not out, †Speedtwin 19 not out, Extras 10, 117-7 all out (34.3 overs) FoW; 12, 27, 35, 43, 51, 51, 80 Bowling; Bhatt 1-28, Butt 1-29, Vyas 2-4, T Haddow-Allen 2-1 Patel 1-19, Lewis 0-4 Catches; Butt 1, T Haddow-Allen 1, Lewis 1
Lost by 3 wickets 2005 West London fixtures
‘Transitional’ Gents stand at 1-5…but Beggars romp to 6-1! Bags of fun coming up with four successive away games, a quirk of the fixture computer but one which might enable the batsmen to build up their self-confidence. Please note and respect the differing start times as in many cases they will be a condition of ground hire by our hosts. There is a league to retain and two cups to regain so let’s be having you. Commiserations to Westies, victim of a Wayne Thompson 146 not out on 5 June.
PALs PALs League (three team league, Gents, Pak and New Barbarian Weasels) BAMC Bob Ashton Memorial Cup (Gents, West XI, best of three) LNC Lord Nelson Cup (West XI, London Saints, Walthamstow Horizontals Twenty 20) 42-11 42-11 Cup (Gents, St. Anne’s Allstars)
Competition Corner
Chump Doku
Mindbender The editor of a cricket magazine is spending his Boxing Day, as he does every year, correcting the grammar, spelling and punctuation of the Christmas cards he has received and posting them back without a stamp to the originators. Down to a mere three cards after a few years of this, one says “Merry Christmas,” one “Merry Xmas” and one “Happy Christmas.” Irritated, he prepares to correct and return two. But which two? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ŠThe Gentlemen of West London Cricket Club 2005
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