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As we finally got to our last day of ECS action for at least 9 months, we also finally got to face our biggest rivals in the tournament. We were already mathematically out of the tournament but there was certainly pride to be played for against table-toppers Men in Blue, as well as giving a couple of guys a run out. Shriram had to sit this one out, so James Bentley stepped in as skipper again. Game 1 James lost the toss and we were put in to bat. Ash Reynolds posted his third 50+ score of the tournament as he carried his bat (55* off 24), and was ably supported by a rapid innings from Imran Fareed (39 off 12). Ash also had a 60 run-partnership with Umer Razi (24), although his strike-rate was a pedestrian 150. Umer and James were dismissed off the penultimate and last ball of the innings respectively, to leave the momentum with MIB. We posted a respectable score of 132/4 but could definitely have done with two boundaries to finish with (and more than the measly one no ball and no wides that they offered us)! Their number two batter and wicketkeeper also carried his bat throughout the innings as MIB completed the chase relatively easily. Vishesh Gajjar would pick up the only wicket of the innings in the fourth over, and no one would be more “economical” than Zain Bashir’s 0/28 off 2. We just about clung on to the losing bonus point as they completed the chase after 7.3 overs. Game 2 MIB again won the toss but this time chose to bowl. As has happened too frequently in this tournament, our performance (especially with the bat) suffered in the second game. Imran (17) once again had a mega strike rate, but could only last for six balls before getting out LBW. Umer, batting at 5, scored a helpful 21 (at a slower strike-rate than in the morning) as wickets fell around him. Otherwise, only James and Zain managed double-figures as we were bowled out off the last ball of the innings for just 85, Caspar Oliver having the privilege of being the last man out run out without having even faced a ball on debut! The first five balls went for 17 and it seemed the game would be over very quickly. Amazingly the next seven balls went for just four runs and contained three wickets (one for Kieran O’Donnell and two for Jones Paulson). Zeeshan Dildar then got a wicket in the next over and those of us watching from home/ work started to dare to dream, even as a couple of catches went down. Sadly, that would be the end of the fun and the game was done in the sixth over, with Caspar again there to end the innings with a bang! Our tournament was done and dusted and we became firm Men in Blue fans for the rest of it, given our good relationship since their creation a few years ago. They managed to get to the final but lost to Pak Barcelona there. Our congratulations to them! We will be back for more ECS action in November, which gives us plenty of time to practice our big hitting! Sam Phillipps
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Our penultimate day of action saw us face Pak Barcelona for the first (and second) time. Shriram Bhosale lost the toss, and we were put into bat. Game 1 Despite Imran Fareed falling cheaply early on, the second-wicket partnership of Anton Kritzinger and Ash Reynolds (31 off 19) was a good one, without them ever going completely mad. The dismissal of Anton (24 off 10) in the middle of the fifth over brought on a flurry of wickets, as we collapsed from 53/1 to 62/6. That sixth wicket brought Zeeshan Dildar to the middle and he alone got us up to a respectable score, after those quiet middle overs. The last over went for 31 despite Vishesh running himself out off what would have been the last ball of the innings but for it being a wide, as Zeeshan finished on his BICC-top score of 42* off just 12 balls. We scored 124/8 despite looking sketchy to reach much more than 100 before the last over. Once again, our realistic goal was to defend the total long enough to win a bonus point. Fortunately for us, Pak Barcelona didn’t seem overly interested in going for that point. Zain Bashir would get an early breakthrough, with a wicket off his first (legal) delivery with a diving catch by Umer Razi at point that would win the “play of the day” and almost have his trousers off. It would be the one and only real highlight of the innings though, as the next pair were pretty much always in control. They eventually knocked off the winning runs off the penultimate ball of Khyzer Nawaz’s ninth over to claim the win. Game 2 Shriram finally won a toss and chose for us to bat first. Imran and Ash opened again, getting us off to a slightly better start before Imran played all around one and was bowled for 18. Ash and Anton came together again for the second wicket, and despite a slow start for Anton, went up through the gears. We reached 66/1 after six overs before the pair of them really accelerated, with the last four overs going for 25, 20, 17 and 25 runs respectively. When the last ball was hit for six by Ash (72* off 29), we passed 150 for the first time in ECS cricket and set our highest total. Anton too passed 50, finishing on 54* off 21 with the partnership unbeaten on 120. With 154 needed to win we were in with a real shout. The shout turned more into loud talking after the first four balls went for six (and the fifth for four) but Zain would dismiss the batter into the next over. In a case of deja vu, the next two balls also went for six and eventually the powerplay would cost us 62 runs, although James Bentley would claim a wicket with the last ball of it. The next pairing formed a partnership almost identical to Anton and Ash’s. A slowish start for a couple of overs eventually turned into carnage and despite a significantly higher score, Pak Barcelona would chase down the target two balls earlier than the first game. In the end, the big difference game in the powerplay scores (34 vs 62). We did at least again claim the bonus point. Just two games left for us in this tournament then, and they are against table-toppers and old frenemies Men in Blue on Tuesday. Sam Phillipps We headed into our third-last day of action knowing we needed to start getting some wins, although we had three of the best teams to face still. Today’s task was Royal Barcelona, who were flying high at the top of the group. Game 1 Shriram Bhosale lost the toss and we were put in to bat. Ali Osama got us off to a decent start with 16 off the first over but the other two powerplay overs would only see us score 16 between them. Ali (24 off 11) was caught at cow corner at the end of the third over and a mini collapse would occur, as we went from 30/0 to 36/3 in 7 painful balls. A better partnership would form between current captain and former captain Umer Razi, although he wasn’t hitting quite as cleanly as he might have liked at the start. Shriram was also caught at cow corner (26 off 9). Umer stepped up a gear although he lacked a big-hitting partner. He finished on 40* from 20 balls and we scored an underpar 122/6 against a strong batting line up. Despite some luck and thick edges, the Royals matched our powerplay score within two overs. James Bentley did get a wicket next ball, but they continued their onslaught throughout the rest of the over and the start of Anish Shindore’s fourth over. He did manage to get a wicket with a beautiful slower ball, although the umpire was less keen on his now legendary celebration. Two more wickets fell in the next two overs, one to Vishesh Gajjar and one to Zeeshan Dildar but the Royals were still heading to a bonus point win. They fell just short of that fortunately for us, finishing the game after 7.1 overs. A total of 122 was never going to be enough against them, so we did well to get a point out of it. Game 2 The Royals again won the toss, but decided to bat this time. The first over went for 26 but Vishesh removed the dangerous opener in the second over. Despite being hit for two sixes after that, the 13 runs he conceded would be the most economical over for a while… James got a wicket in his first over but this only began a rapid 95-run partnership. Kieran O’Donnell was unlucky in the fifth over, as he had both batters dropped in an eventful, and according to commentator Vinny “decentish”, over (wide, wide, 6, drop, 6, drop, 6, 6). It wasn’t until Vishesh came back in the ninth over, with 200 looking very possible, that we regained some control. His over went for only nine runs and finally ended the partnership that had been going since the third over thanks to a brilliant one-handed catch by Anish at long-on. Khyzer Nawaz came on for his first ECN bowl in the tenth, and amazingly only conceded three runs and picked up his first wicket off the final ball. They finished on 182/5, almost definitely still out of our reach but we had at least still avoided conceding 200 in the ECS. Needing 128 for the bonus point, Ali got us off to another good start. 20 was scored off the first over that had the commentator daring to dream, and Ali himself dancing. Sadly, the other end didn’t go so well. The second over started with a hattrick and only went for one run and that all but wiped out any slim chance of a win. Jon Wong was then run out at the start of the third before Ali and James put on a partnership. Ali was eventually dismissed for 41 (off 19) when he toe-ended one to mid-wicket. Disaster struck in the next over as a second hattrick of the innings was taken and we went from 70/4 and a good chance of the bonus point to 75/8. The efforts of James and Vishesh weren’t quite enough, and we finished on 114/9, after James was comically bowled by a off-cutter long-hop. One point from the two games wasn’t quite enough or what we needed. Our next games are on Thursday against Pak Barcelona. Sam Phillipps Our second set of Saturday fixtures of this ECS were against Catalunya Red, and again we had incredible availability. The games were to be followed by our 2023 prize-giving ceremony, so there was a good crowd in (including club legend Ted!). Game 1 Red won the toss and chose to bat, but lost their captain second ball as Vishesh Gajjar had him caught at long-on by James Bentley. Vishesh and James managed to keep the powerplay relatively inexpensive (despite Shriram Bhosale’s best efforts) and they were 36/1 after 3. Anish Shindore, making his ECS debut, had a brilliant first over going for just three runs and getting his first ECN wicket. Zeeshan Dildar kept the pressure on next over with another wicket, a bail-breaker, before dropping a very high caught-and-bowled opportunity. Sam Phillipps would be next to get a wicket, combining once again with Imran Fareed in the deep. There would be another drop later in the over when James “well he has sticky fingers” Bentley pushed one over the bar for six instead. The next three overs would prove a bit more expensive, as Red pushed to try and get a defendable score. James (2/11) pulled it back in the final over, conceding just four runs and getting two wickets (as well as there being a run-out last ball). Red finished on 118/8. Their below-par score was just what our out-of-form batting line up needed. As he often does, Imran went out to open with the wicketkeeper, in this case Jack Jewson. Imran got us off to a reasonable start, and we matched Red’s 36/1 powerplay score, with Jack having just been bowled attempting to flick one into the legside. A quick 40-run partnership formed between new bat Umer Razi and Imran before the latter was caught and bowled for 44 off 20. As has often happened this week, the middle order failed to fire. Ever the clubman, Damien McMullen retired hurt before fellow Aussie James toe-ended one and was caught at long-off. With the penultimate over going for just seven, we needed 23 off the final over. The second ball being a no-ball and going for two runs, before the free hit went for six helped and we were looking good. Sadly Shriram missed the next ball and was run out after Umer attempted a single to the keeper. Another dot ball killed the game despite another six next ball, and we finished on 111/5. It was another game where we fell antagonisingly short. Game 2 This time we won the toss and Shriram decided to bat. We were gifted five wides off the first delivery but soon Imran was bowled around his legs and Anish, promoted to open, was bowled in front of his legs. In the third over, we were gifted five more wides, and four byes but lost the services of the Bentley to leave us 34/3 at the end of the powerplay. The next over saw some big hits from Umer and went for 15, before the runs really dried up in the middle overs once again. Umer’s batting partners came and went before he was finally dismissed at the start of the last over, caught in the deep (40 off 24). Shriram became only the second batter to reach double figures batting almost one-handed with two quick fire boundaries before the third shot couldn’t clear the rope. A high no-ball off what should have been the final delivery was swatted for four by Vishesh before he was run out off the final ball. With that four, we had at least scrambled past 100, finishing on 103/9. Red were clearly looking to finish it quickly and get the bonus point. Their captain Sandal, having got a duck in the first game, was smashing everything everywhere. Despite the wicket of his partner in the third over to James (following a great catch by Vishesh), they finished the powerplay beyond halfway to the score on 59/1. Absolutely no one could keep the scoring rate down, although Vishesh would get a wicket off his own with an inswinging slower ball that hit the top of middle. Dave Martin came on to bowl what would turn out to be the final over, and was cruelly denied a wicket following a controversial height no ball call, but it mattered little. Sandal would stay til the end finishing on 66, as they completed the chase in 5.4 overs and claimed the bonus point. We packed up and headed upstairs to award the prizes from last season, before heading out for some food. We’ll be back on Tuesday against Royal Barcelona, now rooted to the bottom of the table. We have just six fixtures left, all against strong, in-form sides. Sam Phillipps  Together 'til the end. Photo: Diana Oros, European Cricket On Thursday afternoon we faced Catalunya Dragons for the first time. They had started the tournament late and slowly and were still looking for their first win. Game 1 Shriram Bhosale lost the toss and the Dragons chose to bat. It was to be a tough 45 minutes for the bowlers, with Imran Fareed’s bowling the most economical at 13 an over. The powerplay went for 50 and we finally got a breakthrough in the fourth, as Dhiman toe-ended it off James Bentley, with Shriram aggravating his wrist injury in catching it. Runs continued to flow as was shown in Zeeshan Dildar’s first (eventful) over, with a wicket in the middle breaking up a run of sixes. Imran came back and picked up a deserved wicket in the sixth but the Dragons were heading towards a monster score. Further wickets came for James and Zain Bashir but could not slow them down. The final over went for 27 despite there being three run outs and saw Shriram have to be removed from the attack. The Dragons finished on 186/8, and we had a difficult task to even get the losing bonus point from the game. With the realistic target of 131 to get that one point, our now usual opening pair of Imran and Ash Reynolds went out. Imran got off to a slow start but Ash at the other end was flying and reached 38 off 14 balls before chopping onto his stumps. This woke Imran up and he suddenly started hitting the ball to all parts, and we started creeping up towards the required rate. Imran was brilliantly caught at short leg for 45 off 22 and with no one else able to contribute even double figures, we ended on 113/5 and the four points went to the Dragons. Game 2 This time Shriram did win the toss and elected to bat, although the openers did not fare as well. Both ended up walking back to the dugout in the second over, to be joined shortly by Jack Jewson when he was run out brilliantly from the deep having been dropped. Umer Razi also went cheaply but the fifth-wicket partnership was at least a good one. James Bentley, having not scored off his first five balls suddenly exploded. He hogged the strike for most of the next few overs and reached a maiden 50 on just his 19th delivery, but was out next ball. He had been ably supported by Zeeshan, who was also providing some lusty blows but none of the bottom five scored more than two runs and we finished on a well-below par 115/9. Again, our realistic target here was to claim the losing bonus point, by making them need more than seven overs to chase the score down. Despite two boundaries from the first two balls, Vishesh Gajjar’s first over went for just nine runs and it seemed that this could be possible. The scoring rate improved significantly in the next two overs, but then Vishesh came back for his second over, conceding just three runs this time. Either side of that over, James claimed two (very expensive) wickets to keep his tally ticking up. The fifth, sixth and seventh overs went for 64 runs, but couldn’t quite reach the target in time. Just one more ball was needed to get the final run but we had at least managed to claim a point from a bruising day. We’re back again on Saturday against Catalunya Red, who have also petered off after a good start. Sam Phillipps Our two games on Tuesday morning were against the reigning champions Catalunya Jaguars, who have had quite an upheaval of their squad since December and started the tournament very slowly. Some last-minute additions saw them play better at the weekend but they were still there for the taking. Or so we thought… I’ll keep this one short as there’s not much to write home about! Game 1 We didn’t even win the toss, with Shriram Bhosale’s weighted coins (allegedly weighted coins, lawyers) failed him, The Jaguars chose to bat and flew along throughout the innings. Tom Coulthard finally took his first ECN wicket in the fourth over getting their dangerous opener and captain Haider out for 33. Every over, bar one, went for at least 12 runs as the Jaguars went about racking up a big score. Shriram bowled his second over in the ninth, and despite it lasting 12 balls he only conceded seven runs and got a wicket, after Ash Reynolds "Alex Careyed" his opposite number Qasim Ali. Jaguars finished on 153/2. We couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, with only four coming off the first two overs and both openers being dismissed in that second over. The third and sixth over provided a bit of something about but apart from those two the first seven overs went for three runs or less. James Bentley (30*) and Tom Coulthard (27*) provided some fireworks in the final three overs but it wasn’t even enough to reach the 108 target to get the losing bonus point. We finished on 100/4. Game 2
This time Shriram did win the toss and chose to bat. Imran Fareed was back for the second game and opened up with Ash but it didn’t go much better. Both were back on the bench within seven balls which did at least bring together two of the brighter sparks from the first game in Umer Razi (40*) and James. They got the scoring going a bit more for the next couple of overs before James holed out. Ali Warriach (45*) came in at 5 and the two batted out the remaining 6.1 overs to take us to something resembling a competitive score - 116/3. The Jaguars’ chase was once again helped by a whole heap of extras and some out of character wayward bowling. Imran and James did at least manage to control the scoring a bit in their first overs and they were 52/2 after four overs. Smelling the chance of stealing the bonus point, Jaguars went for it and hit 67 in 2.5 overs from there to take it from us with a ball to spare. Tails between our legs, there was not much else to do but applaud our opponents, who comprehensively outplayed us in both games. We move on to play the Catalunya Dragons on Thursday afternoon. Having started the tournament late, they are still yet to get their first win. They’ll be two crucial games in our fight to reach the next round. Sam Phillipps With captain Shriram Bhosale out having injured his wrist in our previous games, James “Bent-skip” Bentley took the BICC reigns for the first time. Clearly Sohal were scared of this, and didn’t even bother turning up for the toss of the first game. James chose to bat first. Game 1 With our regular opening partnership of Imran Fareed and Ash Reynolds also broken up, Anton Kritzinger was sent out to open with Imran. It was a relatively slow start in the first over, but the two of them picked up the pace and we ended the powerplay on a respectable 41/0, mostly thanks to Anton (32 off 12). Both openers were dismissed in the fourth over which brought together two former club captains in Umer Razi and Damien McMullen (not that anyone in the club remembers Damien’s spell as captain!). The two kept the score ticking over well in the middle overs until Umer (28 off 14) was caught at deep square leg after toe-ending a swivelled pull shot. Our longest-serving player was joined by one of our newest in Suraj Jha and another steady partnership formed. We weren’t flying along against a team more known for its batting ability than its bowling but there were never any disastrous overs. The final two overs, containing the wicket of Suraj bowled, though went for just 17 which was perhaps a bit below par. We finished on 119/4 from our 10 overs. Sohal on the other hand definitely got off to a flyer and for the first 11 balls we were just hoping to keep the game going for seven overs in order to claim our bonus point. With the score already on 43, all scored by Asjad Butt, Vishesh bowled a slower ball that he misjudged and he was plumb LBW. We had a very important breakthrough and things slowed down drastically from there. Imran’s over went for just nine before the skipper brought himself on. He had one caught at long-on by Imran (more of that to come) whilst conceding just two runs and suddenly it was game on. Imran and James bowled out, conceding just 11 and five runs respectively as James ended on impressive figures of 1/7 from his two overs. Sam Phillipps was brought on for the seventh over and had a bizarre wicket first ball, as Ali left an inswinging yorker, expecting a wide, only to turn around and see it had clipped leg stump. Sam claimed two more wickets thanks to the catching of Imran at long-on from his last two balls and now Sohal were struggling at 79/5. When Zeeshan claimed a wicket in the next, very economical, over, we were looking to be well on top. Despite an extremely harsh no-ball that went for six in Sam’s second over, Sohal needed 20 off the final over to win. Zain Bashir was brought on for his first bowl and went for four off his first ball… But only five singles would follow and the game was won before the last ball was even bowled. Our second victory of the ECS this year and James’ first as skipper! Game 2 Somehow the first game had ended early so we had a good 25 minutes in between games. With the oppo now here, James lost the toss (for the first time all tournament) and we were asked to field again. Jones Paulson came in for his first ECS game in place of POTM Sam (terrible selection policy at play, if you ask me). Sohal started rapidly, reaching 59/1 from their powerplay, Imran getting the wicket in what was otherwise a very expensive third over. From that point on, at least one wicket would fall in every over as we began to control the scoring a bit. Stand-in skipper James would get two in his first over, although it was the most expensive non-powerplay over. Dave Martin’s legspin cleaned up in the fifth, bowling the batter first ball before only conceding seven. It was Vishesh’s turn in the sixth, as one was skied up to Suraj in the covers. With the pressure building, Dave’s next over produced a runout following a good, quick throw from Zeeshan and some smartwork from stand-in keeper Umer. The two would combine again in the next over as Zeeshan got the batter to edge one through to the keeper. Jones came on for his first bowl and quickly got his first wicket, another edge through to Umer. The skipper brought himself back for the final over and got a third wicket (3/23) thanks to a good catch in the deep from Vishesh. We had really pulled it back well after the first four overs and Sohal ended on a very chasable 132/9. Our innings did not quite start at the same rate as Sohal’s. Just four runs came off the first over which included the wicket of Anton first ball (LBW again, with less whinging this time). Things got better in the second and third over as they went for 16 and 13, meaning we ended the powerplay on 33/2 after the wicket of Imran (23 off 11). Two more wickets would fall off consecutive balls in the fourth, with both Zain and Suraj bamboozled by some skyhigh pies. This brought Damien into the crease alongside Umer again and the pair continued from where they had begun in the first game building a 59-run partnership. Both rode their luck with dropped catches and were struggling to run so big hits were required and Umer (37 off 19) was certainly delivering until mistiming one and being caught at midwicket. The skipper walked out at seven but the all-Aussie partnership didn’t last too long. These couple of wickets in two very cheap overs all but put us out of the game. An unlikely 31 was needed off the final over, but just 10 came off it. Damien finished on 27* to complete a good first day of ECN cricket for him. We had at least claimed the losing bonus point, meaning we had four more points on the board and reached the dizzying heights of fifth place in the table! We settled down for a drink and watched some of the following game, briefly accompanied by ECN commentator Vinny “Mr Maximo” Sandhu. There’s a big week ahead of us, with games against the three Catalunya teams, Jaguars on Tuesday, Dragons on Thursday and Red on Saturday. Bring it on! Sam Phillipps |
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