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Our last day of the competition was also the last day of the group stage. Given the results from the previous day, we knew that we were out but there was still a small speck of pride to play for in terms of not finishing bottom, as well as just wanting another win! Our two games of the day were both against Royal Barcelona, a team that we hadn’t played before. Game 1 We once again won the toss (I’m pretty sure we’d win the ECS tossing competition!) and elected to bowl. The Royals put on a formidable total, despite a debut ECS wicket for the returning Ravindu Maduranga (flown in from Germany just for the day!) and another for Joseph Danam. Eight bowlers were used in total, as Umer Razi spread the workload around and gave everybody a go. They finished on 162/4. We got off to an absolute flyer thanks to Ali Warriach (69* off 29). After a couple of cameos from Ravindu and James Bentley, he was joined by Shriram Bhosale who was grateful to break his run of ducks as he scored 47* off 23 balls. Thanks to them, we were in the game until the last over. Needing an unlikely but not impossible 28 to win, the two only managed 10. Their unbeaten 96-run partnership had taken us to our highest score of the tournament of 144/2 but we finished 18 runs short. Game 2 This time we lost the toss but the Royals elected to bat first again. James once again was the pick of the bowlers with 1/19 from his two overs, but he couldn’t stop Royals just beating their total from the first game as they finished on 166/2, Joseph getting the other wicket with the penultimate ball of the innings. Ravindu shone with the bat scoring 65 off 30 balls, but didn’t get much support from the other end (it was another game where extras were second top scorer…). He was eventually run out in unfortunate circumstances. Shriram top edged a ball onto his chin and Ravindu called him through for a single that ordinarily would be on. He was run out trying to return to the non-striker’s end and Shriram retired hurt the ball after. We’d effectively lost our two biggest hitters in the same ball. No one else could get anywhere near the required rate and we finished on 121/5. Thus ended a chastening first experience of the ECS. Despite the results, it brought the club together well and, whilst there are perhaps some scars amongst the players to have played every game(!), in general it was an enjoyable experience and one we can’t wait to repeat at the end of January! Hats off to James Bentley, Vishesh Gajjar, Shriram Bhosale, Burhan Ejaz and Umer Razi (minus one where he was 12th man) for playing every game! Sam Phillipps
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By this point, our target was clear. We needed two victories from our remaining five games in order to progress (with one of them against Sohal Hospitalet), although that relied on Sohal’s other game going our way. Catalunya Red We started the day against Catalunya Red, who had improved significantly through the tournament. We won the toss and elected to bowl. With six great overs from Shriram Bhosale (2/20), Burhan Ejaz (2/21) and Vishesh Gajjar (2/17) and two slightly more expensive wickets for James Bentley (2/33) we limited them to a very chasable 128/8. Despite a great bowling performance, our batting was well below par. Openers Ali Warriach (24 off 14) and Maroof Shaikh (13 off 9) got us off to a reasonable start putting on 36 for the first wicket in 3.2 overs. Sadly we would lose two more wickets without scoring another run, a sign of things to come. We collapsed to 62/6 before again losing our last four wickets without scoring a run as we were bowled out in the eighth over. The group sat down to lick their wounds and watch the crucial Bengali vs Sohal Hospitalet game. There was bad news for us as a shock win for Sohal saw us mathematically eliminated from the tournament. Sohal With heads now down, the next game didn’t provide many positives beyond winning the toss. Sohal were put into bat and their opener Asjad Butt scored a rapid 116* (37 balls) to fire his team to a mammoth 178/5. Extras were their second top scorer with 19, as to show his influence! Our collapse from the first game continued, and we were 19/5 after the three over powerplay, with the top four batters only providing one run between them. The lower-middle order provided a bit more, with skipper Umer top-scoring with 22* off 14 from number eight. Again, extras was the second top scorer but there’s a difference between 116 and 22! We finished on 68/9, at least avoiding the embarrassment of being bowled out twice in a row. Bengali We won our third toss of the day and stand-in captain Shriram elected to bat (with Umer nursing a hand injury from the previous game). There was at least an improvement in the batting in the evening game as the opening partnership between Imran Fareed and Maroof lasted four overs! They were dismissed in consecutive balls before the skipper fell to the team-hattrick ball for his third duck of the day. Ali (19* off 15) and Burhan (29* off 15) put on a 55-run partnership and took us to 114/4. Bengali made fairly light work of the chase, despite two great overs from James (1/13) and an over from Imran that went for just one run (but don’t ask him about the second over!). They completed it with 9 balls to spare. Just one day and two games left, and the only pride left to play for was not finishing bottom of the group… Sam Phillipps On our fifth day of action we were to face Badalona and Jaguars again, hoping for a repeat of the “surprise” victory against Badalona and maybe an upset against the Jaguars! Badalona scorecard We won the toss and elected to bowl against Badalona, the same tactic we used in the first game. Things looked good after two balls, when Shriram Bhosale dismissed Nitesh caught and bowled. Sadly, the other opener Omar Ali was in fine form and proceeded to dispatch (nearly) everyone around the park. Despite no one else scoring more than 19, his 107 projected Badalona to a well-above par 170/6. He was only stopped by Kieran O’Donnell, playing his first ECS game, who was trusted with the final over. Having got Omar bowled he claimed two more wickets with the final two balls to end with impressive figures of 3/7. Despite knowing that the chase was highly unlikely, we went out to attack and try our best. There were some decent knocks from Shriram (23 off 10), Umer Razi (34 off 15), Burhan Ejaz (24* off 10) and Jack Jewson (14* off 6) but we were always well behind the rate and we finished on 122/4 from our 10 overs. Jaguars scorecard Our second game of the day was against Catalunya Jaguars, who were performing well and had comfortably beaten us in our two previous matches. We won the toss and elected to bat. Ali Warriach, promoted to open the batting, top scored with 30 but most struggled to get the ball away with any consistency. James Bentley, in at 7 also got a very quick 28 off 11 balls. There was some running chaos in the final over which ended with the commentator singing the Benny Hill tune to Burhan and Pep Mateos’ running off the last ball! We finished on 112/8, which was unlikely to trouble the Jaguars. Sure enough, they made short work of it and chased down the total in 7.2 overs. Hamza Dar, having scored a century against us in the first game, scored 83 before Kieran had him caught and bowled. It was to be the only wicket we’d get in the innings. Two defeats in the day but we’d be back the very next day with three must-win games, and ones in which we fancied our chances. Sam Phillipps Our fourth day of action came quickly on the heels of the third day, with back-to-back days of action for the first time. We had three games on Day 12 of the tournament, against Catalunya Red, Sohal Hospitalet and old foes Bengali CC. After finally getting our first victory the day before against Badalona, we were keen to target at least two more against these three opponents. Catalunya Red - scorecard Red were one of two new teams to us here, a club that was formed a couple of years ago to enter the Catalan over 40s franchise league but has since moved on to incorporate younger players. Umer Razi lost the toss and we were put in to bat. After a successful chase and our highest score of the tournament the day before we were confident of putting on another big score. Imran Fareed opened with Anton “Mr Vegetables” Kritzinger but the former didn’t last long. Umer walked in at 3 but was struggling to get bat on ball consistently, and despite a couple of late boundaries was eventually out for a run-a-ball 18. When Anton (27 off 20) followed him back to the dugout three balls later and James Bentley one ball after that we were in a bit of trouble. Fortunately Tom Coulthard (26 off 8) and Shriram Bhosale (19* off 9) saved us with some late big hitting in a 49-run partnership that only ended when Tom was run out off the last ball of the innings. They had dragged us up to a defendable 112/5. Despite Maxi Hoeck’s first over only conceding seven runs, and Vishesh Gajjar getting a wicket with his second ball, Red were well ahead of the rate by the end of the powerplay. James (claiming the second wicket in a rare moment of us actually catching one off his bowling), Vishesh and Maxi brought it back a bit in the middle overs but they were still on top and 21 runs coming off of Shriram in the 8th over basically sealed the game. They hit the winning runs next over to win by eight wickets with six balls to spare. Once again our batting had fallen 15-20 runs short, and there was some carelessness in the field that leaked more runs.  Batting against Catalunya Red Sohal Hospitalet - scorecard Umer again lost the toss and again we were put into bat first. Anton opened with Tom, promoted back up the order to where he was last week. Anton was dismissed off the final ball of a relatively quiet first over, meaning Tom was joined by Maroof Shaikh. Maroof played some glorious drives on his way to 15, showing that T10 isn’t all about slogging and whacking. He was out off the last ball of the powerplay, in which we had only accumulated 28/2. This brought Shriram to the crease, and he continued on from his morning cameo by dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground with eight 6s. He was ably partnered by Maxi for a 57-run partnership that lasted four overs before Maxi was bowled. Shriram (62 off 21) was eventually the first of three run outs of the final over, as all lost their heads failing to get the right person on strike. As a result, only four runs would come off that final over and it meant we finished on 119/7 when 130-135 was on the cards. Maxi again opened the bowling and again had a great first over, conceding only six despite bowling three wides. Sadly the next two overs would help Sohal recover somewhat and they ended the powerplay on 39/2, Shriram had again been at the centre of all that’s good, as a great catch followed a brilliant run out from long on as we claimed two wickets in two balls in the second over. The third-wicket partnership was a damaging one for us but things looked more promising when Maxi bowled their opened Latif just short of his 50. Despite none of the middle order really shining, the top order had done enough to get on top, coupled with some wayward bowling costing us 14 runs in wides. Burhan had his best game with the ball in a while, finishing with 2/26 from his two overs but it was not enough as Sohal finished the chase with four balls remaining. We walked off cursing the final over of the first innings, and our generosity with the wides. Bengali - scorecard We didn’t have long to get over the previous defeat before we were straight back out there. We had easily beaten Bengali earlier in the season, but they had recruited a number of players for this tournament, including internationals from Portugal and Sweden. Umer finally won a toss and we elected to bowl first. Maxi and Shriram got us off to a good start before a string of expensive overs had us in trouble. Sam Phillipps finally claimed the first wicket of the innings in the eighth over, and Umer joined that party in the ninth dismissing the other opener. We had been far more disciplined with the ball and our fielding was good despite it being the third game of the day, but the two Bengali openers (74 off 25 and 49 off 23) took the game away from us. They posted a score of 161/2. Anton was joined by a third different opening partner of the day, Dev Mahadevan this time. Dev’s innings (30 off 18) was one of the few highlights as we struggled to get their quick, experienced, international bowlers away under lights. Only Imran Fareed and Shriram (19 off 5) reached double figures before both were run out. Bengali gifted us 13 wides and five penalty runs for completing their overs too slowly, which only helped us trickle into three figures. We finished on 103/9, a 58 run defeat. Umer and Maxi, in at 10 and 11 due to injuries, did at least avoid the embarrassment of us being bowled out by seeing out the last five balls. There would be a ball from our innings that would end up spreading around social media, after Tom hit one and the bat ended up snapping in two. Never one to miss out on a comedic opportunity, he grounded the bat handle after completing the single before requesting a new bat from the dugout. At least we'll remember this game for something! The 12 players joined the bumper crowd that had been cheering us on from the stands for a drink. We now have a break over the weekend, before eight games in three back-to-back days starting on Tuesday. If we can get our act together and get through the group, those three days may well turn into four or even five days of consecutive action (although that’s not looking overly likely at the moment!). Sam Phillipps Our third day of play, Day 11 of the tournament, saw us playing against Badalona and Catalunya Jaguars, two teams who we are familiar with from the Northeastern league, but two that have brought in some other players for this tournament. Badalona CC - scorecard Given our longstanding good relationship with Badalona, and the number of very familiar and friendly faces in their squad (BICC members included!), it is fair to say that there was an added incentive to beat them and get our first ECS victory. Umer Razi won the toss and decided to bowl first. The bowling attack did a great job of keeping the scoring rate down (an expensive second over from Burhan Ejaz aside) with every other of the first six overs conceding single figure runs - Vishesh Gajjar even bowled a maiden over! Despite this, the opening partnership continued and decided to attack in the seventh over, bowled by Shriram Bhosale. Vishesh returned to get a well-deserved wicket in the next over, with Badalona captain and former BICC guest Omar well caught by Jack Jewson standing up to the stumps. Despite some lusty blows from former BICC player Surya, Badalona could only get to 124/1 from their allotment. Anton “Mr Vegetables” Kritzinger was sent out to open the batting with Umer, and he hogged the strike for most of the 3-over powerplay getting us off to a flying start with 29 coming off the second over. He soon passed his 50, dissecting and moving the field about with some clever shots. Umer was seeing more of the strike by the middle overs and started to play some shots himself. At the end of the 8th over we needed just 17 runs with two set batters, but then Surya had Anton (69) plumb LBW. 12 were still needed off the last over as Maxi Hoeck came out to join the captain. Umer left the first ball of the final over, hoping for a wide that wasn’t coming. A single and a rushed bye to the keeper followed meaning we still needed 10 runs from the final three balls. Umer then connected with one that flew over the fence towards the commentators tent at leg on to ease the pressure somewhat. Clearly that pressure got to the bowler as two wides followed before Umer (39) was run out after deciding against trying a second and not reaching his ground. Maxi was on strike with us needing just one more run off the final ball. He glanced the ball down to third man (who had not been brought in close for some reason) and him and new batter/ runner Dev Mahadevan easily scampered through for that all important run to get our first victory of the tournament! Catalunya Jaguars Our second and final game of the day was against Jaguars, who had just suffered a surprising defeat to Bengali CC. They won the toss and asked us to bowl first. Like Anton in our first game, their opener Hamza Saleem Dar, a Spanish international with three centuries to his name in the tournament, hogged the strike during the powerplay. The first four overs all went for at least 20 runs, despite Vishesh picking up the wicket of the other opener first ball. In the fifth and sixth overs, Shriram and Imran Fareed managed to bring the runrate down a bit (only going for 11 and 13 respectively!) and claimed a wicket each but Hamza at the other end was clearly in a mood and our bowling as a unit was not as good as it had been in the morning. He went on to finish on 121* off just 40 balls, setting us a very tricky target of 188 to win. Our chase wasn’t helped when Umer was bowled first ball to a great inswinging yorker. Imran and Dev put on a good partnership, scoring quickly before that man Hamza dismissed Dev and Imran (30) fell soon after. Another good, quick partnership followed between James Bentley and Maxi and whilst they were going there was still a chance of an unlikely upset, although the sixth over only going for five put the brakes on that. James was bowled in the eighth over for a well-made 31 off 17 and Shriram took over the big-hitting responsibility. Him (22 off 8) and Maxi (37 off 16) were both dismissed in the final over with the game long gone. Our jokey spare-shirt wearing duo of Joseph “Butter-Finger” Danam and Kieran “Golden” O’Donnell saw out the end of the innings, with Kieran blocking out the final ball to avoid getting a golden! We finished on 140/6, 47 runs short but our highest total of the tournament so far. With that bit of good news and the win in the morning, it was deemed a very good day! We’d be back the very next morning for three, very winnable, games. Sam Phillipps  Our three fixtures on our second day of play, Day 7 of the tournament, were exactly the same as the first day and we were keen to get revenge on the three teams who beat us on the Friday! Magic CC - scorecard After the opposition failed to show up on time, we were awarded the toss and captain Umer Raz chose to bowl first, going against the norm of not wanting to field in the early morning chill. Despite that, we got a brilliant start with their top three all dismissed for a duck as our opening bowlers of Burhan Ejaz and newly-appointed 2024 captain Shriram Bhosale picked up two and one wicket respectively. The next pair steadied the ship a bit and scored a few runs before Imran Fareed claimed the fourth wicket with his legspin. There were two wickets in the following two overs too, both of the first ball of Maxi Hoeck and Vishesh Gajjar’s overs. The score reached 105/6 when Imran ran Waqas out on the last ball of the penultimate over. Vishesh bowled the final over, which went dot ball, caught and bowled, run out to the keeper and bowled as we finished with four wickets in five balls and a team hattrick! Vishesh ended up with very nice figures of 1.4-9-3! 106 would be a very chasable total. Imran and wicketkeeper Maroof Shaikh opened the batting but sadly didn’t fare too much better than the Magic openers. Anton Kritzinger and Tom Coulthard came in next and did much better getting us ahead of the rate and looking ever-more likely for a first ECS victory and a great start to “Revenge Day”. When Anton was dismissed for 21 though, things went a bit south. Despite another new BICC top score (his fifth in a row!) of 42* for Hotdog Tom, he was rather let down by his batting partners at the other end who could only manage eight runs off 21 balls between them. Somehow we went from being favourites to losing the game by 20 runs. We headed up to the stands for a couple of hours to lick our wounds. Spartans Hospitalet - scorecard Our second game of the day started off just the same as the first, with us being awarded the toss due to another no-show and again Umer chose to bowl first. The Spartans however got off to a much better and quicker start than Magic had, despite the loss of one opener in the second over after he nicked through to Maroof off Shriram. The next partnership lasted almost six overs and put on 80 runs, the vast majority coming from the opener Hussain. The partnership was once again broken by golden arm Vishesh. Sam Phillipps came on for the next over and got the wicket of Ibrahim (66) caught by Maxi Hoeck in the deep, just a ball after Maxi dropped one in the same position. Vishesh, still not finished, claimed two more scalps in the next over for another cheap three-fer (3/16) before Burhan returned to bowl the final over. It was to be an expensive one and propelled The Spartans to 140/6, despite a wicket off the final ball. In another change at the top, Umer decided to open with Imran but the skipper was bowled in the first over. Anton was also bowled in the next over for a duck and Tom broke his record-streak by scoring just six. It was to be a tale of the middle order, as no one could stay in the middle for long to support Imran, with Shriram also falling cheaply before Imran was frustrated to be given out LBW (with the oppo almost definitely appealing for caught behind). Maroof came and went before finally James Bentley (29) and Maxi (13*) put some momentum back in the innings. Sadly the required rate had just gotten away from us and it was to be too little, too late. We finished on 114/7, 26 runs short in what had looked like the most winnable game of the day. Pakicare - scorecard Having just watched Pakicare batter the living daylights out of The Spartans, breaking various ECN records along the way, we weren’t so confident of getting revenge here! Still, stranger things have happened in sport… In a break from the day’s tradition, Umer had to actually go to the middle and toss but still managed to win and chose to bat this time. Our innings really struggled to get going and only top scorer and number seven bat Shriram (with just 13) and number eight Vishesh (two balls faced, two fours scored) managed to score at anything like the sort of rate required in a T10 match against the former European champions. The Pakicare boys have clearly hit some form and we stumbled along to 74/7. Knowing that victory from this point was looking almost impossible, we set out to the field hoping to stop their juggernaut and at least delay defeat as long as possible. Golden arm Vishesh was to open the bowling, having been forced out of the attack in our previous game against Pakicare after a straight drive went straight onto his ankle. He would get our long sought after revenge with the first ball of the innings, as record breaker and Spanish international Muhammad Ihsan hit the ball down to Shriram at long on. The whole team went wild to the calls of “you’d think they won the tournament!” and Pakicare were 0/1. “Just nine more, lads!”, could we, could we? In short, no, and that was to be the end of our fun. Over the following 29 balls Pakicare knocked off the required runs to claim victory. We had at least avoided being the quickest defeat of the day! So, revenge day didn’t exactly go to plan… On Thursday we will face Badalona, still stinging from their three losses against us two weeks ago, and Catalunya Jaguars who we also faced in the Northeastern league back in June. Sam Phillipps  Shaking hands with Pakicare at the end of the game. Having been originally carded to open the tournament, we eventually got our campaign going on the fifth day. It was an early 8:45 start with games to come against Magic CC, Spartans Hospitalet CC and Pakicare CC. Magic CC - scorecard Captain Umer Razi, after arriving to the ground in near pitch blackness, won the toss and decided to avoid fielding in the cold. Umer opened the batting with Maxi Hoeck, who was out quickly. Keeper Dev Mahadevan came in next and would finish on a well-made 29* from 22 balls. Umer was caught having made 23 off 15 which brought Imran Fareed to the crease. He smashed 5 sixes on the way to a 19-ball 53 before eventually being dismissed in the final over. We posted an underpar 112/3 from our 10 overs. Magic had started the tournament well so we knew we’d have to bowl well. Their openers got them off to a great start, helped by a few comical dropped catches, before Anton “Johnny Vegetables” took a good catch off the bowling of Imran. In the very next over, Mr Vegetables would get a wicket of his own and get us excited that we might just defend it. Sadly, despite a third wicket near the end for Umer, we just didn’t have enough runs on the board and Magic finished the chase with eight balls to spare. Spartans Hospitalet CC - scorecard After a two hour break, we were back to face Spartans Hospitalet. Having lost the toss, we were asked to bowl first. Spartans were yet to win a game so we were hopeful of getting our first victory! Maxi and Burhan Ejaz, unused in the first game, opened the bowling and got us off to a great start by really keeping the runs down and picking up a wicket a piece in their first overs. Vishesh Gajjar bowled the third and another wicket fell to a great run out by the skipper. James Bentley bowled the fourth, picking up a wicket with his first ball and we were well on top. An expensive over from Shriram Bhosale followed, before Maxi and Burhan returned to pick up another wicket each and two very cheap overs. Sadly the final two overs from Vishesh and Will Camfield were slightly less cheap and they finished on 115/5. It was still a below-par score that we were confident of chasing. Umer opened with Tom Coulthard in something of a surprise - his previous experience opening the batting on a Youtube stream ended with him dismissed before the stream even started! A slow first over built the pressure and Umer edged off in the second over. Our middle order and Tom performed well, with Tom (27), Shriram (12) and Anton (23) all hitting with a strike rate in excess of 225. With the game ours for the taking, the steady flow of wickets wasn’t helping and Jon Wong and Dev weren’t quite able to keep up with the rate and we finished on 97/6. A second disappointing loss in a game that should have been ours. Pakicare CC - scorecard Our final game of the day was against Pakicare, the European T10 champions in 2022 and the first team we had played against before. Whilst less optimistic here, we were hopeful of putting up a good show and giving them a tough game. Umer won the toss and chose to bowl. It was a tough 45 minutes in the field, with every bowler bar one getting dispatched around the ground by Spanish international Muhammad Ihsan on his way to 120* off just 40 balls. Vishesh was the one bowler to really impress, and the only one to pick up a wicket in his 1.5 overs, that went for just 15 runs. Only a blow to the ankle off a straight drive could stop him! His 11 balls “restricted” Pakicare to “just” 182/2, with the other wicket a run out executed by Vishesh and keeper Dev. In this game Imran (27) was sent up the order to open with Tom and the two did well at the start, albeit considerably behind the 18 runs an over required! Umer came and went quickly and Shri was dismissed first ball for a “Golden Derek”. Jon and Tom saw out the remaining overs. Jon finished on 16* and Tom carried his bat for 32* as we ended on 91/3. Three defeats on our first day, but a great time was had by all! We’re back on Sunday to play exactly the same teams in exactly the same order in what some are calling Revenge Day! Sam Phillipps |
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