Weekend Report: Mixed week sees 2s and 3s return to winning ways

1st XI vs Chiswick (Harry Marston)

After back-to-back defeats, Tomek Tsang’s 1s welcomed Chiswick to Meadvale Road, looking for 10 points in the final overs game of the early season block.

The Trees were on top from the off as Jack Soloman (2-23) and George Allen (1-18) reduced the away side to 25-3 in the powerplay. However, Chiswick dug in through Price and Oldreive, the pair sharing  46-run partnership. That stand was was broken by Pravin Jadhav (2-31), who claimed another straight after to leave Chiswick teetering on 74-5.

Once again though, Chiswick refused to roll over; Oldrieve and Birtles set about rebuilding the innings with a patient 54-run partnership. Skipper Tomek Tsang (3-19) found a breakthrough with his first ball, Birtles stumped by Aadil Khan for 27. Harry Marston (1-34) then dismissed Oldrieve for 36 as 128-5 became 128-7.

Some late hitting prolonged Brentham’s fielding effort into the 44th over and dragged Chiswick up to 172, a score which kept both teams interested at the half-way stage.

That target looked well within reach as Brentham raced to 41 without loss but, as he had with the bat, Birtles’ (6-44) became Brentham’s scourge with the ball.

He took the first four wickets to fall for 21 runs, bringing on a collapse to 6-28. Resistance was offered by Lucas Smith (23) and Daniel Taylor (13), who kept Brentham in the game where other teams might have folded. George Allen (13*) continued to grind out the runs as the Trees got to the last four overs needing 28 to win.

However, with only one wicket in hand, upping the rate was always going to bring its dangers, as happened when Jack Solomon was caught at long-off for the final wicket.

After the game, Vice-Captain Soloman said: “Despite the loss and dip in form I think we have a lot to be excited about. I think we’ve learnt a lot and will bounce back next week.”

With the time games starting this week, the 1s face a trip to Milverton Road to take on South Hampstead.

2nd XI (Ciaran Brett)

Saad Rehman’s 2s recorded their second victory of the season, in emphatic fashion, with a 125-run success away at Twickenham on Saturday.

Batting first, on a good track, and a fast outfield, Brentham took full advantage. Nohan Behzadnia’s 76 at the top of the order was the rock on which the Trees 291-7 was built.

Around him, captain Saad hit 29 off 23, Ijaz Hussain blitzed a 52-ball 66, which included four large maximums, and Dhiraj Khullar provided a late acceleration with 30 off 16 balls.

All that, added to 42 extras, saw Brentham up to an imposing 292 run target.

After 20 overs of the reply, however, the hosts looked set to make light of their chase, reaching 120-1 and seemingly motoring.

This was the time for spin to take over. Ashfaq Ahmed (9-0-28-1) and Jayrajsinh Jadeja (9-0-33-2) bowled beautifully in tandem, dismissing both set batsman and drying up the runs.

From 124-1, Twickenham were quickly 139-4, with the rate going from 6.5 to nearly 9 in the blink of an eye.

After Ashfaq and Jayraj bowled out, Atif Shah (3-31) and Faiz Khan (2-36) came back to blast through the tail as Twickenham were dismissed for 166, a collapse of 9-42 in 14 overs.

7th in the table, the 2s host high-flying Indian Gymkhana at Brentham this weekend.

3rd XI (Ciaran Brett)

They often say that low scoring games can be some of the most exciting and that was certainly the case as Chris Jones’ 3s scrambled over the line by 3 wickets, chasing 86 against Hornsey on Saturday.

On a surprisingly two-paced pitch as William Perkins and with a slow outfield, both bowling attacks took full advantage.

Led by Ciaran Brett (5-27) and Mohsin Hassan (3-22), Brentham were all over the visitors in the early

stages, reducing them to 26-5. Only 2 of Hornsey’s top seven passed 4 as the Trees returned to the bowling and fielding level which had secured back-to-back promotions over the previous two years.

Some late hitting from Hornsey’s 8 and 10, took them past 50 and up to 85 before Jamie Mansi (2-7) was introduced to chisel out the tail.

At 13-0 after two overs, there was absolutely no indication what was about to happen, as three balls later Brentham were 13-3 following a hat-trick from the Hornsey opener.

Jaz Rehal was bounced out in the next over before Mohsin was out LBW, to leave Brentham 18-5 after five overs.

That brought two wise heads in John Clapham (16*) and Rajiv Patel (30) together. Knowing there was no run-rate pressure, the pair just batted and batted, putting away the odd bad ball and taking the extras on offer.

Slowly the tide began to turn as Brentham reached 69-5 before Rajiv was bowled. Skipper Chris Jones took out 11 of the remaining 17 required in a breezy five ball stay, allowing JC to crunch a straight drive down the ground and scamper a single through square leg with Vijay Pamu to secure victory.

6th in the table, Brentham head to Eastcote on Saturday with both sides level on 22 points after 5 games.

4th XI (Ciaran Brett)

The 4s were on the end of another narrow defeat, losing by 4 wickets to Twickenham, defending 166 at Broom Road.

On a typically spicy pitch down by the river, nobody was able to compile a match-defining innings for the Trees.

6 of the top 8 got into double figures but only Haroun Islam (32), Chris Whelan (21) and Ranveer Singh (33) passed 14 as the Trees lost wickets at regular intervals.

Having reached a competitive-looking score of 166, Brentham’s opening bowlers quickly made that look like an excellent score.

Siddharth Tyagi (2-36), Richard Taper (1-27), and George Yates (1-3) reduced the hosts to 31-3 and 68-4. However, an unfortunate injury to George meant he could only bowl 14 balls, and Twickenham took advantage.

A watchful 56 from Twickenham’s number 3, Steve Watts, and 41 from their number 6 turned the game, their 67-run partnership breaking the back of the chase, as the home side got over the line with four wickets and 16 balls to spare.

Looking for a third win of the campaign, the 4s host bottom of the table Harrow St Mary’s next weekend.

5th XI

Once again, we were able to get a 5s out. As is so often the case with lower team friendlies, it was difficult to get the balance of the fixture right as North London’s 6s racked up a mammoth 371 before bowling the Trees out for 59.