Weekend Review: Trees unbeaten across League sides

1st XI - Harry Marston

An inspired bowling spell from Jack Solomon ensured Brentham bounced back from three straight defeats with a comfortable victory at South Hampstead on Saturday. Winning the toss and bowling first on a positively overcast day, the Trees ran through their opponents at Milverton Road.

Yogi Prabhu (1-24) on his return took the first wicket: a perfectly pitched delivery that nipped away, finding the edge of the dangerous Muafey. It was then over to Jack who steamed in to bowl a match-winning spell. From 33-1, Jack ripped through South Hampstead’s middle order to end with outstanding figures of 14-3-48-6. Alongside Cody Pyne’s impressive 6-2-8-3 it meant that South Hampstead were blasted out for 82.

Chasing down such a target on this pitch was nowhere near as straight forward as Rohit Khullar made it seem. He manoeuvred the bowling attack with his strong wrists, finding gaps in the field that appeared not to be there. His 47 off 70 was the stand-out knock in the rain affected second innings.

The intermittent rain breaks put the certainty of a finish into question and, at one point, echos of previous batting collapses rang clear around the Brentham camp. Yet Khullar’s resolute innings, ably assisted by five penalty runs, helped the visitors canter to a five-wicket win.

After the game, Tsang said, “It wasn’t pretty but most importantly we got over the line. A bit like Chelsea in Munich in 2012”

Third, three points off second, Brentham host second-from-bottom Alexandra Park on Saturday, with albeit only ten points separating the sides in a very tight Division Three table.

2nd XI - Ciaran Brett

The rain ruined a fascinating finish at Meadvale Road between Saad Rehman’s 2s and Indian Gymkhana on Saturday.

Batting first, Brentham reached 57 without loss through Thirath Goane (18) and Ijaz Hussain (41). However, once they fell, to leave Brentham 74-2, it became a procession with Deepanshu Chadha (7-34) the architect of the collapse. The Trees lost their last nine wickets for 45 to post a total of 119 in 34 overs.

After starring with the bat, Ijaz (2-31), alongside Tejpalsinh Jadeja (2-17) took early scalps with the ball as the visitors limped to 24-4.

Atif Shah (1-13) made it 49-5 but here was to be no grandstand finish. With the score at 66-5, Indian Gym 54 short of the target, and Brentham half-way to 10 wickets, the rain came down and washed out the remaining play of the day.

With only 19 overs bowled in the reply, both sides took 3 points from the encounter following the abandonment.

Eighth in the table, with a ten-point buffer to ninth, Saad takes his side to fourth-placed Stanmore on Saturday.

3rd XI - Ciaran Brett

Chris Jones’ 3s took four points from their trip to Eastcote, the weather decidedly coming down in Brentham’s favour at Haydon Hall.

Winning the toss and bowling, Brentham’s attack, which had skittled Hornsey for 85 a week earlier, was blunted by the hosts' top three, who played the situation perfectly. James Hitchcock’s wonderful one-handed catch at slip removed one opener with the score on 52, the first of Jayraj Jadeja’s six wickets on the day, but Eastcote moved on serenely to 117-1 before Brentham began making inroads.

Jayraj (6-74) worked his way through the middle order while Tom Barry (3-37) proved too hostile for a number of Eastcote’s remaining batsmen as the home side eventually finished on 208 all out in the 50th.

At 24/4 in reply, and with 36 overs still to bat, Brentham needed help and it came in the shape of a heavy downpour in north-west London.

With overs taken out of the game, The Trees’ target was now 104 in 25 overs for the four points and Hamza Khan (38 off 30) led the charge to that total.

At 91-7, with seven overs remaining, Eastcote again had a sniff of all 10 points but Rajiv Patel (25*) continued his fine form, supported by Ciaran Brett (8*), to take the Trees past the four point total, before shutting up shop to ensure no late drama – the Trees finishing on 115-7 off 25.

Sixth in the table, there’s the big local derby this weekend at William Perkin as Ealing 4s come to town.

4th XI - Ciaran Brett

Krushna Kerai’s 4s made sure they beat the weather with a quickfire victory at home to Harrow St Marys.

Having inserted the hosts, the wickets were shared around throughout all the bowlers, as nine of HSMs batters failed to reach double figures. Richard Taper (2-31) and Siddharth Tyagi (2-15) took the early scalps before the returning Aaron Bolger (3-11), and Ranveer Singh (3-30), finished off the innings.

In reply, Ankit Hirani (38) and Jaidev Pindoria (28) got Brentham off to a fast start, taking the score past 70 inside 11 overs. With the back of the chase well and truly broken, it was left to Haroun Islam and Chris Whelan (both 6) to get the Trees over the line for a six-wicket win.

Fifth in the table, the 4s head to leaders Willow Leather this weekend.

MDL - Ciaran Brett

Brentham's MDL side got their season off to the best possible start with a ten wicket win at home to MTSSC.

Bowling first, Brentham reduced the visitors to 1-3, and 15-6, before eventually skittling them for 44. Five of the six bowlers used took two wickets with 15-year-old Will Pye's 2-10 and 16-year-old Christian Ladwa's 2-3, the pick of the figures.

In reply, Brentham needed just 22 balls to complete the chase, George Allen hitting eight of his 13 deliveries to the boundary in a score of 34.

This weekend sees a much sterner test for the Trees in the shape of Ealing at Meadvale Road.