Wins all round on the opening weekend

Pravin Jadhav’s reign as Brentham 1s captain got off to a winning start as our first weekend of friendlies ended with three victories from three. On Saturday, there were encouraging wins over Wembley while Sunday saw a thriller away at Streatham and Marlborough.

A new-look 1s, with four winter arrivals in the XI, batted first at Vale Farm. The Trees lost Aadil Khan early but Thirath Goane and Zaraq Nazir steadied the ship and took the score to 48 before Zaraq departed. Preet Patel then hit a fluent 21-ball 30 as Brentham passed three figures inside 19 overs.

Preet was bowled shortly after, bringing the skipper to the crease to join the well-set Thirath. The pair kept the run rate up, Thirath passing his 50 in the process, before both departed in quick succession to leave The Trees 140-5. However, Algie Corbin and Derrick Roper, both batting on debut, ensured that The Trees would post a competitive total, putting on 51 for the sixth wicket. Some late hitting from Saad Rehmann and Usman Maqbool then took Brentham to 243 off our 40 overs.

Wembley started well in reply, reaching 50 without loss inside eight overs. The removal of their opener soon after, caught behind by Aadil off Derrick, didn’t halt their progress. At 88-1 off 12 overs, they looked well set but everything changed in the next 18 balls. Derrick cleaned up the skipper before Tom Barry trapped their number four LBW. Tom then got the big wicket LBW to remove their opener who was on 66 off 37.

That quick treble-strike knocked the stuffing out of Wembley’s reply as Brentham kept chipping away with the wickets. Last season’s Player of the Season Usman Maqbool took one with two for Preet, one for the skipper, and a run-out seeing Wembley end on 173-9 off their 40 overs.

If the 1s win was comfortable, then the 2s win over Wembley was emphatic. Getting first use of the square at Brentham, Vish Patel’s side plundered 320 in 41.3 overs before skittling the visitors for 70.

Led by Jaz Rehal (46) and Lucas Smith (45) at the top of the order, The Trees hammered Wembley to all parts. Tomek Tsang added 55 batting at three as Brentham reached 167-1 inside 19 overs. A couple of quick wickets didn’t halt the progress as Jack Solomon came in at five to top score with 72. Useful contributions from Vish, Chris Jones, and Hemen Mehta, supporting Jack, took Brentham well past 300 on our first knock of the season.

In reply, four of Wembley’s top five fell in single figures as Jack continued his fine outing with 3-12 off seven while Vish took 2-3 off his three overs. The wickets after that were shared around with Chris, Shahil Sheth, Dan Taylor, Tomek, and Hemen all taking one each as Wembley’s innings was wrapped up in 35.3 overs.

On Sunday, Streatham and Marlborough won the toss and chose to bat on an early season green-top at Dulwich Common against a Brentham Club XI.

It should have proved to be the wrong decision, but a number of early chances didn’t quite go to hand and those that did then went to ground. The home side cruised along to 50-0 after seven overs before the breakthrough came. George Allen bringing a false shot out of the free-scoring opener, Ciaran Brett holding the high catch at Deep Square.

Another good partnership took Streatham towards 100 but once the second-wicket fell, yorked by Chris Jones, the wickets began to tumble. The hosts lost 4-20 around drinks, Krushna Kerai grabbing two of them with the spin duo of Pratyesh Desai and Baz Raniga getting the others, to slip to 119-6. Some careful late order batting meant the hosts batted out their overs, despite a wicket for Richard Taper and two for Jaidev Pindoria, to reach 160-9 at the close

Brentham’s reply begin smoothly. Despite the early loss of Lucas Smith, Derrick Roper and Kishor Dattani took The Trees past 30 inside six overs. However, Kishor was well caught at slip and PD was run out for five to leave Brentham teetering at 52-3. George then came in to steady the ship, rotating the strike excellently with Derrick as SMCC struggled to restrict the flow of runs.

Derrick departed for a well-made 33 but Jaidev picked up the mantle as the runs continued to flow. Six boundaries in his first 47 balls took Jaidev to 49 and Brentham to within 30 of victory. However, when he mistimed a full-toss going for his 50 and was caught that brought a familiar Brentham collapse. 129-4 became 142-7, including the set George going for 30, meaning we needed 19 off the final six overs with Ciaran and Krushna at the crease. A pair of twos, a guided four, and four byes reduced that equation to five to win off 19 balls but there was to be no comfortable finish.

Ciaran was yorked and Krushna caught off a full toss to leave Brentham still four short, with the last pair of Richard and Baz at the crease. After patting back five balls, Richard carved the final ball of the third-last over through point for four to level the scores. And the winning run came two balls later as a leg-side delivery beat the keeper’s dive, allowing Richard and Baz to scamper through for victory.

Thanks to hosts Streatham and Marlborough for an excellent afternoon as we look forward to welcoming them to Brentham on 31 July.

This weekend’s action sees the 1s and 2s face each other in an inter-club match at Brentham with Sunday fixtures at home to Aldenham and away at Ickenham.