Twickenham – 155 all out after 46.5 overs
(K.Rand – 42 ; L.Brown – 27 ; M.Robbins – 3 for 34)
North London – 156 for 1 after 25.5 overs
(Hayter – 71*; Fowler – 53*; R.Kulkarni – 1 for 14)
Cricket is a funny old game that plays tricks on the mind and eyes of those that dare to attempt playing it - or in Alan Wilson’s case I’d say watching it! From the heroics of last week’s performance, beating top of the table Acton convincingly by 6 wickets, to the humbling defeat or should I say hiding to nothing by 9 wickets against North London this past Saturday, this game certainly knows how to keep us all enthralled with it or absolutely despondent from it!
This past Saturday the Ts were at home against North London and for all the rights that were written about last week, somehow all the wrongs came out this week. The day started with the loss of their 8th wicket hero from the previous week early doors on Saturday, who had been called up to the 3s due to some shuffling of the packs higher up. A replacement was well found in Harmeet Singh, which enabled colt Tom Hopkins to move into the 5s. This followed with a text message to the skipper from his opener Sayeed, advising him he is stuck in Luton buying a car and will be late – unfortunately the skipper didn’t realise how late he was going to be as Sayeed eventually turned up 2 ½ hours after “kick-off”! Maybe he should have contacted Paul Johnson for a car instead, that would’ve have been so much quicker.
The opposition had arrived early and well in time for the start of the game; in fact they were there even before skipper Kriess arrived to open up the Nursery changing rooms. One has to be impressed, as it is so rare that sides coming from the North London region are punctual and in time for the start of play. The toss was won by North London, who had no hesitation to have a bowl – looking at the state of the pitch it certainly seemed the right decision.
And North London were not left disappointed as Twickenham struggled from the off and wickets tumbled on regular intervals. Opener Donelan and Walker added no runs, skipper Kriess had one bashful shot through the mid-wicket region but he succumbed to his opposite number caught behind for 7. Ubale made a quick fire 23 before holing out to a full bunger delivery. Young Lawrence Brown looked like nothing could trouble him and he was rather unfortunate to be out caught by a delivery clearly above hip height, but somehow no no-ball was called! Alistair Quantrill contributed 13 to the now “very below par” total.
In stepped Karl “The Wilf” Rand who showed us all how it’s done with a controlled and patient 42. Wilf even ran 3 on one occasion and without his contribution the Ts would have indeed been almost equalling the tally made by the Aussies in the first innings against Pakistan in the 2nd Test. Sayeed eventually turned up and added 11 to the tally. The tailenders Shri, Rohan and Harmeet all added little to the ultimate total of 155 all out of 46.5 overs
Tea was fruitful and relaxed, especially for North London, knowing they needed to chase 156 for victory in 45 overs at 3.46 runs an over. Not that difficult really but skipper Kriess was hoping the dreadful wicket could deteriorate even more – unfortunately this never happened! North London never struggled and chased down the total comfortably with the loss of 1 wicket in 25.5 overs. Only Rohan Kulkarni managed to get a wicket, that of opener Kelly(16) caught well at mid-on by young Lawrence Brown. Even with Kriess rotating the bowling as much as he could and thought best, to the disgust of certain players, a breakthrough never happened and batsmen Fowler (53*) and Hayter (71*) never looked troubled. The 4th XI was never at the races for this game and it was indeed a very disappointing result.
Next up the 4s are away to Southgate and hopefully they can bounce back in positive style!
Holger Kriess
4th Team Skipper