Brentham 212- 8 Dassani 4- 66
Abbasi- 2- 58
Twickenham 107- 7 C. Bhangu 32
N. Walder 19
Result- Draw- 1 point
The 5th X1 second game of the season was a tough encounter away to the willing Brentham 4th X1. Skipper Dassani lost the toss and was put into the field first. With only 9 players on the field due to the late arrivals Brentham’s two young opening pair took advantage of that by running cheap single and doubles. They even hit a few boundaries when the opportunity came.
The new ball was taken by new boy Abbasi looking to continue his form and on the opposite end was skipper Dassani. Abbasi was the most effective by getting some away movement whilst Dassani had an average start. With the opening pair starting to settle Dassani decided to take himself off after 4 over’s and bring on BT to cut the flow of runs.
The first wicket came in the 9th over and it was Abbasi to claim it with a catch behind by deputy keeper Tom Davies. Young batsmen Raza was out for a decent total of 16. BT instantly made an impact on the younger players who were not getting enough room to hit the ball around and the dot balls were becoming more persistent.
Abbasi finished his first spell after completing his 7th over and Dassani replaced him. Thankfully our two late arrivals were introduced to the game and this was a huge relief for the T’s as Sanjay Rawal was instantly getting involved with some fine stops in the field. The second wicket was soon to follow and it was skipper Dassani to add more pressure to Brentham with a caught and bowl delivery.
In came R. Petifer at number 4 and he was instantly injected with nerves and pressure with some feisty deliveries from BT. All game he was struggling against BT and on several occasions he just managed to avoid going back to the pavilion. Dassani continued to bowl consistently well by bowling stump to stump and getting very close on several occasions. But after getting tired the skipper ended his spell after the drinks break and introduced David Brad Pitt Henderson.
BT continued to work hard in his bowling spell with great variations but it was the same old story as he was unlucky not to get a wicket. R. Petifer continued to get inside edges, edges down gully, and a few singles as BT was all over him. Hendo got his rhythm going and started bowling well. This led him to get his first wicket of the season with a sublime caught and bowl delivery. It was a big wicket and it was the young opening colt S. Wpcbecki and he departed on a well crafted 31. Credit to him as he played very maturely with wickets started to tumble. So far the T’s have bagged 3 wickets with about 70 odd runs on the scoreboard.
On came Brentham’s big Punjabi number 5 batsmen Jaspreet. He joined R.Petifer who suprisingly was still hanging at the crease. Dassani decided to change the bowling and BT ended his spell with brilliant figures of 11 overs 5 Maidans 17 runs but no wicket. He definitely deserved a few and got very close on several occasions. Sanjay Rawal was introduced to the bowling scene. Jaspreet instantly got involved in the game by hitting a few quick boundaries. Anything short was dispatched to the boundary and due to that it led him to his half century.
With Brentham now scoring runs rapidly skipper Dassani brought himself back to the attack with Abbasi on the opposite end. Dassani instantly made an impact and R. Petifer played on to his stumps. He departed on a very lucky 28 but nevertheless it was vital for Brentham.
The next to go was the big hitting Jaspreet and he got out to a Yorker bowled by Dassani. His innings was just simply destructive and probably the most clinical innings for Brentham as it changed the whole context of the game. Credit goes to him as he hit a very rapid 52. The very next ball Brentham Skipper I. Raja was trapped for LBW by Dassani.
Dassani almost claimed his 5fer haul but a catch dropped by Tom Davies prevented that but not only that it was the same batsmen. C. Hitchcock took advantage of that buy hitting a quick 44 not out. The next wicket came with a brilliant stop by Vishal Kapoor and Dassani took off the bails. Abbasi claimed his second wicket of the game with a clean bowl delivery on V. Ali who departed on a rapid cameo of 15. The innings ended on 212- 8 with Dassani and Abbasi being the pick of the bowlers.
Brenthem instantly started of on a high with Gilbert Sanchez playing on his back foot and being trapped LBW for a duck. On came Chris Bhanghu to partner Nick Walder. Both were playing positively and rotating the strike. Nick started to play some sublime shots when bad deliveries were bowled. Nick was the next to go and he departed on a well crafted 19. It was a shame really as he really started to give Brentham a hard time. But the delivery was top class which no batsman could’ve really defended.
Bhanghu was now accompanied by new boy Vishal Kapoor. Both Chris and Vishal were just rotating the strike and playing very sensibly. The next wicket arrived after a while and it was Vishal Kapoor to depart on 10. Vishal was doing well with some elegant strokes until he got frustrated and decided to lash the ball to the square leg boundary which he missed and hit the stumps. Bowler Jaspreet continued to have a good game.
Sanjay Rawal stepped up the crease. It was the same situation as the previous
Partnership. With some good bowling the strike was being rotated on a regular basis. Chris Bhanghu continued to shine and play positively as it was not easy to play off some of the deliveries. Rawal tried to be positive as he could but he departed on 8 with a half decent delivery. It was frustration for Rawal who did manage to play positively. Chris Bhanghu was next to depart on 32 by receiving a cracking Yorker length delivery. It was a fantastic effort from Chris who did bat sensibly and maturely.
Bretham’s tails really did to start to wag and looked determined to claim the 10 points as Davies and Khakhad both came and went. With quick wickets starting to tumble it was Hendo who came to the crease. Hendo really did look impressive in terms of his defensive ability. It was like Rocky Balboa facing the bowler who was not going to take any nonsense. Hendo secured the draw for us and who knows this point could be valuable for us in the future. Credit goes to Hendo the iron man Henderson who managed to see us through. T’s were 107- 7 at the end.
Despite the result being a losing draw there were plenty of positives to take from the match. It was a fighting spirit from the T’s and the aim now is to look ahead and play positively next week.
Skippers top 5 players
- Chris Bhanghu- 5 player points
- Brian Thorne- 4 player points
- Nick Walder- 3 player points
- Majid Abbasi- 2 player points
- David Henderson- 1 player point
Man of the match- Chris Bhanghu
Jonty- Moment- Plenty of great stops from
majority of the players. Good stops from Nick, Gilbert and catches
from Hendo and Dassani. The award goes to Vishal Kapoor who worked
very hard in the field right throughout the game.
Monty Moment- Tom Davies! - Despite that
it was a very good performance behind the stumps for the first
time.