Spinners Orchestrate the Great Escape

In the words of Chris Kamara that game was best described as "Unbelievable Jeff". After losing the toss and getting stuck in by North Mid we didn't get off to the best of starts. That was solely down to how well the North Mid openers went about their bowling. I felt the partnership that myself and Ethan put on was crucial given that we were staring down the barrel with a score of under 100. Once we both perished we had a mini wobble before the power of Parampreet and the Elegance of Nakul helped us post a reasonably competitive total of 179. I felt at the half way stage we were about 20 or 30 short but just goes to show what I know eh!

To be fair North Mid got off to a decent start putting on 52 for the first wicket. We didn't also help ourselves with one or two dropped chances. However I felt the game changed with the introduction of Nakul and Tom Field. They both started to build pressure by putting the ball in the right areas and soon 52-0 became 66-3. We also managed to take our chances in the process and I must stress that the catches we took were off the highest quality! Soon the pendulum swung well and truly in our direction as Vedant and Tony Hill got amongst the wickets. The only thing that stood in our way was their number 6 Connor Nurse. I felt he batted extremely well to initially thwart our spinners as he stood in the way towards our quest for 12 points and perhaps avoiding relegation. The real moment of magic came when Nakul threw the ball to Tom Field for a second spell. We knew that if we got one wicket then we may have a chance and Fieldy managed to get Nurse out (how ironic given the surname!) From 175-6 North Mid were then 177-9 needing three runs to win with one wicket in hand. Fieldy then decided to slide one down the leg side to either increase the anxiety amongst both teams and supporters or just to make the game more interesting. Thankfully the very next ball was too good for their number 11 as we claimed the most unlikely of victories sparking jubilant celebrations at TW2 led by Tom "Freddie Flintoff" Field. We haven't had many complaints from the council as we speak but there were a few admirers in the manner of the celebrations that took place!

It was a great game of cricket and a wonderful advert for any young aspiring cricketer who wishes to go down that path. In terms of my man of the match, I think there were key performances all around the side. Ethan batted superbly and heavens knows where we would have been without his knock. Parampreet gave us the impetus with the bat and helped us get to a competitive total and I felt with the ball Tom Field was majestic. But for his all round display with bat and ball, my man of the match goes to captain fantastic Nakul Vishvanath. As mentioned earlier i felt there was great elegance and urgency shown in his batting and showed great calm and didn't panic. With the ball he did very well to build pressure and fully deserved his 3 wickets. On a final note I felt his captaincy was spot on and he had his fielders in the right place at the right time.

Full credit to North Mid who were gracious in defeat. I felt they started both innings on the front foot and were perhaps a touch complacent as the game went on. I suppose they may have taken their eye off the ball on Saturday but it takes some effort to win a league with 3 games to spare so hats off to you! We roll onto our next cup final away at Highgate where we can hopefully take the momentum and euphoria from Saturday to help us get 10/12 massive points!

By Nihal Tomar