4s put in a strong all-round performance against Perivale Phoenicians CC

After last week’s thriller (see here) that went deep into the 90th over, Saturday’s game proved an altogether more serene day for Dassani’s team. With a settled side due to good availability and the 3s playing on a Sunday, HD had the luxury of a strong team to host Perivale at Broom Road- quality, depth & experience across our batting, bowling & fielding units. So it proved in an ultimately one-sided game; the Ts rather blowing away Perivale in all departments.

HD won the toss & elected to bat. Sadly a pedigree opening partnership in Sam Cliffe and Usama Khan proved short lived; Cliffe looked in good touch before being bowled with the score on 10. Colin Blunden at 3 repeated the same story arc; timing his first few balls and a glorious boundary before a loose shot saw him caught behind. Rajdeep Choudhury at 4 lived fast and free with two consecutive, glorious shots (2,4,4,W) but ultimately perished young; a mix up with Khan leaving them both stranded at the bowler’s end & our Bollywood star gallantly taking the knee and the dismissal.

Enter Dasgupta on a slightly precarious 40-3 from 12 overs. he & Khan rebuilt the innings; taking the sting out of a Perivale side that had smelt blood on a tough pitch, seeing off danger man H.Singh while ticking over the scoreboard. Against the run of play, Khan then fell shortly before the drinks with the Ts just below 100 but with plenty of overs & big hitters still to come. Fairn was next ; the first opportunity this season with the game in front of him, pushed the scoring rate up with some smooth hitting & lovely shots. Dasgupta again played with poise & purpose; he’ll be disappointed to not convert another good innings into milestone 50s 2 weeks running.

After he fell looking to push the rate up, Dissanayake and Siriwardene fell cheaply, with the score on a par 125 of 39. Dassani & particularly Mehran Iqbal had other ideas; putting on 43 in the last 6 overs with some beautifully clean hitting from Iqbal pushing us to an above par 168/8. 150+ is always going to be difficult for teams to chase at Broom Road ; it should continue to be the first milestone for any Ts side playing there this season.

We took the field (to slightly envious glances at the enterprising use of Deliveroo for a Team Dominoes by Perivale) & opened with Iqbal (7.4-1-28-5) & Dassani (8-2-15-3) who proceeded to wrap the game up in 14 overs. Frankly speaking; the Perivale batting effort was wild; HD had correctly warned his side of "a batting team with 11 Shahid Afridis" (who is still playing by the way, at the age of either 41 on Cricinfo or 45 on Wikipedia) & so it proved.

A remarkable 7 batsmen came & went without troubling the scorers; but absolute credit to Dassani & Iqbal; who bowled superb lines against batsman looking to hit from ball one . HD displayed his customary control, but it was Iqbal’s swing & movement that particularly caught the eye. Despite the brevity, there were still several highlights in the field for the Ts; a hat trick from Iqbal; two very sharp catches from Fairn , but the IPL Champagne Siriwardene play of the day has to go to Usama Khan, who executed an astonishing one-motion ‘dive-stop -pick up – falling throw’ direct hit that sparked jubilant celebrations.

Perivale's best batsman, Arshad Khan, was left marooned as his Perivale teammates succumbed to Dassani’s pressure & Iqbal’s variety. The fact that arguably our form bowler over the past weeks, Bowman, wasn’t even needed demonstrated the margin of this victory. Lastly, a mention for Perivale , who played the entire day in good humour, wit & grace even when the wickets were tumbling during their run chase. One speculates they will pull off audacious victories & suffer similar defeats all season with their self-styled ‘boom boom’ cricket.

To us; an altogether more consistent unit that is starting to click. May has proved moderately fruitful for the 4s, with 3 wins out of 5 (so nearly 4) & we move into June with cautious but well-founded optimism. With strength in depth, talent below & above, the 4s look very capable of producing an excellent season. We face a trickier trip to Hampstead this week which will be a better gauge of where this team can go this season. On we go!

Twickenham MoM : Mehran Iqbal - 5/28 & 25*