Scorecard

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI v Cockfosters III on Sat 04 Sep 2010 at 1:00pm
Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club Lost by 1 run

Match report Shall I write it? I think I will. Chris has one or two other things on at the moment, like finding a cure for the (un)common hangover, and analysing his stunning contribution to his 'Stag' match a week after the 'Fosters epic, so I'm subbing for him.

In that match, to take a leaf from the magnanimous book of the Offally and Stopsit correspondent, 'the opposition skipper (Benn) dropped a sitter in the first over, failed to marshal his rebellious and independent-minded team in the field, served up a generous order of pie when he bowled, and was cleaned up first ball when he 'batted', ha ha'. My how we larfed.

But going back to the League season, of which I have dim and distant memories, CB stuck to his tactical guns by inserting a strong batting Fosters side. Though in doing so we ran the risk of not gathering many points if we failed to win, chasing has served us well all season, so once more unto the breach and all that. If we fail to win? As if!

Vivek Malfeasance took out Rocca's middle pole with a fast off-cutter to bring un point (Ed, no it didn't, we put 'em in) v.quickly, but Cooper and Knight played sensibly and ran well to bring up a 50 partnership for the second wicket. Rakesh ended all that nonsense with a fantastic pick up and throw from backward square leg to run out Cooper, good and honest decision by the ump as there was a lot going on in the vicinity of the stumps at the time. Steve, brought on as an early first change, sort of applied the brakes and when Knight looked to use his feet the break-back beat him and as ever AB did the rest.

Chipping away at the middle order, two lovely offies' wickets for Waqas included, TMs looked to be on the way to glory but the two men who changed everything, White and Wells, had other ideas; throwing everything at anything vaguely pitched up, they crashed the ball about splendidly and changed the whole tone of the match. Vivek's second spell took them both out but their heroics only served to inspire nine, ten and John, who added runs that were more than irritating, they were ... well, you know the rest.

Having had more than a bit of tap from the two Ws Mr Chairman had a second go into the wind and finally got his yorker mojo working to record wickets nos. 48 and 49, the final one with the final ball he reckons he'll bowl in League cricket. We shall see. But 238 - a mighty big ask for what the ever-generous Langleyburgh cricket correspondent terms 'a very average Totteridge Millhillains (sic) 4s, who have somehow reached the summit of Division 8'. Well, average is as average does.

Vivek played in his unique stylee - when he gets a decent bat he'll be unstoppable. Or the ball will be unrecoverable, as he'll hit it on to the back of a lorry on the A1. Kam found yet another way of getting out. Sanjay did what he does best and on reaching 27 attained a magnificent 600 league runs for the season. Sadly he was done for at 601, but what a fantastic season he has had - perhaps no more 4s for him?

Then came the partnership that brought us to within touching distance of the magnificent trophy and the riches, beyond the dreams of Avarice, that the Division 8 championship brings.

Rakesh was nothing short of magnificent, once more playing with a style, grace and selectivity that means he is another one destined for higher XIs in 2011. Ketan reminded us of his true ability, again taking his time to settle in (the bounce was getting low at this stage) before unfurling his trademark booming drives, and one of the biggest sixes seen at RL. The season has ended too soon for Ketan, as this was his best knock all year by many a mile.

But let's not forget the (one of whom was under 17 with the attendant rationed overs) 'Fosters firm, White and Wells, who worked away and gradually began to harvest wickets in abundance. White took the honours statistically (8 wickets, can't knock that) but Wells worked away manfully and ... well, you know the rest by now.

We came, we swished, we perished - obviously a few big hits would have done the job.

It came down, forgive me please for paraphrasing, to 7 needed from 3 balls. Nine down, Steve and Neil (who have previous in this kind of fix, so confidence remained high) at the crease.

Full ball, smear to cow (SL) , four runs. 3 from 2 - gotta favour the batting side, yes? Chairs on strike, scrambled single to mid-on, never a thought of turning it down, leaving 2 needed from 1 solitary ball. It comes down to one ball, to enable an average side led by a non-playing captain to win the league.

You know the rest.

The reactions were interesting. Chris squatted on his haunches on the RL slope, thinking 'what have I done?'. Or was that 'what am I about to do in two weeks' time?'. Steve laughed his head off, and spouted lots of proverbs, which were, like, really helpful. The rest of the guys were totally and utterly dumbfounded, until some gallows humour and the need to attend to the logistics kicked in. Then it was back to the Ridge for some fun and games.

For a more lengthy analysis, please look somewhere else.

Cockfosters III Batting
238 for 10
Player name Runs
I.Cooper Run out  R.Venugapol 26
D.Rocca Bowled  V.Mallavarapu 0
C.Knight Stumped  S.Lyall (A.Mathew) 23
R.Bennet Lbw  S.Lyall 8
H.White Caught  V.Mallavaran (A.Mathew) 60
T.Digden Bowled  W.Memon 1
M.Viner Bowled  W.Memon 1
R.Wells Bowled  V.Mallavaran 59
G.Uttley Bowled  S.Lyall 21
M.Catalan Not Out  12
A.Callan Bowled  S.Lyall 11

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sivasankar Sakthivel16.046900.004.31
Vivek Mallavarapu12.0236312.003.00
Steve Lyall17.5287421.754.88
Waqas Memon7.0030215.004.29

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
237 for 10
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Kamlesh Bharadia Caught  H.White 8
Vivek Mallavarapu Bowled  H.White 23
Sanjay Patnaik Caught  H.White 28
Rakesh Venugopal Caught  H.White 72 1
Abhilash Mathew Bowled  H.White 3 1 1
Ketan Shah Bowled  H.White 52
Sivasankar Sakthivel Bowled  H.White 0
Chris Benn Bowled  H.White 20
Waqas Memon Bowled  R.Wells 1
Neil Dennison Bowled  R.Wells 1
Steve Lyall Not Out  5

Cockfosters III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R.Wells24.0096248.004.00
G.Uttley2.002100.0010.50
H.White14.007589.385.36
A.Callan7.004200.006.00