Round 8 Review
Another largely successful week at the club has just concluded with three out of four victories on Saturday including 12 points in the local derby at home against Ealing. Two Sunday games also took place in the MDL and the Bertie Joel Trophy.
The first team saw the return of skipper Sahil Kher who lost the toss and was put in to field away at Barnes. On a hot day with a dry surface, the opening duo of Sam Harvey and James Hunt went about their work as Hunt bowled 24 dots balls in a row upfront before finally giving away a run on the first ball of his fifth over. Despite the tight lines, the breakthrough eventually came as a result of the introduction of spin with Raghavendra Ravikumar dismissing the well set opener thanks to a smart catch by Zack Maile behind the stumps. With the nature of the pitch, the off spin of Tushar Patel and Raghav bowled the rest of the innings keeping the scoring rate very low and picking up four wickets each. After 55 overs, the home side had only managed to score 166/9 as Acton were in a strong position at the halfway mark.
The chase started very well as Viren Nain and Lucas Carlisle had already knocked off 50 runs for the opening stand inside just 9 overs. Eventually Barnes turned to spin and took a pair of quick wickets with Nain and Kher being dismissed by turn and bounce. However, unlike previous weeks, the rest of the chase went smoothly with Carlisle finishing on 80 unbeaten alongside Huzaifa Yousafzai’s 40 not out as Acton completeda dominant 8 wicket victory.
Facing local rivals Ealing at home, the second team skipper Alex Manning won the toss and took the bold decision to bat first. It proved to be the right choice as Acton made 233 in their 50 overs headlined by James Catlow-Elliot’s third fifty of the month alongside a run a ball forty from Tom Forsdike. The rest of the batting lineup also chipped in with seven batters scoring between 10 and 30, the only exception being a 12 ball duck from Matthew Reeve.
Defending a strong total, Acton started in the best way possible as 17 year old Noah Harvey dismissed opener Mitchell Oliver for a fifth ball duck. The other 17 year old Sohaib Arif took the new ball alongside Harvey and delivered figures of 11 overs, 2 Wickets for just 30 runs as Ealing fell to 50/4. The ever reliable Alex Brennan then took control of the middle overs bowling 18 overs, 3 for 39 as Forsdkie and Nazim Munna chipped in with two wickets each. Brennan then had former Acorns player Alex Fell pinned in front for the final wicket as Ealing were bowled out for 102 and 12 points were awarded to the home side.
The third team were sent in to field away at North London, with Ansh Vaswani and Hugo Douglas taking early strikes before Sid Turaga and the returning Mushi Rauf removed the rest of the batting lineup. The senior spinner ended with figures of 11 overs, 5 for 54 in his first game of the season despite (apparently) not having bowled since last August.
Chasing a respectable total with some very small boundaries favouring the batting side, Masum Ahmed’s 68 and Turaga’s 38 were the big contributions in what ended up still being a nervous victory as Acton got over the line eight wickets down.
The fourth team chose to field first at home to North London but found themselves chasing 205 despite an excellent 5 for 52 from Miles Murphy. Unfortunately, the batting response was anything but convincing as Acton were bowled out for 58 in large part thanks to Abid Zaid’s 5 for 20.
The Sunday first team travelled all the way to Essex to face the well renowned Hornchurch CC in the second round of the Bertie Joel trophy on a warm sunny afternoon with England euros action in the background. Fielding first, the home side starting strongly as they raced away to 47 after 7 overs in the powerplay before Sohaib Arif removed Jalpesh Vijay for the first wicket. Raghav then struck twice in the 15th over to claw back some control for Acton. Regular wickets were then shared between Tom Forsdike and Tushar Patel as Hornchurch finished on 209 after 45 overs with skipper Billy Gordon’s fifty anchoring the innings.
Early boundaries from Dishen Patel and Tom Forsdike got Acton off to a good start before a 93 run 3rd wicket stand between Yousafzai and Kher had the visitors in a strong position at 119/2. However, Yousafzai was dismissed in the 30th over and half centurion Kher followed an over later. The rest of the lineup then collapsed very quickly as Hornchurch’s experienced side closed the innings out for 153.
At home to Hampstead, the MDL side conceded 242 in forty overs with opposition batter Felix Cole scoring an unbeaten 69. Fifties from Ansh Vaswani and Olly Pryce Jones got Acton up to 202/7 in the chase before Saad Shah kept out fifteen deliveries as the home side had to settle for a losing draw.
Player of the Week
Raghavendra Ravikumar
2/16 vs Indian Gymkhana – 4/50 vs Barnes – 2-15 vs Hornchurch
Fantasy league Top performers
Mushi Rauf – 163 points
Miles Murphy – 154 Points
Lucas Carlisle – 135 Points
Raghavendra Ravikumar – 114 Points