1st XI League Round Up - July

We continued our push for promotion by securing 39 points from our four league games in July.

The month started with a potentially tricky away game to North London. Looking well set at 150-1 thanks to another good start from the openers and a quickfire 79 from Pansilu Wijesinghe, we suffered a mini collapse, slumping to 160-5. A great partnerships between captain Sanjay Mishra (82 not out) and Rahul Rajkumar (63) saw us post a formidable 306-7 on a pitch that was turning and not easy to bat on. The bowlers made full use of the conditions with Jermey Christian (3-7) and Rahul Rajkumar (3-11) the pick of the bowlers as North London folded to 100 all out. (SCORECARD)

The team continued it's trend of posting big scores when Indian Gymkhana visited us in the second league game of the month. A superb 132 not out from open Rishabh Choubey, ably supported by Dylan Rawal (57) and Shlok Adurkar (61 not out) was the foundation that allowed us to declare at 303-3 in only 48 overs. The visitors batted well and showed a lot of resilience as they defiantly held on for a draw, finishing on 246-9. Arun Sureshkumar was the pick of the bowlers with 5-84. (SCORECARD)

One of our most complete performances of the season followed away to Hampstead. The spinners took 7 wickets between them with Jermey Christian (4-53) the pick of the bowlers as Hampstead were bowled out for 227 in 51 overs, on a good pitch. At 120-3 the hosts may have seen a chance of victory, but a partnership between Rishabh Choubey (78) and Shlok Adurkar (68 not out) ensured that we ran out comfortable winners in a very controlled run chase, winning by 6 wickets with 5 overs to spare. (SCORECARD)

The final game of the month saw us host Acton. Electing to bat first to give ourselves a chance of gaining the maximum 12 points, a wobble at 65-3 suggested this game would not be plain sailing. What followed was one of the best partnerships of the season, similar to the North London game three weeks before. Arun Sureshkumar (111) and Sanjay Mishra (116 not out) combined to put on 193 runs for the fourth wicket to take the game away from Acton. Chasing 321 on a very hot day was always going to be a difficult ask for any side. Fahim Baharami (5-40) and Rahul Rajkumar (3-14) made light work of the task of taking 10 wickets, as we won by 210 runs. (SCORECARD)

With two thirds of the season now completed the team remains top of the league. Six matches to go. Still plenty to do.