Brondesbury

Sun 26 June                                          Brondesbury                         Won by 71 runs

We    203/7 in 40 overs      (Shanker 66, Usman Azam 30, Gore 21, Khilnani 19*,  Rush 2/20, Heather 2/32)

They 132/10 in 27.4 overs  (Rush 31, Heather 15, Ahmed 15, Chaturvedi 4/35, G.Thomas 3/16, J.Behar 2/22)

We were looking forward to the post-match barbecue kindly laid on by our hosts, but we got fried first on a scorchingly hot afternoon.  Put into bat by the opposition (who said they needed extra hands to get the bbq going), Amit Shanker and Usman Azam struggled in the heat but manfully put on 93 for the first wicket.  They were just about on their knees by the end of their knocks not least because of the very long boundary to go with a grassy outfield that required an awful lot of running between the wickets.  But that start was invaluable and the middle order picked up the pace to complete the 40 overs on 203/7.  The last two overs reaped 23 runs with young Aditya Khilnani in full flow.

Brondesbury thought they could light the charcoal faced with a gettable total – but Sid Chaturvedi put out the fire inside five unforgettable overs.  He skittled two in his first over with fiery pace, then one in the second – and only had to wait another 14 balls before he got his fourth wicket.  John Behar, coming out of self-imposed semi-retirement, turned the screws with 2/22 in his eight overs of spin.  The match by then ceased to be a contest, and it was left to the leg-spin of Gabriel to mop up the tail.  The burgers really tasted good, washed down with cold Cobras of course.