Old Westminsters

Sun 10 July                              Old Westminsters                          Lost by 2 wkts

    We    130/10 in 50.2 overs  (Sen 38, James Pickles 29, G.Thomas 21,
                                                McDonald 4/17, Cavanagh 2/19)
    They 131/8 in 44.5 overs  (Robson 42*, Asher 36, Campbell 33, Sen 5/42
                                                Shanker 2/56)

A tough day for the official at Westminster’s wonderful Vincent Square ground, David Behar’s arrival at the crease having been delayed by the discovery of a rare Gusset Moth amongst his kit, he had to be jemmied along by the umpire who, invoking Law 237 (ii) b) concerning ‘Lepidoptera, official intervention to the distraction or obstruction of the due execution of a match, how to, of.’, removed the Gusset Moth by the deft application of a twig of sycamore, leaving both moth and David free to continue upon their way.  The umpire’s forbearance was further tested while Kensington were in the field when our wicketkeeper, the unnamed Rohan Ghosh, was rather vocally concerned with an lbw decision and its progress through the judicial system.  Thankfully the situation was calmed without further recourse to the sycamore twig.  Or the Gusset Moth.

The match itself was a good battle, Kensington’s austerity-era total of 130 in 50 overs made possible byJames Pickles’ prudent 29,Saurav Sen’s rather more Monte Carlo 38 and Gabriel’s belt tightening 21, all in the face of superb bowling by everyone in the varied Old Wets’ attack, McDonald returning the best figures of 4 for 17.

In reply, Westminster got off to a shocker, Holt bowled by Khush Khan for a duck, then rallied while Campbell and Asher put together a healthy stand.  Once skipper Matty settled on Sen’s ripping off-spin from the Vauxhall Bridge Road End with Shanker’s accurate medium pace from the Pavilion, however, wickets tumbled and it became either team’s game to win.  There were chances.  We shall not mention Chetan Singh’s missed catch at mid-on, or Tabby’s brave sprawling effort on the long-on boundary, but Wets’ No.7 Robson clearly wanted it the most.  He picked his deliveries coolly, chanced his wicket bravely and saw the home side to victory with 2 wickets to spare, easily claiming the MotM Black Label in the process.