KCC Action-packed bumper Jubilee edition, filled with well-written articles, updated stats and records, fixtures for the year, match reports for 2022, and many, many photos. Obtain your copy from San. Those of you who are unable to get it now, here is the PPE-edition – for you to Peruse, Ponder and Enjoy!
As the first ever patron of this incredible cricket club, it is with great pride and it is truly the greatest honour to congratulate you all on 50 golden years of sheer dedication, sporting achievement, teamwork and camaraderie at its finest. It has been a real pleasure to have watched the club flourish and grow over the last two decades into a truly treasured asset of the Kensington community and surrounding areas, providing a source of inspiration for all age groups. Read more …
Congratulations to Kensington Cricket Club and to all its members for scoring half a century with such grace and dedication.
Kensington CC, which was a small acorn, has grown into an oak tree. Oak tree symbolises leadership, courage, wisdom, endurance, steadfastness, generosity, dignity, caring, durability and life itself. The members of this Club encapsulate all these qualities. Their leadership, their vision and their steadfastness deserve our respect, admiration and gratitude. They have made incalculable contribution to lives of individuals, families and the community, and indeed life itself. Read more …
| Date | Opposition | Result |
| Mon 29 May | Maidenhead & Bray | Won by 4 wkts |
| Sun 28 May | Nomads | Lost by 157 runs |
| Sun 21 May | Hemel Hempstead | Lost by 3 wkts |
| Sun 14 May | Paris: Std Athletic | Lost by 13 runs |
| Sat 13 May | Paris: Std Athletic | Lost by 24 runs |
| Sun 7 May | Marlow Park | Lost by 2 wkts |
| Mon 1 May | Henley | Cancelled – rain |
Our 49th Annual Dinner and Dance was held on Saturday 19 November 2022 at our favourite venue, St. James’ Court hotel, after an absence of three years due to Covid restrictions. This black-tie event speckled with club blazers was attended by some 60 members and guests, albeit down from previous years, but we were glad to be back.
An all-inclusive ticket provided pre-dinner drinks, an excellent Indian plated meal and dancing to a disco rhythm. It was good to see so many regular supporters many of whom we had not seen for some time, and it made for such a warm and pleasant evening.
As we sat down for dinner Sunil welcomed the guests, including Ethan Youel from Diageo our sponsors. After the superb meal San conducted the traditional presentations of the silverware to the season’s prize-winners. Amidst warm applause Ravi Kannan and Chetan Singh were each awarded the Maroon Jacket for their lifetime dedication to the Club and received the Adelaide Cup donated by the Eighties batch of Aussies, and now sponsored by Johnnie Walker. Ethan also rewarded each Achiever with an inscribed bottle of Blue Label whisky.
The raffle proved to be a tremendous success. The whole event was captured on camera (see a selection of photos under KCC Dinner – 2022 in the GALLERY).
Finally, we thank all those who attended for their unstinting support and for making the event such a memorable occasion. So on to our 50th year celebrations in 2023.
558 Andy Stokes
433 Rohan Ghosh
391 Harsha Gandadi
330 Chris Ledger
321 Rakteem Katakey
293 Nitin Chaturvedi
276 Preetinder Singh
183 Amit Shanker
177 Ryan Hale
159 Tim Keleher
151 Jai Singh
147 Praveen Lekhraj
18 Alex Tharakan
12 David Behar
12 Saurav Sen
10 Saikat Barua
10 Eddy Barreto
10 Nitin Chaturvedi
9 Hassan Hammad
8 Sunil Amar
7 Bernard van Vuuren
6 Tabrez Khan
5 Sid Baveja
5 Jaimin Chauhan
5 Preetinder Singh
SANPOINTS – See system
190 Harsha Gandadi
176 Andy Stokes
137 Nitin Chaturvedi
129 Rohan Ghosh
128 Preetinder Singh
103 Chris Ledger
93 Alex Tharakan
80 David Behar
77 Ryan Hale
72 Rakteem Katakey
72 Amit Shanker
69 Saurav Sen
68 Saikat Barua
59 Praveen Lekhraj
58 Tim Keleher
56 Eddy Barreto
50 Sid Baveja
Down Memory Lane – Three notable articles from yesteryear
– Stone Walls do not a prison make…
The Perfect Storm
By San Gore
Kensington CC plays friendly social cricket at a decent level. There are many talented cricketers, young and old, in the club. We play to win but always mindful to provide opportunities for every player, and to enjoy the camaraderie.
Covid-19, though, continued to wreak havoc on our daily lives throughout 2021. Having had Christmas cancelled in the previous year and a winter lockdown imposed, we looked forward in April to the promise of a full season of cricket with plenty of runs and wickets, mixed with fun and laughter. Just like the old days.
But buffeted by the winds of Covid uncertainties, flooded by a spate of injuries, and lashed by rain through the season we were caught in the middle of the perfect storm...Read more..
KCC Match Management Musings
By Saurav Sen
“What’s the worst thing about being a match manager with Kensington?”, I am often asked. I can never think of anything. 
Let’s start with Tuesday afternoons, when the team sheet normally gets sent out. It has an air of certainty about it. Everyone of course replies almost immediately. There are no last minute drop-outs. Lifts are never asked for at the eleventh hour. Everyone consults the map and/or enters the right address in their sat-navs. Come hell, high water, traffic on the M4 or extended breakfasts, the entire team arrives at least 30 minutes ahead of the start time. …Read more…
KCC v Covid-19 – Match Report 2020
19 April – 11 July Covid-19 Lost by 18 wkts fixtures
They 300/0 in 12 weeks (Corona 143*, Lockdown 131*, N.Vector 0/110)
We 50/18 (Nayar 22, T.Keleher 15, B.Johnson 5/15, Hancock 4/28)
2020, hitherto known as the shortest format of the game (not counting KCC collapses), unleashed a sinister alter ego onto unsuspecting cricket lovers at the start of the season. An unexpected fixture was forced upon us. Covid-19, an opponent who no one had heard of until February, was decimating cricket at all levels and was determined to intrude on our bucolic calendar…Read more…
KCC – A great Club with great Opponents
By Chris Ledger
As a wandering cricket club without a home ground or clubhouse, you could say we really depend on just three things, each helping to make KCC the fantastic club that we all love… Firstly our members, and even if we have to say it ourselves, what a great bunch we are! Secondly the club ethos, hard to define in words, but understood and treasured by all. And last but certainly not least, the clubs we play against, who generously host us each week…Read more…
By San Gore
“The time has come”, I said, unstrapping my pads in the pavilion after a streaky innings on the Devon tour. Jamie stood there, unbelieving. But I knew. Every cricketer knows, although too many continue in the hope it is just a lack of form and that a hundred (or even a fifty) is around the next corner. The love of the game, the banter in the dressing room, the camaraderie on the field, all contribute to delaying the inevitable decision to hang up one’s boots.…Read more…
By Saurav Sen
“It’s not that kind of club”, said my friend Unmish quietly when I turned up 30 minutes before the start of my first ever game for KCC and asked what warm-ups we would be doing. With that, I was in. This was going to be my kind of club….Read more...
By Deepak Ramachandra
The highlight of my thirteen-year stay in London has got to be playing cricket in the English summer. Not just any cricket, but for Kensington Cricket Club, undoubtedly the high point of my life in England… Read more…
A reminiscence by Ian McLean
After a long, hard season of English cricket it is only natural that come the last day of September the true Kensingtonian turns his back on the autumnal twilight and seeks yet more cricket in more comfortable climes – such as Rome. This trip was hosted by two now long-term friends, Alphonsus (Alfonso) Jayarajah and Massimo (Max) Da Costa, of the Capannelle Cricket Club. … Read more…
By Mark Jefferson
Apparently, it is no longer enough to play cricket. Cricket is given to words – innuendo, jargon – which means we must now all play a “brand of cricket”. After the recent World Cup debacle for England, included in the post-mortem management speak was the assertion that England had “let themselves down and been unable to play the brand of cricket they set out to play”. I’m more in the Geoffrey Boycott camp – like their language, their cricket was just “roobbish”. Read more…
A reminiscence by Michael Blumberg
Vinoo Nath and I met in Kensington not much past dawn and motored south to Clapham where we met Tony Brennan. Tony had not yet begun his distinguished diplomatic career and at the time drove a brand new large limousine provided by the company for whom he then worked. We were off to Bavaria and Austria to play cricket under the banner of Cricket World XI with several KCC members. We were making good progress on the autobahn when …Read more …
Our very own KCC member, Preetinder Singh, has been included in the India squad for the Over-50s World Cup Tournament being played between March 11-24 this year at Stellenbosch and Cape Town in South Africa. During trials in Mumbai the India selectors were impressed by his all-round abilities and, in particular, his agility in the field. Sadly, the tournament was abandoned midway due to the Covid-19 scare, but not before Preet had won the Spirit of Cricket Award for his efforts in his first match. Congratulations Preet, and we all wish you every success in future campaigns.
Held at the St. James’ Court Hotel on Saturday 16 November 2019. This black(ish) tie and colourful blazers event was attended by almost 100 members and guests.
Lord Bilimoria introduced our newest Patron, Baroness Prashar, in a resounding opening address (see video below). Tim Keleher and Nitin Chaturvedi were the joint winners of the Cricketer of the Year award, and amid warm applause, Navneet Bali and Tabrez Khan were inducted into the KCC Hall of Fame, each being awarded the Maroon Jacket for their dedication to the Club.
It was a truly fun evening enjoyed by all.
See more photos under GALLERY
By Mark Jefferson
Dear All
Thank you very much to all of you who attended the Annual General Meeting on Thursday night – much appreciated. For all of you who didn’t, shame on you – and, indeed, more fool you. It was an absolute ripper and became highly charged when Blazergate really kicked off …see more
KENSINGTON CRICKET CLUB 