A brilliant weekend at the club, as the sun shone and the cricket matched it. Results on Saturday couldn’t have been much better: we were 2 runs away from 5 wins from 5, with the Chairman preparing to get out his wallet again.

The big result was a tight, tight win for the 1s. Against Brentham, 3rd in the league coming in a breathing down our necks, we were in the sticky stuff at 78-6, but a 52-run stand for the 7th wicket (Leith Cowie and Ben Birtles) helped haul us up to 143. In reply, they were always in the hunt but we took regular wickets and Saqlain Shaikh picked up the last, his 5th, with them on 133, 10 runs short. Cue a massive celebration. The result leaves us 2nd, 20 points clear of 3rd, with 4 games to go.

The 2s beat Actonians, posting 173 (Anurag Zende 43) and bowled them out for 143. The 2s are 4th in their table.

The 3s got a comfortable win over Hampstead, on a shocking wicket that they chose to take first use of. We knocked them over for 54 – Karthik Shivaram taking his 3rd consecutive 5-fer – and we got them for 2. The 3s are now 2nd in the table – but it is incredibly tight. The top 5 teams are separated by only 5 points, so it is a battle royale. Let’s do it!

There was a similar scoreline for the 6s, who registered their first on-the-field league win. We bowled Trailfinders out for 53, with skipper Sam Hall picking up 4-27 and we got them for none in 6.4 overs, Jim Yorath joining the elite group of 5 players who have represented the club in all 6 XIs.

The other thriller was in the 4s at Kings House. Against Old Isleworthians we bowled them out for 158 (Akshay Jain 4-49) but were in bother at 38-4. A big stand for the 4th wicket kept us in touch (Henry Husband making 45) and an acceleration at the end from Henry Somper and George Mackaness left us needing 7 off the last over – which came down to 4 off the last ball, but we could only manage two. That left us with a winning draw – and agonisingly close to a Green Sweep.

In the afternoon we were pleased to welcome some old Turnham Green CC faces back to the club – and served up a great game for their entertainment. It was also great to see club stalwarts Norman Dugdale, and the Sehmi brothers Jim and Surjit, in attendance. Then in the evening we had a great BBQ, with meat provided by our sponsers, the Dorset Meat Company. Huge thanks to Rob Fernandes for masterminding, to Charlie Harris who put in a shift all day making salads, and to our volunteer chefs on the night. A good time was had by all.

On Sunday we welcomed Islands Vale to HQ for our annual day of calypso cricket. We made 239, with a fifty for Ben Birtles. In reply we bowled them out for 226, for a narrow win, Harry Hurtig-Isaac taking 5 and Ben Hurtig-Isaac picking up the winning wicket. In the away fixture at distant Actonians, we posted 172-8 (Nouman Tahir 57) and they got them for 8 with 6 overs to spare – 3 wickets to Greg Swaby.

A great weekend for the club – thanks to everyone who was part of it in any way
Bernard