Scorecard

Eastcote CC Sunday 1st Team v Kensington & Chelsea on Sun 23 Jun 2019 at 1 pm
Eastcote CC Won By 4 wickets with 19 balls to spare

Match report SUNDAY MATCH REPORT: EASTCOTE CC vs KENSINGTON & CHELSEA CC..Home (Hill)..23 June 2019..ECC Won by 4 Wickets:

Quite a new look side with no Tom Hudson or Charlie Hobday and Rashard taken up by the call of MDL. Other performing regulars like Shaariq were playing MDL on the main square whilst the Ones shifted to their first game on the hill after playing 7 of their first 8 on the main square. Shashank Kurra played his first game for us this season and we welcomed newcomer keeper opening bat colt Aditya Anand whose specs gave him the appearance of an intellectual; and he did chip in with good advice from behind the stumps albeit animated at times. Rohan Hirani fresh from his heroics in the CVL the week before; and Ronak Patel, quite a regular this year, made up the colt contingent of 4. The adults were Jazib Naeem, Joe Daver, Anmol Chopra, Dheeraj Kataria, Rohit Venkatesan, Joe Wilcox and Arvind Joshi. A niced mixed team raring to go to try and keep the winning habit wholly habitual.

Kensington & Chelsea (K&C), a strong adult team who were turned over in the last game of the previous season by young Ayaan Sheikh's 7-fer; came in with an even stronger side, batting down the order and using 10 bowlers. Eastcote lost the toss again (strange feeling) and were put in to field. ECC opted to open with the left-arm seam and swing of Joseph Daver, who preferred to roll downhill for 6 new ball overs and the industrious Jazib Naeem who toiled uphill for 3. Long story short, we grassed some catches, some didn't quite go to hand and our initial ground fielding was awry, almost as if the winning habit was turning into complacence. The bowlers were superb throughout with Joe opting for a traditional 6-3 field and Jazib backing our strategy of going for the kill and looking for wickets with an attacking 8-1 field. We knew the track was placid and would play nicely but perhaps get dusty later in the day thus curtailing front foot driving a bit (which is how it panned out). The team was thus forever pushed to go for wickets whilst protecting the boundaries a bit more as the game wore on; with the skipper pushing for more effort throughout to keep the run chase manageable. Overall the bowlers were absolutely superb and the lads were brilliant in the field bar some dropped catches, with superlative ground fielding turning twos into ones, every run being fought for as if it was life ebbing away. The four colts excelled with Aditya keeping brilliantly, standing up to the sharp pace of Jazib and actually stumping one off him. Jazib also bowled inswinging yorkers at will (reversing the ball) in his second spell of 6 overs. Shashank, Rohan and Ronak patrolled the outfield well and anticipated and ran brilliantly cutting boundaries galore (as if their very being depended on it) and Rohan picked up a deep catch (our only one) after juggling. The younger adults fielded manfully too and the ageing ones carried their age well.

K&C screamed to 25/0 (in 3 overs) and were then pegged back a bit by Eastocte to 59/0 (in 10 overs). Jazib came off after 3 overs uphill, to replace Joe later, going downhill for his balance 6 overs; and the two ace spinners Rohit and Anmol juggled spells of 8 and 9 overs respectively, walking uphill. They even bowled one over interchange for 4 overs to keep the batters from settling. Anmol was his usual self: accurate and creating doubt with variations. Rohit continued his superb improvement as a thinking off spinner with an accurate stock delivery and judicious use of the width and depth of the crease and minor variations in flight and turn. Rohit's excellent wicket-taking form continued with a bag of 3 (conceding just 40 off his 8 overs...to return the best economy too). He has understood perfectly the art of taking wickets early to curb teams and hunting for wickets rather than relying on the batters getting themselves out, whilst tying them down too by minimising bad balls. The first breakthrough came at 108 in the 17th over with Aditya pulling off a super flash stumping standing up to Jazeeb with the opposing skipper Naeem walking sportingly as the umpire hummed and hawed and contemplated.... out for 47 off 50 balls with 7 fours (108 for 1 in the 17th over). Rohit then enticed a quicksilver stumping by Aditya in the next over (111 for 2 in the 18th over) to remove the other opener Naqvi, who made 45 off 54 balls and also hit 7 fours. Rohit then struck again in his very next over to put Eastcote firmly in the mix, trapping the number 4 LBW (121 for 3 in the 20th over). We went in for drinks with K&C 123 for 3 (off 22 overs) and had a nice chirpy chat vowing (wowing) to build on it and keep trying for wickets whilst holding the runs, absolutely determined to try and avoid a score in excess of 250-270.

The number 3 Lakod (45 off 44 balls) and Number 5 Zain (65 off 59 balls) played sensibly and well, taking judicious risks to score against some good bowling. Their fourth wicket only fell at 198 (in the 32nd over) again to the relentless Rohit...Lakod trapped LBW. This put our plans in a bit of a fix and below 300 was the new slogan. Their number 6 Akash came in next and attacked from the word go, hitting 4 sixes and 5 fours to race to an unbeaten 51 (off 36 balls). Our bowlers, however, stuck to their task with Rohit and Anmol finishing almost off at the lower end, and Dheeraj Kataria ending the death from there with the last two overs, with his cerebral medium pace; after having a two over spell from the top end where Daver had replaced Jazib earlier to finish his quota of 9. Young Shashank Kurra bowled a superb set of 6 death overs to wind up from the other end with sharp effort pace, after Dheeraj's top end interlude. K&C finished with 294 for 7 in their allocated 45 overs. The bowlers were all superb: Joseph Daver 9-0-48-0; Jazib Naeem 9-0-69-1; Anmol Chopra 9-2-58-1; Rohit Venkateshan 8-0-40-3; Dheeraj Kataria 4-0-32-1 and Shashank Kurra 6-0-43-1. Anmol had Rohan holding a high catch at long on for his sole wicket and Dheeraj bowled one and Shashank trapped another LBW in the death, for their sole wickets.

K&C were 197/3 (after 31 overs) but could only add 97 off the last 14, which is testamount to Eastcote's fighting spirit and soul, on a ground such as the hill with the wicket at its best, the ball coming on nicely. It was almost as if the lads were refusing to even contemplate defeat and did very well to keep the target below 300. They also kept a decent over rate of 16.4 overs per hour continuing healthiness in that area after a poor first game over rate. The only slight spanner in the works was 19 wides. However, zero byes and only one missed snick summed up a brillaint keeping performance by young Aditya, who also chatted sensibly to the bowlers and analysed the batters well.

With a weak side with no real inform batters of recent games (like Tom Hudson, Charlie Hobday, Rashard or Shaariq), Eastcote spread the batting a bit with Arvind opting to back his experience as an opener partnering young Aditya Anand. The opening stand more than did the job, sticking to the plan (staring an asking rate of 6.6 runs per over), targeting to build up our scoring rate to around 8 and over and in any case stay well over 7, whilst batting sensibly to avoid losing the first wicket early; parking loose balls and taking minimum risk by avoiding front foot drives on the up, as the wicket started holding up and some balls kept really low, with the dryness curtailing more fluent strokeplay now. The opening stand of 149 in 19 overs (at nearly 8 an over) put us well ahead of the run rate required and also reduced the pressure on the remaining 9 batters, of whom only Jazib was experienced in run chases (who now needed 146 off 26 overs with all wickets intact hence). Aditya Anand was superb from the ball go and kept working boundaries as well as not getting rattled with continuous dot balls, playing each ball on merits. He ended up with a superb 127 (with 17 fours and 5 sixes). Arvind (22 with 2 fours until a missed pull LBW) kept the other end shut, worked singles, rode the good balls whilst giving Aditya more strike and cheerleading him along. The opening stand was built calmly with nary a chance given; and put K&C in a defeatist body language mode.

Ronak Patel came in with his left-handed batting inducing more wides and issues for their bowlers. He partnered Aditya until 208 when Aditya was bowled by a sharp incoming turner. However, at 209 for 2 after 26 overs we only needed 86 off the last 19 overs at a shade over 4 an over..comfortable? Complacency? Concentration curtailment? We changed the batting order to promote Rohan Hirani to 4, with Jazib stepping down to 6 and Joe Wilcox stepping in at 5; taking things a bit for granted and almost paid the price, making heavy weather of what should have been a 7 wicket win at least, with many overs to spare. Ronak Patel was stumped for a well made 20 (3 fours), deploying the sweep well on a dying drying wicket but Rohan Hirani didn't quite get going like he always does, with the slowing uneven pitch and some good spin bowling as well as fading light, holding him back. Ronak left at 215 for 3 (28 overs)....80 needed off 17 (still under 5 an over). Joe Wilcox came in with his bat but kept using his pads instead, tempting fate until he was plumb LBW for 0 (219 for 4 off 30 overs), with 76 need from the last 15 overs; and the required rate had now crossed 5. Jazib came in, took his time and brought some calm to the situation hitting cracking fours in between super defence and singles. However, Rohan soon snicked a backfoot shot to the keeper off a spinner (233 for 5 off 35 overs); not good with 62 now needed off the last 10 overs at 6 plus. The class and elegance of Jazib came to the fore now, as he struck two sweet boundaries next over to calm things. Joe Daver came in at 7 to make it a right left combo again (37 wides in the innings was proof a left right combination works well with tight one-day wides). Joe struggled a bit with the wicket not suiting his fluent game but hit 3 superb fours when they pitched too far up, amongst a plethora of dot balls before getting bowled off his pads; but at 278 for 6 (off 41 overs... with Jazib well set)..we were almost home. Shashank partnered the superb Jazib who hammered more boundaries to end with 46 not out (with 8 fours all around the ground). 296 for 2 (42.5 overs) saw Eastcote home and dry albeit after breaking more than sweat......not great for anyone who uses a pacemaker.

Winning habit helps big time (and if complacency does not rear its ugly head), it helps the team overcome challenges and win close or difficult games. We have now chased almost 300 without a strong team for two games in a row after so many games won by building momentum batting first and piling up scores time and time again (except in the CVL opener where we got bowled out for below 200 in the 36th over). We did however win that one with a superb bowling display and fight in the field after we were dead and buried halfway through the second innings. Moreover, we have won the last two games against strong oppostion, with superb run chases and some cool professional batting stands....after curtailing the team batting first with a fighting display in the field where everyone played for Eastcote, for the badge, for pride in oneself and importantly... for one another. On! On! Eastcote!!

SUMMARY: Eastcote CC beat Kensington & Chelsea CC by 4 wickets on 23-6-19 in a 45-over game. SCORES:
K&C 294 for 7 (45 overs)..... Rohit Venkateshan 3/40, Dheeraj Kataria 1/32, Shashank Kurra 1/43, Anmol Chopra 1/58, Jazib Naeem 1/69, Joe Daver 0/48.
Eastcote CC 296 for 6 (41.5 overs)...... Aditya Anand 127, Jazib Naeem 46 n/o, Arvind Joshi 22, Ronak Patel 20, Joe Daver 13, Rohan Hirani 11, Shashank Kurra 1 n/o, Joe Wilcox 0.

ADDITIONAL REPORT:

We celebrated our second league win in the next game (number 9) by chasing a mammoth 294/7 (in 45 overs) set by Kensington & Chelsea; our inability to strike early costing us. We were crying out for more wicket-takers in the first half of the overs (Nilesh was to come back from injury later to solve that issue). Rohit Venkateshan’s 8-0-40-3 was the only really incisive spell. I opened the batting together with young Aditya Anand because our batting was thin without Tom and Rash and we put on 149 for the first wicket in 18 overs to set the platform. Ronak Patel and Aditya took the score to 209 but then both fell quickly. Aditya made a swashbuckling 127. However, with the batting order being changed to give others a go, we shipped wickets. Order was restored by Jazib coming in at 6 and taking us home with Joe Daver and Shashank Kurra (at the end). A 4 wicket win with 13 balls to spare. This was a fair result and a deserved win for us but was a bit too close for comfort; and the lesson to be learnt was to make the match safe before changing the batting order drastically.



Kensington & Chelsea Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
19w 2lb 
for 7 wickets
21
294 (45.0 overs)		     
Naeem st  Aditya Anand bowled Rohit Venkateshan 47 50 7 94.00
Naqvi st  Aditya Anand bowled Jazib Naeem 45 54 7 83.33
Lakod lbw  Rohit Venkateshan 45 44 5 1 102.27
Navin lbw  Rohit Venkateshan 2 3 66.67
Zain ct  Rohan Hirani bowled Anmol Chopra 65 59 11 110.17
Akash Not Out  51 36 5 4 141.67
Abhishek b  Dheeraj Kataria 10 13 1 76.92
Rifkan lbw  Shashank Kurra 4 4 1 100
Mansoor Not Out  2 3 66.67
Faizal  
Kanchi  

Eastcote CC Sunday 1st Team Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joseph Daver9.004800.005.33
Jazib Naeem9.0069169.007.67
Anmol Chopra9.0258158.006.44
Rohit Venkateshan8.0040313.335.00
Dheeraj Kataria4.0032132.008.00
Shashank Kurra6.0043143.007.17

Eastcote CC Sunday 1st Team Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 37w 1b 12lb 
for 6 wickets
58
296		        
Arvind Joshi Lbw  22 36 2 61.11
A.N. Other Bowled  127 75 17 5 169.33 2
Ronak Patel Stumped  20 3
Rohan Hirani Caught  11 1 1
Joseph Wilcox Lbw  0
Jazib Naeem Not Out  46 8
Joseph Daver Bowled  13 3
Shashank Kurra Not Out  1
Anmol Chopra  
Rohit Venkateshan  
Dheeraj Kataria  

Kensington & Chelsea Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mansoor7.014500.006.43
Navin5.013600.007.20
Kanchi4.003100.007.75
Abhishek6.0039139.006.50
Faizal3.003100.0010.33
Rifkan4.5043143.008.90
Zain5.0020210.004.00
Nadim4.0013113.003.25
Hassan2.00919.004.50
Naqvi1.00800.008.00