Sunday 20 September 2020
Paulin Ground, Winchmore Hill
WINCHMORE HILL TIGERS 196-9 lost to FIVES CC 199-3 by 7 wickets
The Tigers came down to earth with a bump after last week’s terrific win, losing to a strong Fives side that had won their previous four matches chasing down big scores, whilst losing only nine wickets in the process of scoring 651 runs, so it was no surprise the visitors elected to field first after winning the toss.
The home side could not have got off to a worse start, with both openers dismissed by Suri for blobs in the very first over! Abdullai Adejumo launched a brief counter attack, hitting 6 fours in a brisk 30 before being smartly taken in the slips at 37-3.
A period of consolidation followed by Mitchell Greenham and Emile Nawagumuwa (fresh from his maiden century at Knebworth the previous day) with a stand of 65 in 15 overs. The ever patient Mitch played another excellent hand (58 from 100 balls with 8 fours and a six), with all the other batters contributing to keep the scoreboard moving: Emile 27, Peter Gunter 25, Joe Webster 19, Ali Sikander 10, and Campbell Lloyd-Barnes (13 from 8 balls), but a final total of 196 still looked 30 or 40 short.
So it was to prove. The Tiger bowlers seem to have a real problem with their radar on the front pitch (used the day before in the Middlesex Cup Final), bowling 9 wides in the first ten overs. Joe had ended Rocky’s 15-ball nought with a return catch, but Vamsi and Colin fed well off some decent early bowling until a couple of smart catches behind the stumps from Phil Parr (no dodgy Kepa here!) reduced Fives to 81-3 in the 16th over.
However, Suri (79*) and Nikul (36*) encountered little further problem in knocking off the runs required with an unbroken stand of 118 in the following 16 overs, helped by dropped chances and some schoolboy fielding. Suri’s contribution, with 3 wickets and two catches to add to his runs, was quite impressive. The best Tiger bowling came from Joe Webster (1-36), Matt Webster (1-39) and Simon Warren (1-29).
The previous day was a great one for Winchmore Hill, beating North London in the Middlesex League II Cup Final (cover image), with former Tiger Jamie Blundell at the crease when the winning runs were scored, having made his debut against Spartan as a 13 year-old in 2017 (scoring 15) and hitting an unbeaten 100 against Wealdstone Corinthians in 2019.
A Winchmore Hill eleven, featuring several Tigers, beat Knebworth away in a tight match the same afternoon, where Emile hit his ton from 68 balls. He has scored in excess of 200 runs in the last two weeks and is now top of the run scoring table for the whole of Winchmore Hill, quite a feather in the cap of the Tiger franchise. Mitch is not too far behind, averaging 60 in just six innings, with Matt amongst the top 5 wicket takers, with hopefully still another fixture to come.
The nascent Lions won an exciting contest away to Fives 2nds by just six runs. Sachin Jhangiani (a regular Tiger last season) took four wickets and Gareth Palmer (also Tiger vintage) hit a maiden 50 in total of 231, Tharun Chandranvisan (Tiger cub in 2020) also scoring 49 to add to his 48 at Knebworth.
This was to be the last weekend of home cricket, in a season where it appeared at one time we might not get any, so we should be grateful at least for that, helped by some perfect weather as the metaphorical curtain came down.
Protocol permitting, the Tigers final match will be away to the Railway Taverners at Highgate next Saturday, starting at 12 noon.
Winchmore Hill Tigers 