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Played at Barkingside
Report by Steve Hamilton

We didn't expect this shock result against Ilford Catholics! I was still feeling guilty before the match for double booking our fixture against them earlier this season – and for not realising until we were playing Hobgobin Nomads on the other side of London, leaving Ilford waiting at the altar.

However, they graciously accepted my apologies and were more than happy to invite us for this rematch.

We won the toss and decided to bat. But we didn't get off to the start we wanted! There was a collapse and and all of a sudden we were struggling at 90 for six off 20 overs.

Waseem Furqan batted solidly and held our innings together scoring 38 which included five fours.

Our lower order batsman also showed tremendous resilience. Jay Rahman scored a rapid 38 including six fours and one six and will be definitely going up the order in the future.

Tahmor Rafique is a relative of Junaid and is definitely cut from the same cloth. He showed his robustness and power hitting with five fours and one six for quick-fire innings of 37.

At the close of our innings we had reached a respectable 213.

We were treated to another sumptuous tea-time delight as Jakaria kindly brought some lamb biryani and my personal favourite - milk cake decorated with pistachios.

Ilford Catholics might well have been looking for revenge after our five-wicket win last season.

However, we go off to the perfect start in defence of our total and had them stuttering at 37 for four. Waseem was hungry for wickets and removed four of the top five.

At the halfway stage after 20 overs they were 105 for six and we had the upper hand.

Ilford then staged an almighty comeback and were showing fighting spirit after 30 overs, having reached 177 for nine. They needed  36 but only had wicket remaining. It still looked like we had this one in the bag.

Unfortunately, we struggled to take that final wicket. Umair had a close call call for lbw that was not given. Sakthi (23*) and Suresh (19*) both batted gallantly and produced a final wicket stand of 39 that took them over the winning line.

Congratulations to Ilford Catholics. They unquestionably deserved to win, clinching victory from the jaws of defeat.

But we will be gunning for revenge on August 21 when we play them again!

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