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Played at Highgate Woods
Report by Steve Hamilton

The venue for our first season of the season was more like Hellgate than Highgate.

This match against Black Rose started an hour later than scheduled and the overs were then cut down to 30 instead of 40 due the heavy rain at the start.

This is probably the most difficult batting pitch in our calendar, not helped by it being another dark gloomy day with constant drizzle. But in fact the weather gradually improved. Despite rain being expected throughout the day, the sun actually came out in the late afternoon.

We won the toss and elected to bat. We started off at a snail’s pace. After nine overs we had only scored 2o runs. The conditions were virtually unplayable. The wicket had no bounce, the batmen’s feet stuck in mud and the ball just plugged wherever it was hit. Together with the thick grass and long boundaries, it was almost impossible to score runs.

By now this fixture would have been cancelled, but thanks to the enthusiasm (madness?) of both teams, we continued.

Believe it or not, our final total was probably above par, considering how last time we played Black Rose we were all out for 78 batting in not dissimilar conditions, although we went on to  win by 11 runs in a low-scoring classic.

A fifth-wicket partnership of 53 between Umair (19) and Waseem (40) was the glue that held our innings together. Waseem hit seven fours as we went from 50 for 4 to 103. But then we lost our last five wickets for just six runs as the innings collapsed.

I have to say that once again I was definitely the golden boy. I was bowled first ball! I blame the pitch as I couldn't move my legs, as by then the wicket was like quicksand. So I had an excuse for being trapped.

We finally closed our innings all out on 109 for 9. We were playing one short, after one of our team decided to leave after seeing the playing conditions, as well as managing – out of the blue - to get a last-minute ticket for the FA semi-final at Wembley - surely a believable explanation for leaving... 🤔

With Black Rose only chasing 110, winning the match wasn't going to be easy. But even though we were a man light in the field we were quietly confident, with two debutants on display ready to show off their skills - Redwan Ahmed and Santhosh Jadav.

Our confidence was rewarded and the wickets fell frequently. As the sun broke through the clouds all our bowlers shined. Waseem, Redwan and Asad all took two wickets each, Azaz took one and Santhosh took three. Black Rose were dismissed all out for 69.

It was a comprehensive win by 40 runs to get our season off to a superb start.

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