Hewitt's Ton helps HTCC to Victory

Indian Gymkhana V HTCC

Middlesex Sunday League Division 1

Indian Gymkhana 209 all out (44.4 Overs)

HTCC 210 for 5 (40.3 Overs)

After a pleasant hour and 20 minutes drive to Osterley Park around the A406, we were greeted by the Indian Gymkhana skipper, who kindly informed us that, as we had arrived at 1:45pm for a 1:30pm start, we had forfeited the toss. Absolute nonsense we informed him, these games are all 2 o'clock starts - eventually after 20 minutes of reading the rules and heated discussion, Habib convinced him that we were right and promptly lost the toss, oh well!

We were asked to have a field and spent what felt like considerably more than the 3hours 5 minutes, that Sue Evans had informed me that we had really spent there. If you can imagine the scene, a hard, but grassy wicket, an outfield that felt like concrete when you dived on it, a portacabin for a changing room, and jumbo jets roaring 200 feet over head, every 1 min 48 seconds preparing to land at Heathrow Airport (yes, Sue timed them, it seemed like an integral part of the days play). 

Ahmed Ellech and Wasim Olam opened the bowling. They took advantage of the surface, which, although bounced consistently throughout the game, provided good seam bowlers with plenty of sideways movement. Ahmed bowled, what for me were the two balls of the day, both pitching outside the off stump and cutting viciously back in to the right hander, one finding the batsmen static in his crease and adjudged LBW and the other knocking the middle stump back. Unfortunately for Wasim, I spilled two rather sharp chances off his bowling at 1st slip, the second one which was really a 2nd slip catch, but at this point we didn't have a 2nd slip and I only managed a finger tip on the ball -sorry Wazzer! 

A partnership threatened at this point and a double change was made, with Asif  (Olam) and Habib being called upon. Habib bowled a mixed bag, with the occasional unplayable delivery and plenty just down the leg side, which the umpire had to call wide. Asif however, early in his spell, bowled impressively and took wickets and Gymkhana were rocked on 100 for 5.

The opposition rallied and although James Parker took an important wicket, they were over 200 with 4 wickets and a few overs to spare, however Jay came back on for the last over and managed to persuade 3 batsmen to part with their wickets, by running themselves out!

Indian Gymkhana were very happy however, to be 209 all out, as they have had some impressive wins in the league, most notably against Hanwell - other teams have said that they have a very strong bowling attack.

After a very good tea, I opened the batting with Martin Mason. I hit 11 off the first over and Martin hit 8 or 9 off the next and with byes, we were 22 off 2 overs, so all seemed well. Unfortunately we had hit the openers out of the attack and they brought on a left arm spinner and a wrist spinner. Martin was stumped off the left armer and after we had got rid of this bowler, Ahmed and I went well for a bit, before he was adjudged LBW to a new off spinner- a bit debatable, but I have seen far worse. The skipper (Habib) came in and we put on 50 together, before he was caught on the boundary. We were scoring at over 5 an over, but with the oppositions 2nd left arm spinner tying me up for a while and the fact we were losing wickets, it looked rocky for a while. However I found good allies in Barry Stephenson, Jay Shah and Ginger, who all held up there end and helped rotate the strike to me.

Now I think I had something to prove in this game, as I haven't always done well against spin, especially left arm spin (the one at West Herts made me look silly to be honest!), but here I was faced with 2 left arm spinners, 2 offies and a leggie and had to stay in to the end, otherwise we were in some trouble, so it was really satisfying to play the spin well, end up with 120 not out and the team winning so convincingly. And as if to salute our victory, as we came off the pitch, we were treated to a fly past by Concorde!

To be honest the most difficult thing in the end that we had to contend with, was to keep concentrating, as the oppo skipper insisted on making extensive fielding changes between each ball - we didn't actually finish the game until 8:40 and we still had 5 overs to bowl! I know that we are a bit slow to get our overs in, but these guys were ridiculous and we didn't manage to get back to our club until 10:15 - only 15 minutes of ale time - fortunately we had the presence of mind to buy two lager jugs  and book a table in the Holtwhites Tandoori, which we left at half twelve!

Indian Gymkhana were totally gutted, they always thought they were going to win. They are a strong side, who were missing a couple of their quick bowlers and I think will be chasing us all the way to the league title. Their umpire had a very good game and I think that although we thought Ahmed's LBW was debatable, he was on the whole very fair. They are a friendly bunch of lads and have a very good bar - Premium strength Cobra on tap! Apparently they are going for a lottery grant to get £3.9million to rebuild their pavilion. They definitely need it, as their facilities are aging and in disrepair, we wish them success with this bid and look forward to playing them when this has come to pass. 

Paul Hewitt