OWCC Match Reports 10th & 17th August 2024

cricket newsletter  •  Posted 20th August 2024

Gravesend 262 for 9, Old Wilsonians 193

Needing to go on a winning streak, and quickly, if they are to preserve their Division One status, Old Wilsonians started well by reducing Gravesend to 54 for 4 but the visitors recovered well, thanks to Amain Jain (48), Warren Lee (104) and Sumit Ohri (38) to finish on 262 for 9, Jon Rodda taking 3 for 52 for the OWs
The hosts lost a wicket in the first over but although they recovered to a degree, nobody scored the major innings they required, Velson Devarajula (45) and Louis Pryor (41) being their top scorers and they were bowled out in the 47th over well short of their needed target.
They now need to approach their last four games in a positive manner if they are to avoid the drop

Old Wilsonians 2nd Xl 176, Linden Park 2nd Xl 177 for 6

Having bowled Old Wilsonians out for 176, Ben Holman, 4 for 28 with Dan Seston (46) and Josh Merchant (31) scoring well for the OWs, Linden Park then lost early wickets and found themselves struggling at 55 for 4 before a fifth wicket stand of 83 between Adam Champion (43) and James Corner (48) put them back in the driving seat, enabling them to secure a 4 wicket victory, Joe Jukes, 4 for 35, inflicting most of the early damage on the hosts

Old Wilsonians 3rd Xl 60, Blue Star 1st Xl 64 for 1

Having bowled out Old Wilsonians 3rd Xl for 60, Blue Star 1st Xl took just 74 balls to score the runs required for victory, opener Faisal Hayat finishing on 45 not out.
Earlier Chand Channa, 4 for 14, Robert Mills, 3 for 19 and Anmesh Bhatachanya, 2 for 22, had completely bamboozled the OW batsmen with only Kalp Raval (34) able to cope with their skills

Old Wilsonians  Sunday  Development  Xl    252   for   6,   Bromley   183

A first wicket stand of 109 between Dan Nichols (112 n.o) and Velsen Devarajula (68) laid a solid foundation for a big total but Old Wilsonians failed to take full of advantage of this and had to settle for 252 for 6, with Arnau Singh finishing with 3 for 41 for the visitors
But it proved to be more than enough as Bromley could not match this with Anish Moholkar top scoring for them with 36, Syd Sherlock, Ollie Willis and Shehan Sivaranjan all taking two wickets for the OWs

Old Wilsonians 167, Kings Hill 170 for 9

In the tightest of finishes, King Hill just scraped home by one wicket having slumped from 131 for 5 to 166 for 9 in this game against Old Wilsonians
On a day when bowlers dominated, Lorne Burns, 4 for 21 and Jake Bacon, 2 for 32 for Kings Hill and Jon Rodda, 2 for 25 and Elliot Bettridge, 2 for 35 for the OWs, only Richard Nicol (57) and Lorne Burns (42), again, for the hosts and Jon Rodda (34) again and Elliot Bettridge (32), again, for the visitors scored to any degree
Ultimately Kings Hill were relieved

Old Wilsonians 2nd Xl 240 for 7, Old Colfeians 2nd Xl 225

Despite a commanding innings of 103 from Asfand Yar Ahmed, who shared a second wicket stand of 110 with Stephen Cowburn (41), Old Colfeians succumbed to a 15 run defeat by Old Wilsonians
Batting first the OWs were indebted to Eoin Matthews (62), Ali Hasan Butt (42), Chris Scott (27) and Ollie Willis (22) for the majority of their runs, with Vikas Desai taking 3 for 38 for the visitors, whilst Eoin Matthews and David Pilgrim both claimed two wickets for the hosts, Colfeians' cause not being helped by four run outs

Catford and Cyphers 3rd Xl 111, Old Wilsonians 3rd Xl 112 for 9

Runs were in short supply in this game as Catford and Cyphers and Old Wilsonians shared 223 of them for the loss of 19 wickets, the latter just scraping home by 1 wicket
The home side found great difficulty in combatting the bowling skills of Roger Nichols, who finished with 4 for 20, although Kasan Ekanayake (36) and Ben Bell (22) did their best
When it came to their turn to bowl Eoin Sullivan, 5 for 28, was their star but a fighting 21 not out from OW's Nathan Carpenter saw him finishing on the losing side

Catford and Cyphers 4th Xl, 195 for 4 Old wilsonians 4th Xl 145

After losing both of their openers cheaply, the Catford and Cyphers innings then took on a more consistent look to it as Oliver Gibbs (41), Nick Morgan (52), Matthew Gray (53 n.o) and Arshad Mahmood (32 n.o) enabled them to finish on 195 for 4 from their 40 overs
The OW reply also started badly but only Neil Treacher (20), David Ward (21) and Will Hutchinson (26 n.o) then made any useful contributions as Zion Ifill, 3 for 37 and Matthew Bamford-Bowes, 3 for 28, bowled their side to victory

Old Wilsonians    Sunday  Development   Xl    282 for 5, Holmesdale 252

A barn-storming innings of 101 in 52 balls by Chris Scott, including  72 in boundaries - 15 fours  and 2 sixes  - put Holmesdale to the sword in a game that saw a total of 534 runs scored. In comparison the innings of Velsen Devarajula (82) seemed insignificant - he hit only 48 in boundaries,  but it was important as the Old Wilsonian score raced to  282 for 5.
In Cameron Lindsay (51), Edward lee  (52) and Miga Steyn (53 n.o) Holmesdale also had players who scored well as  the visitors  finished just 30 runs short of that first innings totalv