NLCC 1XI v Acton on Sat 21 Jun 2008 at 1pm
NLCC Won by 74 runs
Chris Rids Norths of Losing Habit
North London put their faltering early season form behind them with their third win in the last four weeks, thrashing Acton by 74 runs on Saturday.
With druids and pagans converging on Stonehenge, Norths played out their own mid-summer ritual on the summer solstice, with drizzle, thick cloud and gloomy light greeting the teams at noon. The covers were left on until the last possible minute as the North London team under the guidance of Kelvyn worked hard to dry the outfield by dragging the boundary rope across the sodden grass. The covered pitch itself, remarkably, was bone dry and when Acton’s Hunt won the toss and bowled, it seemed a decision that might easily backfire. Norths reasoned that Acton had condemned themselves to bowl with a wet ball on a perfect batting wicket.
Openers Askew and Ridley gave Norths a fine start with a controlled and virtually chanceless stand of 74 in 22 overs for the first wicket. Askew started at a frenzy, dispatching 29 from the first 5 overs while Ridley managed a streaky 2 to get off the mark. The pair then reversed roles as Ridley blossomed with some beautiful strokes and Askew dropped anchor. It came as something of a surprise when Askew holed out on the mid-wicket boundary for 42, which brought last week’s hero Tom Noutch to the wicket. Askew remarked that he just didn't seem to want to score a fifty but with 29 from his first 24 balls, and 13 from his next 34 it might be that he wants one too much. Nevertheless the experienced opener had given Norths an excellent start, and looks in a rich vein of form.
Ridley by now was well set and had established a pattern that was to continue all the way to the 47th over. Watchful and showing the full face of the bat to the bowlers, Ridley went through long periods virtually strokeless, interspersed with waves of stinging attack. As Noutch dug in Ridley ran down the wicket to Acton’s dangerous spinner Matt Turnell and hit with the spin for a mighty six over long on. Ridley made it North London's fifth successive game where a batter has reached fifty, and pleasingly they have come from five different individuals.
Pat Mills joined Ridley in the 33rd over with Norths 113-2 and the pair began to up the rate steadily with ones and twos. Ridley eventually fell LBW for a priceless 86, and Mills responded by opening his shoulders to swing Turnell for another six before holing out for 37 and a classy and welcome return to form.
That left the middle order to slog their way to a declaration with Norths 197-4 off 49 overs. In their contrasting styles they did the job brilliantly, taking 51 runs from the next six overs. Tom Wakeford hit his first two deliveries for straight sixes, his third for four, and was stumped off his fourth! Ian Johns scuffed 16 from 17 balls in rather more traditional style, and Maaz Haffeji smashed Hunt for a back foot straight six in the final over. Smith and Haffeji adding 16 from the final 11 deliveries, with Smith, inevitably, finishing not out as he has done every innings this year.
That left Acton to chase 250 in 45 overs if they were to get themselves out of the relegation zone. This was a total that was certainly not beyond their talented top four, and Haffeji suffered some early damage as Acton raced to 50-1 in just 7 overs.
Wakeford and Smith then took over and re-emphasised their terrific form at present, as the runs totally dried up for Acton. Wakeford induced two nerveless catches from Godfrey-Wood at long off, Smith caught Fyfe’s outside edge for a smart one handed catch from Askew, and Johns held a tidy catch on the drive as Acton collapsed to 94-6 off 22 overs.
That brought an unfamiliar face to the wicket in Acton number eight Mangaladas. Various theories were put forward as to where this gentleman had appeared from as none could remember him playing any part in the North London innings. Askew settled the confusion when he reminded us (and the batsmen) of Mangaladas’ three over spell down the hill with the new ball which Askew had smashed to all parts.
Nevertheless his batting proved of much greater nuisance value and, alongside the well set Mehmood, Acton began to frustrate Norths with a stand of 27. Johns turned to the spin twins at the start of the last hour and ten minutes later Amjad Zahoor fired his quicker ball through. The number eight was completely bamboozled, and the ball somehow missed leg stump. As Zahoor walked back grinning it didn’t take any clairvoyant powers to guess what was coming next. Zahoor uprooted middle stump with another quicker ball, and Norths were down to the rabbits (aka the English players in an Acton side featuring seven overseas players).
Back came Haffeji, running from the sightscreen, desperate to end the game early. Mehmood had other ideas, and seemed to much prefer the ball coming on. Where he had looked out of form and awkward against Smith and Wakeford, Mehmood looked a million dollars now. Hitting the ball incredibly hard he began to take Haffeji apart, farmed the strike, trusted his partners to survive at the other end, and focussed on the four point target of 204.
With five overs left, Mehmood had advanced to 65 and Acton needed 29 for the winning draw. Johns persisted with two slips to Mehmood, and seven sweepers, and the Acton number four went for one big hit too many from Haffeji. The ball swirled out into the deep towards a running Gill with Haffeji audibly begging his team mate to hold on. Gill made the pressure catch look easy and Haffeji celebrated wildly.
Next ball was a quick full length to Reeve who nicked it hard to Ridley at 2nd slip. It was a fitting end - Ridley and Haffeji combined to win this match for North London, along with some excellent support from Wakeford, Askew, Mills and Smith. The rest of the team didn’t really contribute, well apart from some great catches, unselfish batting, unsettling sledging, clever tactics and great team spirit. Special mention must be made of Godfrey-Wood who started the day at number three, spent three hours padded up and slid down to number seven as the top order stuck in. "I don't care where I bat, I just want to win" said Yakult and more power to him for that attitude. His two running catches at long off went a long way towards achieving that aim.
North London are up to 4th in the table and will meet 3rd placed South Hampstead next week.
NLCC 1XI Batting
249 for 8
Acton Bowling
| Hunt |
9.0 |
1 |
41 |
1 |
41.00 |
4.56 |
| Mangaladas |
3.0 |
0 |
23 |
0 |
0.00 |
7.67 |
| Ghumra |
12.0 |
3 |
39 |
2 |
19.50 |
3.25 |
| Turnell |
19.0 |
1 |
61 |
3 |
20.33 |
3.21 |
| Reeve |
12.0 |
0 |
68 |
2 |
34.00 |
5.67 |
Acton Batting
175 for 10
| Fyfe |
9 |
Caught |
| Jones |
12 |
Bowled |
| McKee |
28 |
Caught |
| Mehmood |
65 |
Caught |
| Wilson |
5 |
Caught |
| Hunt |
0 |
Bowled |
| Ghumra |
11 |
Caught |
| Mangaladas |
11 |
Bowled |
| McGechie |
13 |
Bowled |
| Reeve |
2 |
Caught |
| Turnell |
0 |
Not Out |
NLCC 1XI Bowling