Round 7 Review

It was a mixed weekend for Acton as the Acorns were chasing targets in all five games with the Saturday results split between two wins and two losses alongside a losing draw for the Sunday MDL side.

In his second week as temporary captain, Huzaifa Yousafzai won the toss with help from a little deflection off the umpire’s right shoulder and elected to bowl first. Opening combo, James Hunt and Sam Harvey made full use of the overcast conditions and fresh deck as Southgate lost three early wickets and only just crossed the fifty run mark at the drinks interval. The pair bowled a combined 22 overs for just 43 runs including eight maidens and were unfortunate to not have more wickets under their belt. Eventually the pitch flattened out and a Southgate rebuild led by Sam Collinson’s fifty pushed the visitors all the way up to 191 after their 55 overs.

The run chase started just how the Acorn’s would have liked as Viren Nain and Lucas Carlisle notched up fifty for the opening partnership. Nain then reached his maiden leaguefifty for the club just before being dismissed as Acton were 126/3 and looked all set to reach the total with ease. A quick double strike from Akshay Pillalamarri had the hosts in trouble before Ben Elders ripped through the lower order taking 4-28 and the 12 points for Southgate.

The second team were sent in to field first on an excellent batting surface away at Teddington and were quickly put to the sword as the home side notched up 184 runs for the opening stand. A hundred for Sam Greenland and half centuries for Jack Victory and Callum Donnelly led their side to 261/4 declared after 49 overs.

Faced with a steep chase, Acton started with a strong 88 run opening stand which included a swift fifty from Tom Glenton-Forsdike as skipper Manning then anchored the innings with a half-century of his own. It was all set up for club legend and form man Yasir Mehmood who struck a run-a-ball 67 not out to seal the victory alongside a finishers knock of 14 off 9 from Noah Harvey.

Third team captain, Dan Wadell won the toss at Gunnersbury Park and rightfully chose to bowl first as Neil Lederman and Sunil Ghumra dismantled the North Middlesex batting lineup with Rory Evans the only batter in the top five to reach double figures. Three wickets each for Lederman, Ghumra and Aryan Patel had the visitors bowled out for 102 inside 28 overs.Acton eventually chased the total with just two wickets remaining as no big scores of note were made aside from Raj Chauhan’s 20 being the biggest contribution.

The fourth eleven had a tough day out away at Harrow having conceded 289/5 declared including an unbeaten 123 from Sunil Arora. There was early hope for Acton as Kuntal Parikh made a rapid-fire 69 but following his dismissal the visitors quickly folded to a 120 run defeat.

The MDL side faced Harrow at home and had the opponents 67 for 4 having been put into field on a very favourable batting surface. However, an excellent 102 not out from Kush Patel left Acton a mammoth 274 runs to chase.

The Acorn’s response started very slowly and at 80/2 at drinks were really falling behind the rate leading to the eventual decision to play for a losing draw. Despite a pair of wickets in the final over the Acton tail saw them to safety.

Player of the Week

Yasir Mehmood – 67 Runs vs Teddington

Fantasy League Top Performers

Yasir Mehmood – 112 Points

Raghavendra Ravikumar – 98 Points

Cameron O’ Donnell – 98 Points

Kuntal Parikh – 94 Points

Tom Forsdike – 91 Points