Ealing became the first club to win the Rakesh Sethi MDL Trophy for the second time after a nail-biting win over Hornsey at Old Deer Park.
The Nail Biting win by 3 wickets chasing down 165 in the last over. Fantastic effort by the MDL team. Great bowling by Munjot, Wahab, Felix, Jay, Tom and Rob to restrict Hornsey to 165 all out. Rob Bentley 44, Jay Plaha 57no led the chase after finding ourselves 48-6 and the "goldenware" secured by Wahab in the last over. Tremendous result!
FULL REPORT...
After winning the toss and putting Hornsey in to bat, we got off to a fantastic start with Wahab taking two wickets in his first two overs including ex-Ealing player “GSG” off the first ball of the match. With Munjot chipping in with a wicket at the either end we had Hornsey 9-3 off 4 overs with 3 of their strongest batsman back in the pavilion. However, with 4 Over 21s players plus their Overseas in their team, we knew that Hornsey would bat deep and so it proved as Hornsey dug in and, when their Overseas was retired on reaching 50, Hornsey were 115-5 with 15 overs to go. However, some tight bowling supported by excellent fielding/catching saw us restrict Hornsey to 165 all out in the 36th over. 2 wickets each to Wahab, Munjot and Rob Bentley and 1 each to Felix and Tom Marshall. Special mention to Felix Montford for an excellent performance by a 14 yr old against some strong senior batters bowling 8 overs taking 1 for 41.

The start of the Ealing innings was delayed 30 mins due to rain and when the match got underway the conditions were poor with a wet outfield and very overcast skies. Unfortunately, we got off to a very poor start and found ourselves 49-6 after 15 overs with the top 6 all back in the pavilion. Many, including the Horsey team, thought the match was over but a magnificent 7th wicket stand between Rob Bentley (44) and Jay Plaha (57 no) took us to 137 before Rob was caught behind. This still left us requiring 29 at over 6 an over. Jay and Wahab chipped away as the target to leave us requiring 8 off the last over. Wahab then hit the 1st ball for an enormous 6 over midwicket and then sliced the second ball for 4 down to 3rd man to bring bring the trophy home. A great recovery in the best traditions of Ealing cricket!

It’s been a great pleasure to have been involved with a fantastic talented squad of young players who have demonstrated both strong cricketing skills and commitment to the club throughout the MDL campaign on Sunday afternoons through the summer. It was not just the players in the Final but also the many other young players who made strong contributions in the earlier rounds that ensured that we reached the finals stages. It once agains demonstrates the strong talent we have coming thought the club and bodes well for the future as many of the squad are either already playing or will shortly be playing senior cricket for the club. What’s more, all but one of the team that played today will still qualify as U21s for the tournament next season.

Special thanks to Dave Templeman and Charles Dewhurst for their support through the season without which we could not have been able to organise and manage the matches as professionally and successfully.