1ST XI v. Hampstead

Team Members:

D Holt, C Peploe, K Nadesan, S Hawk , S Patel, H Jones, H Khan, L Stoughton, M Wilkin, L Parry, T Afridi

Toss:

Ealing won the toss & elected to field

Ealing Score

Ealing 263-7 (53.1 overs)

C Peploe 68*

S Hawk 57

M Wilkin 43

Opposition Score

Hampstead 262-10 (65.3 overs)

L Parry 4 - 51

C Peploe 4 - 103

Result

Ealing won by 3 wickets

Player of the match

C Peploe

Match Report

After a long, cold winter and an even longer and colder pre-season, it was time for the defending champions to get back into League cricket with a home clash against a new-look Hampstead side. With the weather bordering on arctic and the wicket with a bit a life in it, it was a good toss for Holty to win and he had no hesitation in inserting our visitors. It was the perfect start too as new overseas player Kish Nadesan cleaned up their opener for a duck, but after that it all went the visitor’s way, reaching a pretty chanceless 131 -1 at lunch.

After a burger or four and a cheeky helping of chocolate cake it was back to the serious stuff, the bowlers knowing they bowled too full in the opening session, allowing Hampstead to take the early advantage. It was Leigh who struck the first blows, trapping their number 3 in front for 51, before bowling number four an over later to make it 150-3.

Their South African opener reached a fine century before being bowled for 104, and when their number six was caught and bowled for 30 the advantage had swung back our way. Perhaps more importantly, the seam team had opened up a 5-0 lead in the wickets to add to their impressive 4-2 demolition of the spinners in warm up football; but that was about to change as Peps, bowling from the 14^th over, picked up four out of the last five wickets to really restrain the visiting side.  Having been 140-1, the bowlers did very well to restrict the opposition after lunch, eventually bowling them out for 262 in 65.3 overs. Lee Pee’s 4-51 really changed the innings, but Pep’s 4-103 was also very valuable.

Now it was down to the batsman, and when Sammy was caught behind for five there was early pressure on the top order. However Hawky and Mylo accumulated calmly, taking us through to tea at 105-1. After watching New Zealand winner a thriller against Pakistan it was back out into the cold for our final session. When Mylo fell for 43 and Holty shortly after to leave us 135-3 it was up to the middle order to re-gather some momentum. Hawky passed 50 but fell a couple of overs later, but Peps and Jonesy took the score up to 230-4, needing almost exactly five-an-over for the last 15. Jonesy fell for 28 to make it a slightly closer finish, but, with contributions from Beast and Hass, a calm head from Peps took us down to just 10 needed off the final two overs. A few singles and a deft paddle sweep from Crazy Lee meant we were just two away from the win with the last over to go. Although Holty was pacing nervously, only one ball was needed of the 120^th over as Leigh calmly deposited the ball over the rope to see us over the line by three wickets and off to the perfect start to the title defence.