On a typical west London Friday evening the Hanwell traffic and a water main combined to make getting to the Perivale Ground one of the hardest challenges of the evening.
However, once safely ensconced at the ground at 6.10, the toss was lost and Ealing put into bat, we had a short time to get through the revised 15 over game.
Ossama set about trying to dent the Perivale Pavilion roof at one end, while batters at the other found out that they couldn't match Ossama's power, direction and in particular connection with the ball. Wickets were lost steadily, until eventually Ossama skied a ball that was taken exceedingly well, deep at mid on. An excellent cameo from Dylan steadied the ship somewhat briefly, but Ealing were restricted to 82 for 8 in their allotted overs. A sub-par score to defend.
Perivale came out full of confidence, but found themselves tied down in the first 5 overs, limited to 11 runs and then suffered the fall of a couple of quick wickets, the second a stunning run out from a direct throw by Faris. This instilled some positivity in the Ealing fielding and the chatter and energy from the field was excellent. Even a brief 20 run hit out by Perivale refused to dampen the spirit. From over 9 onwards the wickets started to fall and the pressure build, but so too the light began failing. Despite 4 consecutive wides from Ealing in the penultimate over, Perivale's task was always just out of reach, and the final over lost the match tension as the batsman failed to get the ball off the square.
Ealing worthy winners by 5 runs.