Ealing beat 2018 League Winners

First league game of the season for Ealing up against last years winners North Middlesex set tough first fixture for both teams.

Ealing lost the toss and were put into bat at North Middlesex’s home ground. Despite the wet start and being put into bat Connelly and Good got off to a good start, at 8 overs being 46 without loss. The opening partnership of 47 ended in the 8th over with Good going for 14. A tighter spin and seam combination from North Middlesex meant Ashok and Connelly worked hard for a 42 run partnership. Ashok going for 26 followed by 2 quick wickets (Tattersall and Dewhurst departing for 0) in 2 consecutive overs gave North Middlesex the momentum for a short period of time. After Connelly going for 45, Fairbairn and Ensom put on excellent 78 together which guided Ealing into a good position for the penultimate overs. Fairbairn getting an excellent 47 and Ensom getting a smart 25. Marshall and Henri rotating the strike exceptionally well and clean strikes of the ball from Rowley left Ealing 216 for 8 off 45 overs. Marshall with 8, Henri with 14* and Rowley with 10*.

Ealing’s bowling attack started off with Rowley and Ensom. Ealing got off to another great start with tight pressure in the field combined with 2 back to maiden’s from Rowley and tight bowling from Ensom. Good pressure by Ealing led to wickets falling in the 9th 10th and 11th overs, with Rowley taking all 3. North Middlesex’s number 3 and 5 put on a stand together, however due to outstanding fielding by Dewhurst and fast hands behind the stumps from Tattersall, the two batters had very little success. Marshal keeping it going with tight consistent bowling and going for very few runs. As a result the two batters stayed at the crease and began to build a partnership. Set up by Faraz, Tattersall took a fast stumping. This proved incredibly important as North Middlesex had just started to go on the attack to regain any hope of getting near Ealing’s total. At this point North Middlesex were 111 for 4 off 29 overs.
Faraz striking again to get out North Middlesex’s number 5 (who was set on 47) and Henri coming into the attack to take a wicket lead to two new batters at the crease. With number 7 and 8 in, north Middlesex had a long way to go as they still had 70 runs to get off 11 overs with only 4 wickets remaining. Ensom back into the attack and taking a wicket limited North Middlesex’s chances. Faraz doing the job by running through North Middlesex’s lower order, getting himself 5 wickets and winning the match for Ealing. As a result North Middlesex were bowled out for 162 off 39 overs.

Overall a great team performance for Ealing against a league winning North Middlesex side. A solid batting performance from Ealing on a bowling favourable wicket. Followed by faultless efforts in the field and class bowing from Ealing. Outstanding performances with the bat: from Connelly with 45 and Fairbairn with 47. Outstanding performances with the ball: Faraz 5-42 off 8 and Rowley 3-11 off 7.