2018 Match October 2018
Firstly, a big thank you to Hamza and I guess Zef too for providing some very delicious food from Bombay Chow after the game. Much appreciated as I think it was enjoyed by most. Also a big thank you to all those who stayed behind to help clear up especially after a bit of an accident with the beer bottles, namely Lucy, Dirk, Maureen and Suraj.
Before the match report just a quick round up to the last 3 years journey as Captain of Barnes Common CC which ended as of
last Sunday’s game !!
Overall, it started off with thoughts of why did I take this role up combined with thoughts of a lot self doubt, especially in me becoming more of a team player rather than someone like quite a few current players who just turn up either 5 minutes before the start of the game or later !!
But then it struck me that it would be nice to give something back to a sport which I am passionate about and has given me so much pleasure playing, be it on a lovely summer’s day or a wet and cold miserable day.
Anyway here I am 3 years done and dusted as Captain. It’s been fun most times dealing with issues not just on the field but getting involved with all the admin and pre season preparations off the field too. Big learning curve and no doubt still loads to learn but then
all good things must come to an end I guess.
I just hope I have left BCCC in a better place than when I first took over 3 years ago. Initially, we struggled to get players committed to playing a
number of games per season and also were missing having a core set of players of a decent standard in our team. But lately this year in particular both these issues seem to have been resolved. Now we have 7-9 regulars thanks to Hamza who got along quite a few very good cricketers from Richmond to play for us on Sundays. In addition, we also have a new tea lady/ boy in the form of Maureen & Dirk. A big thank you to
both of you for taking over this important responsibility of feeding and keeping happy 22 hungry players ..
So thank you all for having put up with me whether you liked it or not. As my wife Lucy will be the first to say, I can be a pain in the arse at
(most) times but I mean well as can be seen from the amount of effort which I put in over the last three years in the Club. Whether it was appreciated or not only time will tell. Besides a few hiccups along the way I am quite pleased where the Club is at and I think I will be leaving the Club in a better place than when I took over. I am sure there are some players who are never happy with the state of play but then I am sure the Club can do without such players who feel their cricket comes first and the team’s interests come second.
My only two regrets are it would have helped if I had won the toss a few more times than I did and our win/loss ratio was a bit better as quite a few games ended up being close games. Anyway, it was not meant to be I guess and something the new Captain can take on and improve on.
Anyway on to the match report.
BCCC Vs Nomads - last match of the season.
BCCC 2018 season not including Rome tour: Wins 8, Losses 9.
Nomads - 287 for 3 in 40 overs, BCCC - 241 for 7 in 40 overs. BCCC lost by 46 runs.
Debutant/s - Talha
Weather - A warm, lovely sunny October's day.
Toss- Yes, once again won by the BCCC Captain and as the pitch was a bit damp put in Nomads to bat first.
Nomads batting - started very steadily as both Mike and John Thornton batted well on a tricky damp wicket to put on 60
before JT fell to his nemesis Adi again for a well made 35. Mike fell soon afterwards to Mo for 27 when Zef took his 1st catch
of the season, well at least it felt like it as I could not remember the last time he actually caught one. Good thing Zef can bat !!
The steady start moved up a few gears when K Desai also know as KD walked in as he started spoiling our bowlers' bowling averages by scoring 147 n.o with 9 sixes and 16 fours !!! KD and Chris Laws put on 136 runs for the 3rd wicket stand. Hamza finally got Chris out for a very aggressive 51 runs. KD was then joined by his brother A Desai who remained not out
on 23 runs at the end with the score on 287. This is after Nomads were only on 82 for 2 off 22 overs. Thanks to KD and Chris,
Barnes' bowlers were taken for 205 runs in 18 overs !!!! Andrew Pitcher kept very well behind the stumps and did not give away
any byes in the entire match - a welcome change from the usual. Well done to AP, he should keep more often. The 3 bowlers who
managed to keep Nomads under control were Vish, Mo and Hamza. The rest of us unfortunately had a day we would rather forget
thanks to KD and Chris !!
Bowling figures :- Vish - 7-1-33-0, Hamza- 8-2-33-1 , Mo - 8-0-44-1 , Adi - 4-0-29-1 , Nik- 4-0-35-0 , Graeme - 5-0-57-0 ,
Hassan- 1-0-23-0 , Sanjay -3-0-30-0.
Short tea was taken between innings. Thanks to Lucy for standing in as Maureen and Dirk were not available.
BCCC batting - Keith and Graeme opened the batting, before Keith got out in the 1st over with 287 still to chase. Sanjay did not last
long as he was bowled by Suraj for 19 in the 5th over with the score on 24 for 2 at this stage. Graeme and Nik steadied the innings
and took the score to 152 for 2 out of which Nik scored a fantastic 82 and Graeme 53 but unfortunately the damage was done as we already used up 32 overs by then. In walked Zef next in the 32nd over (20 overs too late in my opinion) and he tried singlehandedly to up the ante by hitting a quick 67 in only 6 overs with 6 sixes out of which 4 were consecutive sixes in the 38th over !! Once Zef fell in the 38th over BCCC had no chance and we ended up on 232 runs at the end of the 40th over and lost by 46 runs.
Batting figures - Keith - 0 , Nik - 82, Zef - 67, Graeme - 53, Sanjay 19 ,Vish - 2 , Hassan - 2, Talha - 1 n.o. , Andrew - 4 n.o
Ego's and bodies battered and bruised we retreated to the Pavilion to have a few beers and much needed food. Hopefully both sides enjoyed the evening as I did plus I think it brought the season to a lovely close.
Men of the Match -jointly goes to Zef for his quickfire 67 in 30 balls and Nik for 87 and for doing their bit to get us as close to the
Nomads total of 287.
Catch of the Match - seeing as we dropped quite a few dollies but then Zef surprised us all by taking a simple but a catch nonetheless
at square leg much to the relief of his brother Hamza and the rest of the team !!
Bowling honours - not sure if any of the bowlers deserve this as all of us were bashed around quite merrily by KD !!
Shot of the day - goes to Zef for hitting one of biggest sixes of the season over cow corner !!
Embarrassing moment/s - Yes, Sanjay getting out to a straight ball from Suraj .. again.!!!
2018 Batting and bowling figures including Rome to follow at a later date .
Zef leads the batting/runs with Nik close 2nd.
Adi leads the wickets again with Nik a close 2nd.
Barnes Common CC most valuable player award jointly goes to :-
Huzefa Sajawal (Zef) and Nik Johri
Men of Match - worthy joint winners pictures of Nik & Zef below.
Before the match report just a quick round up to the last 3 years journey as Captain of Barnes Common CC which ended as of
last Sunday’s game !!
Overall, it started off with thoughts of why did I take this role up combined with thoughts of a lot self doubt, especially in me becoming more of a team player rather than someone like quite a few current players who just turn up either 5 minutes before the start of the game or later !!
But then it struck me that it would be nice to give something back to a sport which I am passionate about and has given me so much pleasure playing, be it on a lovely summer’s day or a wet and cold miserable day.
Anyway here I am 3 years done and dusted as Captain. It’s been fun most times dealing with issues not just on the field but getting involved with all the admin and pre season preparations off the field too. Big learning curve and no doubt still loads to learn but then
all good things must come to an end I guess.
I just hope I have left BCCC in a better place than when I first took over 3 years ago. Initially, we struggled to get players committed to playing a
number of games per season and also were missing having a core set of players of a decent standard in our team. But lately this year in particular both these issues seem to have been resolved. Now we have 7-9 regulars thanks to Hamza who got along quite a few very good cricketers from Richmond to play for us on Sundays. In addition, we also have a new tea lady/ boy in the form of Maureen & Dirk. A big thank you to
both of you for taking over this important responsibility of feeding and keeping happy 22 hungry players ..
So thank you all for having put up with me whether you liked it or not. As my wife Lucy will be the first to say, I can be a pain in the arse at
(most) times but I mean well as can be seen from the amount of effort which I put in over the last three years in the Club. Whether it was appreciated or not only time will tell. Besides a few hiccups along the way I am quite pleased where the Club is at and I think I will be leaving the Club in a better place than when I took over. I am sure there are some players who are never happy with the state of play but then I am sure the Club can do without such players who feel their cricket comes first and the team’s interests come second.
My only two regrets are it would have helped if I had won the toss a few more times than I did and our win/loss ratio was a bit better as quite a few games ended up being close games. Anyway, it was not meant to be I guess and something the new Captain can take on and improve on.
Anyway on to the match report.
BCCC Vs Nomads - last match of the season.
BCCC 2018 season not including Rome tour: Wins 8, Losses 9.
Nomads - 287 for 3 in 40 overs, BCCC - 241 for 7 in 40 overs. BCCC lost by 46 runs.
Debutant/s - Talha
Weather - A warm, lovely sunny October's day.
Toss- Yes, once again won by the BCCC Captain and as the pitch was a bit damp put in Nomads to bat first.
Nomads batting - started very steadily as both Mike and John Thornton batted well on a tricky damp wicket to put on 60
before JT fell to his nemesis Adi again for a well made 35. Mike fell soon afterwards to Mo for 27 when Zef took his 1st catch
of the season, well at least it felt like it as I could not remember the last time he actually caught one. Good thing Zef can bat !!
The steady start moved up a few gears when K Desai also know as KD walked in as he started spoiling our bowlers' bowling averages by scoring 147 n.o with 9 sixes and 16 fours !!! KD and Chris Laws put on 136 runs for the 3rd wicket stand. Hamza finally got Chris out for a very aggressive 51 runs. KD was then joined by his brother A Desai who remained not out
on 23 runs at the end with the score on 287. This is after Nomads were only on 82 for 2 off 22 overs. Thanks to KD and Chris,
Barnes' bowlers were taken for 205 runs in 18 overs !!!! Andrew Pitcher kept very well behind the stumps and did not give away
any byes in the entire match - a welcome change from the usual. Well done to AP, he should keep more often. The 3 bowlers who
managed to keep Nomads under control were Vish, Mo and Hamza. The rest of us unfortunately had a day we would rather forget
thanks to KD and Chris !!
Bowling figures :- Vish - 7-1-33-0, Hamza- 8-2-33-1 , Mo - 8-0-44-1 , Adi - 4-0-29-1 , Nik- 4-0-35-0 , Graeme - 5-0-57-0 ,
Hassan- 1-0-23-0 , Sanjay -3-0-30-0.
Short tea was taken between innings. Thanks to Lucy for standing in as Maureen and Dirk were not available.
BCCC batting - Keith and Graeme opened the batting, before Keith got out in the 1st over with 287 still to chase. Sanjay did not last
long as he was bowled by Suraj for 19 in the 5th over with the score on 24 for 2 at this stage. Graeme and Nik steadied the innings
and took the score to 152 for 2 out of which Nik scored a fantastic 82 and Graeme 53 but unfortunately the damage was done as we already used up 32 overs by then. In walked Zef next in the 32nd over (20 overs too late in my opinion) and he tried singlehandedly to up the ante by hitting a quick 67 in only 6 overs with 6 sixes out of which 4 were consecutive sixes in the 38th over !! Once Zef fell in the 38th over BCCC had no chance and we ended up on 232 runs at the end of the 40th over and lost by 46 runs.
Batting figures - Keith - 0 , Nik - 82, Zef - 67, Graeme - 53, Sanjay 19 ,Vish - 2 , Hassan - 2, Talha - 1 n.o. , Andrew - 4 n.o
Ego's and bodies battered and bruised we retreated to the Pavilion to have a few beers and much needed food. Hopefully both sides enjoyed the evening as I did plus I think it brought the season to a lovely close.
Men of the Match -jointly goes to Zef for his quickfire 67 in 30 balls and Nik for 87 and for doing their bit to get us as close to the
Nomads total of 287.
Catch of the Match - seeing as we dropped quite a few dollies but then Zef surprised us all by taking a simple but a catch nonetheless
at square leg much to the relief of his brother Hamza and the rest of the team !!
Bowling honours - not sure if any of the bowlers deserve this as all of us were bashed around quite merrily by KD !!
Shot of the day - goes to Zef for hitting one of biggest sixes of the season over cow corner !!
Embarrassing moment/s - Yes, Sanjay getting out to a straight ball from Suraj .. again.!!!
2018 Batting and bowling figures including Rome to follow at a later date .
Zef leads the batting/runs with Nik close 2nd.
Adi leads the wickets again with Nik a close 2nd.
Barnes Common CC most valuable player award jointly goes to :-
Huzefa Sajawal (Zef) and Nik Johri
Men of Match - worthy joint winners pictures of Nik & Zef below.
