Match Report

Saturday 23 July 2011, at Cavendish Sports Ground, Field End Road, Eastcote - Won by 10 wickets (Ref. 201115)

Wealdstone Corinthians celebrated their 250th match at Cavendish, their home ground for the last 28 seasons, with a resounding victory over Bushey 4th XI after inviting them to bat first on a green pitch. Only one of the top seven youthful batsmen showed much application, and when he was dismissed the visitors were 35-7. Five of the wickets were taken in a fine spell of swing bowling by Ankit Patel, who had previously taken only two wickets in his brief career with the club. With his first ball Rohan Meswani hit Dowling's leg stump, the first player to have reached double figures, and with his second ball Chris Clark hit Eastaugh's middle stump, the second and final player to reach double figures. In the Corinthians reply Andy Naylor became the first player this season to reach 300 runs when he put away two full tosses for 4 in the first over, bowled by his former work colleague Nigel Eastaugh. Raj Meswani, who soon passed 300 as well, could have been caught on 1, before he settled into his customary supply of boundaries. The pair completed the club's first 10-wicket win for 10 years, and only the fourth known such margin of victory in the club's history.

Bushey 69 (21.3 overs), A Patel 5-21, C Clark 2-9, Rohan Meswani 2-20, S Brown 1-19, N Eastaugh 20

Skipper Steve Brown, who featured as the top-scoring opening batsman in Corinthians' previous 10-wicket win at The Lee, made the breakthrough in the 5th over when he bowled Purser via his pads. Two balls later it was 9-2 when Hamza edged Ankit Patel, and keeper Andy Naylor held a sharp low catch in his right glove. Patel went on to claim wickets in 5 consecutive overs at a personal cost of 8 runs. Nextly he had Simon Eastaugh caught when he top edged to Chris Brown at gully, then Riseley was bowled by an inswinger and Miller caught behind for another duck to make it 19-5. Usman spoilt Ankit's figures of 4 for 2 by edging his first ball for 4 between keeper and slip, but did give the bowler his first 5-wicket haul when bowled by the ball of the day, an inswinger that clipped the top of middle stump. The left-handed Dowling had batted sensibly to reach 13, before unluckily being bowled via his pad to a short ball from Rohan Meswani that kept low. An eventful innings from Nigel Eastaugh saw him survive a high chance to Phil Cundy at slip, hit two fours off Ankit and three in an over off Rohan, before the left-armer held a low return catch to dismiss Black and end the biggest partnership of the innings. In the next over Eastaugh was bowled by an off break from Chris Clark, who then wrapped up the last wicket in his second over when surprising Sajid with a straight ball after three consecutive wides.

Corinthians 73-0 (10.3 overs), Raj Meswani 49* (33 balls), Andy Naylor 22* (31 balls)

Both openers got off the mark first ball, Raj with a single and Andy with a boundary to long leg, a shot he repeated later in the over. Sajid should have had a wicket in his first over, but the chance to mid off was put down and Raj slammed his first boundary later in the over wide of mid on. He hit the only 6 of the match in a similar direction in the next over, though Eastaugh responded by hitting him on the foot with his last delivery. Sajid was struck for three more leg side boundaries by Raj, then Naylor glanced the other left-armer, Miller, for 4 and steered him between point and gully for 2 next ball to bring up the 50 partnership in the 7th over. Amir replaced Sajid at the Pavilion End, but pitched too short and Raj pulled his first two balls for four, then Naylor steered him towards third man for 2 to level the scores after 10 overs. Raj won the match by driving Miller to the mid wicket boundary, and Corinthians had their first home win by 10 wickets since 1987. Coincidentally it was another Asian in a hurry to leave early who had won that game too (Vinod Sidpara, 85 not out v Priory Park!)

Man of the Match: Ankit Patel

After tea a 20 overs match was played, with 10 bowlers on both sides each delivering two overs. It was a much closer affair, though Corinthians won again. Chris Brown anchored the innings, batting throughout the 20 overs, whilst John Wakeling helped him get it off to a good start. Andy Clark then quickly hit 15, including three consecutive boundaries, before being run out. Chris Brosnan hit a typically aggressive 23, but the batting star was Rohan Meswani, who included a huge 6 in his unbeaten knock of 26.

The highlights of the Bushey reply were two wickets in an over from each of the regular Corinthians opening batsmen. Raj Meswani dismissed both openers in his second over, and when Andy Naylor replaced him at the Pavilion End he held a return catch and then a throw from John Wakeling to secure a run out. A couple of expensive overs kept Bushey in the hunt, with Nigel Eastaugh (29) again top scoring, though wickets fell regularly and Steve Brown held two good catches. The final pairing of Ankit Patel and John Wakeling each hit the stumps and were good enough to prevent 34 being scored from the last 4 overs.

Corinthians 125-5 (20 overs), Chris Brown 31*, Rohan Meswani 26*, C Brosnan 23

Bushey 118-9 (20 overs)