Let’s open with congratulations to our very own Ollie Gilmour who featured at Lords on Thursday as the Middlesex mascot (see picture). A wonderful performance by all accounts.

On Saturday, the 1s bounced back with a win against Old Isleworthians. A disciplined bowling performance blew them away for 131 (Simon Moss 4-21) and we chased them for 4, 51* to skipper Ben Birtles and 41* in 18 balls by Seb Eyre.

The 2s lost to Kenton. We had them in trouble but 90 for the 9th wicket lifted them to 209 and we were never in the hunt. The 3s are second after a comfortable win against North London. We rackeg up 257-7 (Joel Abbott 79, Will Hayes 47, Jack Stansfield 41) and kept them to 178, ‘Mad Dog’ Dave Phillips taking a brilliant 7-31.

The 4s are top of their league after a solid win over Actonians. Jim Yorath too 4-38 as we dismissed them for 196, and we lost early wickets, but Ravi Badale’s 63 set up victory. The 5s lost to Wycombe House, who made 266 (Asher Grant 4-37) which we never got close to. The 6s also lost, to Indian Gymkhana, despite Jeremy Wellard’s 41.

On Sunday, the women lost at HQ to Crouch End, in a good-spirited game where we showed real fight against a decent team. We made 53 and got two early wickets, but Crouch End got home with 6 overs to spare. The men’s team, away at Bagshot, posted 194, with Nouman Tahir continuing his great season with 71. They got them with 8 wickets to spare.

It was a quiet week for juniors, being half term, but on Friday the U17s scored a very creditable win against Ealing. We kept them to 115 and were cruising a 70-0, then wobbled, then Dylan Barrett saw us home with the bat, having taken 3 wickets with the ball. Well done the U17s.

Can I please remind you about our Crowdfunder project, raising essential funds to develop cricket facilities at Chiswick House – relaying the square and building nets. Please donate if you can: we need to get this project over the line: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/chiswick-cricket-club-fundraising#start

Have a good week everyone
Bernard