The 1st XI returned to the top of the Premier League with a hard fought but well earned win over Ealing at Old Deer Park. Elsewhere, the 2's dominated at Ealing to take the winning draw but the 3's were beaten by the same opposition. The 3b's recorded an excellent victory over top of the table Highgate but the 5's suffered a narrow defeat against Osterley 4's.
At Old Deer Park, Richmond won the toss and batted on a wicket that would obviously offer spin. A solid start from Greg King and James Irvine-Fortescue saw Richmond get to 51 before JIF fell. Another 30 runs were added between Ben Compton and Greg before Compo departed and going into the last over before lunch, Richmond were well placed at 115 for 2. However, Greg was out on the stroke of lunch and shortly after the break the wickets of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Alex Griffiths and Jack Porter saw us slump to 134 for 6. Joe Smith and Bhavesh Pankhania set about repairing the damage but Bhav's dismissal, a 4th LBW in succession, with the score on 158 threatened a lower score than was required. However Smudge had other ideas and in an excellent partnership with James Essex, Richmond moved to a total of 234 for 8 off the maximum 66 overs, Smudge ending up on 56 not out - a terrific effort.
David Burton scored two early strikes removing both Ealing openers before the score had reached 33. The introduction of spin at both ends after tea saw the dangerous Robbie White dismissed with Ealing on 65 for 3. Olly Wilkin briefly threatened to take control but when he fell to Tom Hemingway to leave Ealing 11 for 4, the balance had tilted back towards Richmond. Two further wickets fell rapidly and with Ealing on 125 for 6, Richmond seemed to be in control. Anand Ashok, batting at 4, looked steady and first in a partnership with Park and then Arthur Godsall seemed likely to secure the 4 points for Ealing at least. With news of Teddington's defeat filtering through, it was the win the Richmond wanted and it took a moment of inspiration from Greg King to turn the game around. Godsall hit out and with the ball seemingly sailing over the boundary, King ran around and leapt up to take the catch one handed to spark huge celebrations from the home side. The door had opened and first Tom Hemingway, with his 5th wickets and then a sharp reactive catch from Griff saw Richmond take the invaluable win. The top of the table is now very close with 11 points separating the top 5 sides. A visit to 5th placed North Middlesex next Saturday will be very important.
The 2's batted first at Ealing and led by Kshitij Desai, they reached 284 for 9 off 53, KD scoring 80 and skipper Simon Elliott 59. In reply Ealing stuttered and shut up shop crawling along to 199 for 7 to secure the draw. The 2's remain in 5th 26 points behind Teddington at the top.
The 3's also batted first and their total of 211 of 52 was probably never enough. Ealing batted well in response getting over the line with 10 balls to spare. The 3's drop to 3rd place, now 20 points behind leaders Hampstead.
At the Newman Ground, the 3b's dismissed Highgate for 183 - Sam Carroll the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 34 - before James Arnold, Zain Bhaskar and David Harding-Smith kicked them off for the loss of just 2 wickets with 10 overs to spare. The 3bs' remain in 5th but have extended the gap from the relegation places to 17 points, and are 24 points off 1st place
The 5's put up a great effort falling 20 runs short of Osterley's total of 280. Sean Matthew Austin recorded a maiden league 50.