League Saturday 10 and, as England secured their place in the World Cup semi-final, Richmond's cricketers enjoyed a very successful day bringing home 44 points. The 1's hosted Highgate, who had declined the opportunity of an earlier start time to allow the players to watch England's match in its entirety. The visitors opted to bat first and soon found themselves in trouble as David Burton ripped through their upper order. From 45-5, Highgate recovered slightly through Knight's aggressive 57 but his departure saw them dismissed for 134 after 40.4 overs, some 20 minutes before kick-off. Burt ended with 5/37, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 5/62. Richmond lost Daniel Stanley early but Cormac McLoughlin, first with Will Phillips and then Adam London, steadied the ship. With the score on 66/3, Rob Gibson joined Cormac. No more wickets were lost as Gibson hit 53 not out off 33 balls to finish the game before the Second Half in Samara had begun. An 8th win and 10 more points maintain's the 1's position at the top of the Premier League which is increasingly looking like a 2 horse race between us and Ealing, who managed a last over win at North Middlesex.
For the second time this season, the 2's demolished Highgate 2's. Michael Wood was the hero with 5/15 off 15.5 overs, Barnaby Cole who took 3/14 provided excellent support. The experience of Stephen Bail and Kshitij Desai saw us home for a 7 wicket win which moves the 2's up to joint 4th place but 31 points off runaway leaders North Middlesex.
The 3's had a nail-biter against Ealing 3's. We dismissed Ealing for 192, with 3 wickets for Ian John Moore and Matthew Kretzmann and 2 for Durgesh Mangan. In reply, Rodleigh Fortuin and Phil Bates put on 110 for the 1st wicket and with the score on 132, we were well placed for a comfortable win. But the loss of 6 wickets for 15 runs turned the game on its head. However, skipper Charles Scholefield, first with Spender and then with Sean Matthew Austin, saw us to a 2 wicket win. The 3's are also in joint 4th, but once again some way behind North Middlesex.
A young 4th XI, containing 6 colts, easily beat Ealing's 4's and were back at Old Deer Park for kick-off. Hamza Sajawal's 8/32 saw Ealing dismissed for just 83. Richmond took just 20.2 overs to knock them off with Under 14's Eddie Bruce and Kyle Seth both scoring well.
The 5's had a frustrating winning draw against Kenton 4's. After scoring 272 for 8 off 45, we had the visitors 146 for 7 with 12 overs remaining but Kenton shut up shop and we were unable to prise out the final wickets.
All in all a good day for the Club as we move into the second half of the season. There is still much to play for at every level.