A second League Saturday of mixed fortunes with a second win for the 1st XI, a resounding victory for the 5th XI, but defeat for the 2's, 3's and 4's.
At Old Deer Park, Richmond chose to bowl first and did so with great control ensuring that the Bush made slow progress. At 134-6 we might have hoped to dismiss the visitors for less than 200 but they fought back through Blofeld's 80 off 85 balls to take his side to 213 all out. Abdullah Nazir was the star with the ball, taking 6 for 41 off 8.5 overs.
In reply, Richmond lost 2 wickets in 2 balls early on but Will Phillips and Adam London steadied the ship before Rob Robert Gibson's 63 off 50 put us in a strong position. However his departure with the score on 161 for 4, followed by the dismissals of Vineeth Manjunath, Phillips and Greg King, left us with 26 to win and 3 wickets remaining. However Will Jenkins and David Burton kept cool heads to see us over the line. So a second win for the defending Champions who travel to Bushy Park next Saturday to meet Teddington, another side with a 100% record to date. Ealing have also won 2 from 2.
The 2nd XI batting did not fire at Shepherds Bush with a number of players getting in but no one scoring more than 27 as were dismissed for just 150. In reply, the Bush managed the chase well losing just 5 wickets as they overhauled our target.
The 3's took min defending champions North Middlesex at the Newman but our batting did not do enough to post a defendable total. 124 was unlikely to be enough and so it proved although we did take 6 wickets to secure a losing bonus point.
The 4's travelled to Harrow Town and on a poor wicket were dismissed for 136. In reply the home side cantered past our total just 3 down.
The 5's started their season at Chiswick House by posting an impressive 303 for 7 before dismissing South Hampstead 4's for 151.