Leave Saturday 5 was no better than the one before and for the third time this season, Richmond ended the day having lost all 5 matches. The 1's were invited to bat by visitors North Middlesex and soon found themselves in trouble at 20 for 3. Adam London and Alex Griffiths set about staging a recovery which saw Richmond reach 94 for 3 before London's departure triggered the now usual middle-order collapse. 4 wickets for 22 runs left Richmond on 116 for 7 with 20 overs remaining to be used. That we did so was largely down to Bhavesh Pankhania's resolute 43 not out and the solid support that he received from the tail. At least Richmond batted the majority of the overs - Steve Stacey dismissed on the 4th ball of the final over - and a target of 189, whilst below par, gave Richmond something to bowl at. North Midd's reply started badly with 2 wickets falling with just 6 on the board but a stand of 110 put the visitors well on track for the win. Again, Bhav was the stand out bowler and he made a couple of breakthroughs to give Richmond a semblance of a chance. When Adam London took two more quick wickets, North Midd were 141 for 6 and the game was on again. However, having survived a big appeal for caught behind, the visitors Number 8 hit lustily scoring a quick fire 31 to take his side to the verge of victory. This was duly achieved and we went down by 3 wickets, picking up just 1 point. Evan Flower, North Midd's number 4, was unbeaten on 77, an innings which provided the backbone for his side's chase. The defeat leaves Richmond 20 points behind North Midd and Teddington who top the table. As we move into the 120 win-lose-draw games, a significant improvement in the levels of performance with bat and ball is required. The League title is still a possibility but our average start to the season means that we have a lot of work to do.
The 2's batted first at Teddington and half-centuries from Matt Swann and Stephen Bail set up a total of 245 for 8 off 45. Teddington's chased this down with 11 balls to spare and 5 wickets in hand with opener Pryde undefeated on 114 not out.
The 3's were set a target of 321 and made a good first of it with Adam Irwin (on his return from abroad) scoring a great 140 and stand-in skipper Zain Bhaskar 70 but from there the innings faltered and we fell 31 runs short.
At the Newman Cricket Ground , Osterley 3's also went big, setting Richmond 3b's, a target of 343. Despite Rodleigh Fortuin's 60, the target was beyond us and we were dismissed for 183.
The 5's set Alexandra Palace 3's 154, a target that was achieved for the loss of 5 wickets.
So, another poor return for Richmond. Unavailability of senior players - for a number of reasons - once again played a part but the simple fact is that collectively we are not playing well enough through the club and we need to improve. Not one of our sides is in the top half of their respective divisions and that is almost unheard of. We can and must do better.