On the weekend when Vansh Jani's signing by Warwickshire CCC was announced, Richmond kicked off the Middlesex County Cricket League season in impressive style. The 1's travelled to Corfton Road, home of the 2024 MCCL Champions, and were invited to bat. Vansh and newcomer Mo Rizvi opened up, sharing a 63-run partnership before Vansh fell for 43. Mo and Tanmay Thanawalla kicked on from that solid start to share a partnership of 163 runs before Mo was controversially dismissed when splicing a full toss at chest height for 85. However, Tanmay went on to score his 3rd Premier League century (but his first since 2022) and with 7 overs remaining, Richmond seemed well placed to score over 300. That we didn't was, in reality, down to some injudicious batting which saw several rash shots and a late flurry of wickets. A score of 288 for 8 off 50 overs is impressive but it probably should have been more. With the ball, we got off to a great start, with Eric Botha dismissing the always dangerous Olly Wilkin for 0. Ealing rallied for a while but when Craig Baldry dismissed Ben Graves with the score on 54, we appeared to be in control. But Ealing are champions for a reason and they rallied, partially helped by some ordinary bowling. At drinks after 25 overs, they were two down and needed less than a run a ball. But, having showed the way with the bat, Mo Rizvi became the hero with the ball. He dismissed Ealing's overseas, Fitzpatrick, with the score on 154 and followed that up with two more wickets with the hosts on 178. However, whilst Korkolis was at the crease, a home win seemed possible but Vansh induced an edge from him, Tanmay took the catch at the second attempt, and Ealing were 186 for 6. 3 runs later Mo took his fourth and we were very much in the box seat. Mo completed his 5 wicket haul (5/49 off 10); Jack nelson took an excellent catch at deep mid-wicket to give Vansh a second wicket and the match was won when Mylo Wilkin took on Charlie Nelson's arm and lost. Victory by 47 runs and a great start to the season.
At Old Deer Park, Zain Bhatkar's 2's brushed Hampstead aside with ease. The visitors chose to bat and were dismissed for 122. The wickets were shared around. There were 2 for Sam Graham, KD and Ollie Leedham, one for Will Knowles and then Ryan Quinn came on to wrap up the tail with 3 in 9 balls.In reply, we lost Tom Spearman and Zain early but Eddie Bruce and KD saw us calmly home in just 15.1 overs. Eddie was unbeaten on 69 with KD running himself out with just 3 needed for victory.
The 3's also beat Ealing. Having invited our visitors to bat, we restricted them to 186 for 9 off 45. In reply, Huzefa Sajawal did not mess around (91 not out) and Josh Dudley (52 not out) saw us home with 5 overs to spare.
The 4's also picked up 10 points to start this campaign. However, this result came about because of a grounds issue. Finchley were informed earlier in the week that their usual home ground would not be available. They did find an alternative but it was in Thame in Oxfordshire! The selected players were given the option to agree to travel over 45 miles away from ODP but, understandably, some were unable to. As a consequence Finchely had to forfeit the match.
The 5's played on a difficult pitch against Eastcote 3's. We dismissed the opposition for 111 with wickets shared around (3 for Syed Ali, 2 each for Bhutto, Ur-Rahman and Ghani) but sadly we came up 8 runs short, despite 20 from Tanzeel and 13 from Usmani!
So, not a 50-point weekend but a very good one nonetheless!