The script could not have been written any better. Barnes batted first in this 40 over game and got off to a sound start despite accurate seam bowling from Matt and Elias. But it was Ashvin Bhatia who broke through Mike Thomas’ defence (65/1), and a run later skipper San fielding unusually at midwicket ran out the new batsman with a direct hit from his underarm roll - to the surprise of everyone, including the unsuspecting batsman. Ashvin and Saurav then tightened the grip with three more wickets between them as the runs dried up. Saurav with his flighted off-spin was very economical, his 8 overs costing only 15 runs. Hall and Wiley restored some momentum but the total of 161 after 40 overs was very under-par on this batting track and small ground. Hilarious moment: Tabrez Khan making no attempt to catch a high one off his own bowling. The ball was in the sun (so he says), as he shut his eyes and crouched down in the middle of the pitch with his hands protecting his head; the ball landed just in front of him!

After the usual sumptuous tea, the season’s two leading run scorers, Neeraj and Darren, opened the innings in a head to head dash for the batting trophy. A solid fifty stand in 12 overs with each batsman on 25 underlined the competitive spirit. Then a mortified Neeraj was ‘triggered’ by umpire Brian Wilson leaving Darren with 46 more to get. Ledger and Tabrez did not stay at the wicket long, and Rohan provided support with an elegant 22 before being bowled by the indefatigable Colonel Roger Foulds. Darren stroked his way serenely on. Neeraj could barely look (“It doesn’t really matter to me” says he sitting on a bench in the distance biting his fingernails!). But Darren’s challenge ended 18 runs short when he was comprehensively bowled by Benfield for 52. Neeraj was all smiles again!

The game was as good as won by then with 40 to get in 11 overs. But only 5 were needed. An astonishing innings was launched by Ashvin Bhatia in the manner of a Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He straight hit 4 sixes and 2 fours in his unbeaten 41 in 21 balls as Kensington Cricket Club finished its season in majesty.

Given only 29 overs (compared with 54) to chase the total KCC began disastrously losing 3 wickets for just 22. Nomads would take no more wickets though as Ledger (68* off 60 balls) and Keleher (64 off 57) knocked off the runs with a minimum of fuss. A fitting result for a very one-sided affair.

It appeared to be heading to a close finish when Chris Hall took 3 quick wickets to inflict some pay back on his team mates, but alas, Hurst, Bowles and Giddings had done the damage and Merrow cruised home …AGAIN!

A very social and enjoyable fixture as always and considering that KCC have never beaten Merrow, the enjoyment for the hosts gets better and better. 2006 - we come again!!!

With 43 overs to chase the runs Banstead’s Kiwi import Morley began brightly, punishing anything loose. Some excellent fielding and tight bowling eventually took their toll as he was dismissed for a well made 67. It seemed a KCC victory or draw were the only two outcomes before Reeves, after a watchful start, began to open his shoulders. Needing only 6 an over for the last 10 overs with wickets in hand all of a sudden it was KCC on the back foot. Enter Johnny Behar to save the day. After dismissing the dangerous Reeves (71) he almost single-handedly won the game for KCC finishing with the amazing figures of 4/19 off 11 overs. Needing only 1 wicket Behar and Nayar (2/29) were unable to remove the stubborn last pair.

The KCC innings got off to a shaky start with Neeraj Nayar out for a second ball duck but the famous KCC middle order were not found wanting, for a change, and Chris Ledger and Rohan Ghosh helped to make up for their time-keeping and map reading deficiencies with the two highest knocks of the day. Sharp and Smith were the pick of the Leigh bowlers with Smith contributing 3/24 and Sharp bowling a tireless 15.4 overs for figures of 3/60. As usual Ledger had the last word smacking a six to win the game for KCC with just two balls to spare. Leigh’s hospitality was splendid and the setting (with playground next to the ground) made the day a pleasant one for quite a few players who had brought their children.

Hawley began their innings brightly, as David Scott and Craig Adams put on 64, before David was smartly caught at the wicket by San off Neeraj. Danger man Craig then struck some thunderous blows before KCC snatched his prize wicket, when he was well caught by John Behar going for his 50 and yet another boundary. Thereafter, wickets fell at regular intervals, with particularly find spells from Elias, Neeraj and Matthew. At 182/9, with only 6 overs left, around 11 an over needed for victory, and just one wicket left to take, skipper Chris Ledger, getting into the spirit of the charity fixture, threw the ball to speedster Farrukh Hasan, who’d been injured earlier, to try out his entirely unknown spinning skills. His two overs went for 29 runs! Were KCC, amazingly, going to throw the game away? Farrukh, unfazed, bowled the last man out, and victory was ours. Another highly enjoyable game at Hawley, and plenty of money raised for charity.

Neeraj and Brett put on a century opening stand in only 20 overs before they were separated. But with just 16 overs remaining the task looked daunting, despite the Uxbridge bowlers appearing to have given up all hope of taking wickets. Brett, Dazzler, Rohan, Brendan and Jason made a valiant attempt to reach the target in the failing light, but we fell short by 17 runs.

KCC started brightly in the field and the opening bowlers, Chetan and Elias soon had Ascot at 37/4. Then the aforementioned Sweetman came to the crease in the 7th over and by the time he was bowled by Saurav 25 overs later he had amassed a mammoth 134. To put the innings into context the next highest scorer for Ascot made 17 not out, in itself a valuable contribution which enabled Ascot to secure the draw that earlier in the innings had seemed most unlikely. The KCC bowlers, notably Chetan Singh with 3/32, Elias Hussain 2/29 and Matthew Marshall 2/16 were outstanding on a day when their irresistible force met an immovable object named Sweetman.

Elthorne started well, putting on 61 for the first wicket in the first 15 overs. After the fall of two quick wickets, skipper Poustie and Marsden continued the chase, but tight bowling by Neeraj Nayar and guest Arjun Singh restricted the flow of runs. The turning point came with 5 overs to go, and 42 required to win, when Chris Ledger, provoking memories of his youthful fielding exploits, brilliantly ran out Poustie. Next ball, Marsden was bowled neck and crop by Arjun Singh, and with him went Elthorne’s hopes of victory. A solid win for KCC.

KCC promptly lost their openers (San Gore a 16 ball duck and Shray Amar run out for 4). David Rees and Ashvin Bhatia then put up some resistance with Ashvin making a stylish 41 from 48 balls. Still, we lost wickets at a steady rate and despite Jason contributing some runs for a change (38 from 51 balls…positively pedestrian by the hacker’s usual standard) we were staring at an ugly defeat. Instead, we settled for an ugly draw with some fine resistance from the veteran cool head of David Gray. But when he foolishly ran himself out with 5 overs left of the match, it was left to guest Karan Khanna and Rangam to salvage the draw. We retired happily with our gracious hosts to the Sun Inn, where the whole saga had begun.

So it proved to be, as Hasan Farooq and Jai Singh put on 122 for the first wicket, despite their habitual eccentric running between the wickets, with a repertoire of calling that rips up the MCC coaching manual. Barbar bowled well for 2-25 from his 8, but Ledger put the game beyond doubt with a typically brutal 46 from 36 balls and KCC won the game comfortably with 5 overs to spare.

Frensham had begun well with opening bat Farncombe blasting a blistering fifty in next to no time. When he was second out, bowled by Elias, he had contributed 55 of the 68 runs on the board. Then suddenly, a mid-order collapse – 4 wickets fell for the addition of only 2 runs with Elias and Saurav sharing the spoils. One of the victims was off a stunning catch at point by KCC Vice-President Ian Mclean who had kindly crossed over from his home team to fill a KCC shortage. Stubbs and Turtle retrieved the situation somewhat as San eased the pressure. But Tabrez, who had taken stick earlier, returned to the attack and ended further resistance by clean bowling the next three, and catching the last man off David Gray’s only over. Frensham finished on 170 and an early tea was taken.

Whatever was in the tea and cakes, they had an inspiring effect on the KCC opening batsmen. In a hugely entertaining partnership Brett and David threw caution to the winds as they raced neck and neck to their fifties. They stroked the ball effortlessly, ran quickly between the wickets, and gave the bowlers the charge at every opportunity. The scores were level after only 32 overs (with another 14 to go) and Brett finished it off with a towering six. The funniest part of all this was next man ‘Maharaja’ Jai Singh sitting all this time with his pads on! So rare is it that No.3 doesn’t bat for Kensington that his plea of “I want to be an opener” was met with little sympathy and much amusement.

But KCC’s optimism was to be quashed by the blade of Hyron Shallow as he immediately set about smashing the bowling all around the park. No bowler was spared the onslaught as he and Lee Slater took Marlow to 197 off 21 brutal overs before he was dismissed for a punishing 129 that included 16 fours and 7 sixes. A late rally brought some respectability back for KCC but Marlow won this one 3 wickets down with 7 overs to spare.

When Merrow batted after tea the wicket had dried out considerably and the target of 165 never looked imposing. The many full-tosses offered were comfortably despatched to the boundary. Far too late did it dawn on our bowlers that the junior’s pitch was only twenty yards long!

When Jefferson bowled opener Goddard with his 3rd ball for a duck the home side dropped anchor and set about grafting for the draw. F-man and Jefferson gave nothing away while Bray and Stevenson ate up the overs. The classic away-swing of club president Sunil Amar broke the deadlock, however, and KCC sensed a chance. With 14 overs left Marshall brought himself on and kept it straight enough to nick 4 of the 6 wickets wanted for victory. Elias took another and F-man was brought back to take the final wicket in the last over. It was a great finish to a game punctuated by reports from a test match that was apparently going on elsewhere.

The KCC innings started 35 minutes before tea and, after travelling halfway around the globe, Ravi Mantha, was out for a duck in the second over, miscuing a hook from a full toss that had suspicions of a no ball about it. In came our intrepid African missionary and he and Boe both batted pugnaciously and with great control put on a century stand to steer us within sight of victory. Boe eventually fell for 38 (what again!!), but a quick 15 from Brett Hatfield, saw us home, Billy remaining undefeated with a solid 59. As usual our hosts were superb and the BBQ afterwards at the Nag’s Head was the scene of much joking and banter between both teams.

KCC looked in control during the Deutsche reply. Bez cruising to 68 but the run rate was mounting. Anshu knocked a great 39 in support but in came Manoj Shah and smashed a match winning 55 to win it for the Bankers with 10 balls to spare. Another good win for Deutsche but we will give it a go again next year. Manoj might be away, who knows!

The setting was great, Jesus College had got their new pavilion, state of the art changing rooms, magnificent tea as usual served by waiters in elegant uniforms. Waqar was there to impress but he didn’t want to open. Sunil won the toss and chose to bat. San Gore and David Behar got the innings off to a good start but it was Jai Singh who impressed with a cultured 44. Jai hadn’t played much (being a new dad opportunities to play cricket were restricted due to numerous nappy changes), so it was good for him to spend time in the middle; he was stumped when going for a 6 to get his 50. Waqar received a thunderous ovation after he got his 2 runs, thus morally his 100* against Jesus College. The applause, however, was too much to handle for Waqar who was out tamely a few balls later. David Gray making a rare appearance for KCC played doggedly for his 42* and Doug Keay, who all the while had been champing at the bit to bat, smashed 3 fours in 5 balls at the end to put up a respectable total.

Doug Keay and Vivek Rattan opened the bowling attack and Dougie’s left-arm swing was virtually unplayable as he took 4 wickets for 28 runs in 11 overs. Navneet Bali’s son Kabir in his first full game for KCC bowled extremely well taking 1/18 in 7 overs. Kabir’s whole family was there to witness the occasion. Sunil cleaned up the tail with 2/23 to complete a victory with 9 overs to spare. Only skipper Smith and tail-ender Bunning offered any resistance.

Allen-Turner and Hill put on 59 for the first Windsor wicket despite Farrukh Hasan (the F-Man) and KCC skipper Marshall moving the new ball extravagantly. Then Corbett Chellew, who hadn’t fancied opening, took 2 in 2 balls in his first and 2 more in his fifth over to change completely the tone of the game. M Lazarczuk and Elliot tried to settle the innings but the young lower order couldn’t carry the fight against the off-spin of John Behar and Saurav Sen; the 162 target always looked out of reach, and so it proved.

A few of the Parkmen regulars were gladly missed on the field but returned from watching the Aussies in time to top up their beer levels with us on a fine evening.

A terrific bar ambience once again at the bank and in true social spirit we all raised a glass to Navneet Bali who made a successful comeback to the very ground where he sadly had a horrific accident the previous year. Look forward to the next Bank fixture.

It was not however, all Bishop’s Stortford’s way. Farrukh Hasan bagged two early wickets to reduce the home side to 13/2 and Matt trapped Lewin lbw for 9 with the score on 58. Thereafter, it was all one way. Lindop and Eldred presented broad bats in a breezy partnership of 82. Lindop went on to score an effortless unbeaten century enabling Graeme Smith to declare on a very sporting (and chaseable) total.

‘Ha!’ as it turned out. Almost before San had completed the batting order Dazzer, Jamie and Unmish were back in the hutch, all victims of Barrett – 13/3 saw San scrambling to the middle. Neeraj and San poked around for 10 overs in the face of accurate seam bowling from Williams and nagging spin from Robertson and wondered from where the next run could come. Losing patience, Neeraj holed out at mid-on. Matt and San soldiered on seeing off Williams (12-5-16-1), but both batsmen fell with the score on 59. With 4 wickets left and 140 runs to get in 16 overs, the order was tall for the tailenders. In the event, seven overs were all that were needed by Bishop’s Stortford to dismiss us for 85 and complete a comprehensive victory. Cricket can be a truly humbling experience!

David Behar and James Pickles (who unknown to him had broken a finger in catching Burden off his own bowling) got KCC’s reply off to a quick start and at 86 for 2 off 15 overs, with James and Behar senior scoring freely, things were looking good. But the young Trygg got them both, taking a brilliant one-handed catch in the covers to get rid of Pickles and having Behar caught behind. Moores shamelessly pummelled a 14-year old for four boundaries in an over but KCC’s lack of batting depth quickly made the run chase impossible. Shray Amar and Chetan solidly batted out the last 10 overs to secure a draw.

We won the toss and Nayar and Bowden opened on a flat, benign track. Bowden was bowled early for 4 off a high full-toss that strayed straight! Gore joined Nayar and together they put on a steady 124. Nayar chipped and nudged, and huffed and puffed his way onward to what eventually became a highly creditable 70, continuing in his vein of consistent batting performances this season. On his dismissal Marshall arrived at the crease and, with enormous grace and composure, hit a lofted drive straight down the throat of mid-off for a duck. Brendan Ryan took up the cause and managed a sensible 5 runs before falling to Elliot. Moores then took the wavering game by the scruff of the neck and smashed a hard-hitting 38 in 36 balls, his highest score to date, including a fine six through mid-wicket off the back foot. He too fell to Elliot, a scorching return catch which any sensible bowler would have avoided. Looking for quick runs at the end, Gore was bowled by Elliot after making a solid 66. Behar and Hussain finished the innings with not outs and some solid hits to add a further 20 bringing the total to 223. Perhaps too much? Yes, as it turned out our bowling was too tight for North Holmwood to get out of the blocks and attack our score, and the game turned attritional. However, some good catches got us 8 wickets with 6 overs to go, some close calls gave us hope but ultimately the match was drawn.

We were entertained by crows seeing off a buzzard throughout, and, continuing the animal theme we then drank Cobra’s. Thank you Karan Bilimoria.

This total was never enough against a powerful KCC batting line up. The target was reached for the loss of only 1 wicket with 7.5 overs to spare. Dazzler, needing 4 to reach his maiden KCC century with the scores tied, smashed the ball for yet another boundary as he and Jamie added an unbroken 181.

A fine opening spell of bowling from Elias and Siraj had the opposition in trouble at 54/4, but Garry Foreman and his blistering knock of 75 not out, supported by Nick Williams and Dan Fenton took the game away from KCC. Some KCC fielders were more than happy to point the ball in the direction of the boundary rather than lose a hand in trying to stop it! Olinda duly made the target for the loss of five wickets with two overs to spare, and Foreman’s off-spin return of 4/24 meant it was a no-brainer for the man of the match award. Highlights for KCC were the Mantha family double team with fine batting from Ravi and a stunning catch at second slip from Ramesh. A well-earned beer on a lovely evening had Gore waxing lyrical about Constable skylines (something about how he would have captured the evening light - personally I think San had captured too much afternoon sun!) and ended with a whip round so Tabrez could buy a map!

Richmond began the chase well with Way and Cole punishing the KCC bowling. The introduction of Hassan Farooq altered the complexion of the game, however. Coming on second change in the 16th over when Richmond were on 66/1, he began to make the ball talk, bamboozling the batsmen with his ‘busy’ bowling action. Extracting prodigious swing both ways Farooq was able to remove the dangerous pair, and expose Richmond’s soft under-belly. Batsmen came and went as Farooq skittled the opposition with his extravagant banana balls, crushing them from 93/1 to 127 all out. Man of the match Farooq finished with the season’s best figures of 7/24 off 8.5 overs, and all in front of his Dad too!

Blindley Heath started well with opener Woods dominating the bowling. It transpired that he was an Aussie grade player who happened to be on holiday in England for three weeks and fancied a game of cricket! He hit the ball hard and cleanly, and raced to a well-deserved hundred. Woods was fourth out to a wonderful catch by Dazzer at deep mid-off. Thereafter, it was a question of working through the tail, but Chris Garland stayed firm at the end to secure a draw. The pick of the KCC bowlers were Elias who was unable to scalp his fifth wicket, and Saurav who flighted his off-breaks impeccably.

Weekenders got off to something of a flyer and despite steady bowling from Pickles senior, Jamie and Neeraj, Weekenders breezed home, with Johnstone thumping an assertive unbeaten 67.

A solid opening stand of 97 between Ravi Mantha and Darren Bowden ensured no alarms, though Ledger coming in after Ravi departed did cause momentary panic when he holed out 7 runs short of victory. Skipper Keleher was not amused to have to come in and be dismissed second ball. Darren it was who saw us home with a delightful unbeaten 81, his first score over fifty for the Club, with a promise of many more to come.

Warborough's traditional hospitality lunch under the old oak, replete with wine and cheese, was memorable as ever. For once, the port effect did not hold sway!

KCC’s reply got off to an assured start. With Gore and Bowden seemingly well in control, at 110 for 1 after 24 overs, with nine wickets still in hand, and plenty of good batsmen to come, KCC’s players felt very confident of being able to knock off the required run rate of just over 5 an over. Cue an astonishing middle-order collapse, monumental even by KCC’s infamous standards. After Gore and Bowden were dismissed within a few balls of each other, five further wickets fell for the addition of just six runs! It would be good to relate that this collapse was caused by a demon spell of Barnes bowling, but in fact two of the wickets fell to madcap mix-up run outs, others to new batsmen trying to get off the mark with a big heave-ho. Suddenly, at 137 for 8, KCC seemed certain to lose. For a while Farooq and James Pickles kept the flag flying, but when Farooq fell to yet another mix-up run out, with 29 runs still needed in 3 overs with just one wicket to fall, KCC were reconciled to ignominious defeat. Cometh the hour, cometh the Pickles brothers: Jon, at number 11, smashed 14 off the next over, and suddenly an outrageous victory seemed on the cards. Cue the perfect denouement to an extraordinary match, a fourth run out. Sneaking in a seemingly safe fourth run from a shot that pulled up just short of the long boundary, Jon was run out by a relay throw topped off by a brilliant direct hit of the stumps. KCC lost, cricket won…

It was a lovely sunny day and a perfect batting wicket. Odiham chose to bat first. Mark Johnson and Elias opened the bowling attack and very soon discovered that they had no wicketkeeper as all three of them had been selected to play for the other KCC game at Barnes! As more catches were dropped Johnson who is football goal keeper decided to keep. Farrukh took over from Johnson and he and Elias played havoc with the batsmen except for the great Pascoe who had scored a terrific hundred against us the previous year. This year, he continued in the same vein, lofting the bowlers for some big sixes and a few 4’s but fortunately he was well caught by Unmish before he got another ton. Pascoe’s dominance was such that the rest of the Odiham batsmen provided little support, their No.11 bat being the second highest scorer at 14.

David Behar (24) and Jefferson (10) got KCC to a good start. Ravi Mantha (still based in the USA stopped over during meetings in Europe) pitched in with a good 18. But it was Unmish (67) with Brendan Ryan (19) who finished the innings in a hurry. Unmish played some vintage cricket with 2 sixes and 10 fours, scoring his 50 in only 32 balls. We romped home in just 24.5 overs.

29 overs passed before Reigate struck a blow, Chris Ledger finally bowled for 53, ending a patient first wicket stand of 126. There was little respite, however, with Unmish, urging Neeraj through what marathon runners refer to as 'the wall', and trying to lose as many balls as he could in the tall trees behind the bowler. Neeraj finally lost his wicket after another century stand for the second wicket and Unmish belted his way to 70 before Kensington declared on 269/3.

The fat total allowed Kensington to set an attacking field and wickets fell regularly. F-man Farrukh Hassan was the pick of the attack, bowling an excellent line to take 3 of the top 4 batsmen. Catches were uncharacteristically held and despite Burnside, Saikia, Pickup and Teague all getting starts, nobody went on to bat out the draw, this Pilgrim's tail proving mercifully concise.

There is a queue forming for the fine food, hospitality, and possible backlash, anticipated for 2006.

Cheshunt had other ideas, sending in a couple of swashbuckling, hard-hitting openers to take the attack to us from the very first ball. Tearing into our rather surprised bowlers in wonderfully bravado Caribbean style, they got Cheshunt’s run chase off to a flying start, scoring at around 7 an over for the first 10 overs. With the initiative seized, the openers never let up, reaching their half-centuries neck-and-neck. After his partner was finally bowled playing his first false shot of the day, Grant went on to score a well-deserved century, powering Cheshunt across the finish line in just 38 overs. On a flat pitch offering little to the bowlers, if we win the toss next year perhaps we should insert the opposition and chase whatever score they can get – certainly that’s what Cheshunt said they would have done themselves if they’d won the toss, and it’s what they generally do.

KCC were always chasing the game from the moment Matt Marshall, Neeraj Nayar Tabrez Khan and Saurav Sen departed in quick succession. From 39/4 it was an uphill climb. Hassan Farooq led a spirited fight-back but his efforts were in vain as the rest succumbed tamely.

Highlight was drinking time in the college bar, as always.

But Kensington was not through yet. Two early wickets and some hope as Farrukh Hasan and Matt steamed in. Elias wily as ever picked up 3 wickets to have the home side perilously on 87/6. But a solid innings of 63 by David Allaway supported in a 60 run stand by Aden Trotter put the game beyond KCC.

The defence was ably led by opening bowlers Chetan Singh and John Behar. Chetan bowled a perfect line and length from the first ball and troubled both batsmen with his inswing. Behar’s aggressive offspin from the other end never allowed the batsmen to settle and after eleven overs the opposition were well behind the required run rate. As the opening batsmen tried to lift the scoring rate first change Sunil Amar clean bowled Hextall for a patient 33. This brought Bilyard to the wicket who proceeded to dispatch a procession of KCC bowlers to all parts of the ground with a fine display of clean hitting and threatened to win the match single-handedly. This innings aside, the KCC bowlers kept their collective heads and bowled with great discipline ably backed up by an exceptional fielding display (by KCC standards, anyway). At 155/1 with only 29 required off five overs, the captain turned to his opening batting pair for their bowling prowess. Both Unmish and Mark took much-needed wickets and, more importantly, held the run rate in check. 17 were now needed off the last over and Jefferson bowled a tight line at the batsman’s toes to make sure the target was unachievable. The result, a satisfying draw not least for the nervous debut skipper.

The early loss of Mantha had little effect on the run chase as Tim Keleher (48 off 41 balls) began to plunder the local attack. Tim was disappointed not to get his fifty as he holed out at mid-wicket. In the meantime, Nayar had dug himself in and with Chris Ledger knocked the ball about to set up a fine win. Both were out within sight of victory which was achieved with 16 balls to spare.

Roshan Perera and Maulik Shah got the innings off to a bright start before Farrukh Hasan struck twice in successive overs, clean bowling Roshan for 21 and having Laurent caught behind for nought. Satpal Randhava, captaining Entrecasteaux for the
the first time, was perilously close to being out lbw first ball to Farrukh’s leg stump yorker, but he was saved by the thinnest of inside edges. The third wicket pair then took the score to 120/2 off 28 overs at lunch, Maulik batting with skill and concentration until chancing his arm off the final ball of the session and sky-ing to long-off, where the chance was spurned. If truth be told, it was not the only chance spilled by KCC, who had difficulties under the high ball! Wickets fell regularly after the interval, with Elias and Michael chipping in with two apiece and skipper Neeraj taking two sharp chances at mid-wicket. But Maulik continued unperturbed, reaching an outstanding 101 before being caught and bowled by Farrukh. The declaration came shortly after with the home side 181/8.

Entrecasteaux made early inroads into the Kensington top order, with Roshan picking up two wickets in a fine opening spell, those of Ravi Mantha and Ledger. When Tabrez Khan was well caught by Uddika at long-on the score was 10/3 after six overs, but San Goré and Neeraj steadied the ship with a partnership of 37 in 18 overs. When the last twenty began Kensington were 65/4 still needing 117 to win, but three quick wickets put paid to any thoughts of a win. Sarwar Chowdari was brilliantly caught in the deep by David Green, reaching up into the sun and clinging on with his right hand, and then Boe was well taken at long-on.

Veteran spinner Trevor Yeomans bowled a wonderful twelve over spell, taking 3 for 25, but it was not quite enough to secure victory, as the ‘Kensington Wall’, San Goré showed great skill and application in batting for forty overs and taking his side to safety. San batted a total of sixty seven overs