Due to the traffic at 530pm in North London. FCC looked like they had no choice but to start the game 1 Man short in the field. But up stepped Monak, Eashan's 10 year old (nearly 11) younger brother. Who so far this season has already taken on the roles of score board technician and team mascot. Today added to his CV 12th man...and the key role of leg side sweeper. Well done and Thank You young man.

FCC started brilliantly with Eashan taking 2 wickets in his first over. Following that with a wicket maiden in his second over. Crouch End very quickly found themselves 15 for 3 of 3 overs. Which could have been even better if a couple of edges of Max's first over hadn't ended up on the boundary.

The first change saw Yuvraj T bowling over 5 and 7. With his second ball flying straight to gully. Unfortunately it was upon him too quickly and a tough chance ended up on the boundary. While over 7 was a maiden. The next 9 overs saw Crouch End's score tick upto 93 for 6. With 1 wicket a piece for Arhaan and Hassan. With the number 3 and number 5 both batting well to get into their twenties. Helped, unfortunately, by a plethora of wides from the bowlers. With 4 overs to go Jeevan reintroduced the opening partnership of Eashan and Max. They bowled a tight line. Including another wicket maiden for Eashan, a wicket for Max and 2 run outs. Crouch End ended their innings on 105 of 19.5 overs. On another day with less extras.. this score could have been sub 90.

With the light already fading the teams changed round at record speed.

The batting unit today were ruthless. Knocking of the runs inside 11 overs. Azaan and Krish opened the batting. With Azaan playing out the first over without troubling the Scorers. Unfortunately for the bowlers the second over wasn't as economical with the over going for 13 including a massive top edge 6 and beautifully driven 4 by Azaan. Azaan was very quickly on 30(Inc 3 x 6s and 2 x 4s) and forced to retire (cup rules). Then Jeevan and Krish took a few quick singles before it was Krish turn to hit 2 quick 4s and retire at 30.

With the temperature dropping and the light fading....Yuvraj T joined Jeevan in the middle and hit his 2nd ball down to fine leg for 4... He reminded Jeevan that a very important game was about to kick off at Anfield and his father (also the Scorer and author) was keen to get home ASAP. So followed 2 x 6s and 3 x4s from Jeevan and another retirement, this time Jeevan for 32. Zayd joined Yuvraj in the middle and the score sat on 103. With 3 needed to win. Zayd took a quick single and Yuvraj hit the last ball of the over for 4. THE GAME WAS WON . Special mention to Hassan on retuning figures of 3 for 1 of his 2 overs and some aggressive fielding.

Players player of the match: Eashan

Returning symmetrical figures of
4 overs
4 runs
4 wickets.

U11 As v North Middlesex

On a lovely late April evening that tempted with summer promise while reminding those present that winter was not quite past, our u11 A team started the season as they surely mean to go on – with a resounding win against one of the best teams in the league!

Winning the toss and choosing to bat, FCC put on a sound opening partnership of 40 runs at a brisk pace, with openers Nico Ponzoni Kirkham and Rayaan Alibhai overcoming some early nerves and setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Captain Rishi Mehta and Elliot Kennedy then capitalised on some loose deliveries to produce a scintillating partnership of 72 replete with boundaries for the third wicket, followed by a quick-fire cameo from Jake Schapkaitz and a few more lower-order runs which took the team to an impressive 154 for 5 in their 20 overs.

North Middlesex would have been wondering how to approach such a big run chase, especially knowing that FCC count on exciting fast bowlers who have pace, bounce and swing combined with some testing spinners. Nico and Rishi opened the bowling and established the tone, and despite some decent batting there was a steady loss of wickets which put pressure on run rate. At 65 for 4 by the 10th over they were already well behind the required rate.

With fantastic fielding all round (and a truly outstanding catch by Judah Ndukwe at square leg which needs special mention!) and working as a team, the bowlers continued to keep the pressure on the batting side. Ultimately Aryan Bavishi took 4 wickets and Matias Gura 2, with the other bowlers sharing the spoils to restrict North Middlesex to 118 for 9 in their 20 overs, a comfortable win by 36 runs for FCC.

What a start to the season – and bring on the next challenge!

U13A v Primrose Hill

Match Report from Dad's on the boundary ( all errors and omissions are courtesy of San Miguel)
Match 3 for FCC U13 against what Tony believed to be a top tier side with some County players, our first proper “test”, it was a cracking pitch on a Winterish evening with FCC U11 playing on the adjacent pitch.

FCC batted first with Azzan and Krish opening , Krish fell early on cheaply to a freakishly spinning ball and Jeevan stepped in to join Azzan. Quality bowling by Primrose Hill kept us tied down to a slow scoring rate until Jeevan decided to beak the shackles and hit a few lusty blows, before succumbing to a catch which would have made Gary Kirsten stand up and clap. In stepped Yuvraj T to join Azzan and runs kept tricking in with Azaan finding the odd boundary. Both Yuvraj T and Max fell to stumpings against Primrose spin attack. FCC were 93/5 in 17 overs

Time to get some runs on the board and in stepped AV with swing it mandate rom Tony, hitting 13 runs off 8 balls, Azzan carried on and finished with Stirling figures of 53 (58 balls) with FCC posting 124/ 8, a modest but fighting score. Primrose Hill opened with two Neels (apparently County and Borough players). Jeevan carrying on with smart decisions donned the gloves and Krish took on yet another role of our lone spinner, joining Eashan in opening the bowling for FCC.

First 7 overs went off quickly with lots of balls whizzing past the bat’s edge but sadly without a knick. Primrose Hill scored at a brisk pace at almost 7 runs/over. Krish and Eashan did well to contain the run flow after the initial onslaught. FCC needed some wickets and Max and AV were on next but other than one AV ball rapping Neel D pads (which to his biased dad looked like a plumb LBW), were unable to break the partnership. Jeevan decided to come on and fingers crossed take some wickets, but the two Neels proved too strong a batting unit on the day and hit the winning runs in the 15th over.

Man of the Match
Azzan Afridi for patient half century and the highest score at FCC, though Neel Dandekar from Primrose Hill was the man on the day for his unbeaten 90 and 2 wickets.
Special mention Dhruv for arranging “refreshments” for the Dad’s crew and to Julian for yet again coming and watching our game.

Reminder – No training on Monday ,enjoy the long weekend and then return to some more cracking Cricket – Go FCC.