Denham v Birkbeck College 2nd XI

James Nicholas's Report

Picture the scene. A clear, deep blue sky. The sun's warm rays beaming down. A gentle breeze rustling through the tree-tops. Harish Bhatt garbling some drivel about a watch he had bought on his recent trip to the oval.

Denham were in Greenford for a game against some of the 2nd best players Birkbeck College has to offer.

Captain for the day Bobby Rai stupidly lost the toss and Denham were made to stand in a big field for 3 hours chasing a red leather ball around. It must be mentioned at this point that many of the players believed that the ball was too big! However it wasn't big enough for the Birkbeck opening batsman who was bowled by Joe in the first over. Otherwise Joe bowled pretty dross and there were a lot of wides.

Some surprisingly good fielding and catching followed and Denham were able to bowl out their hosts for 179.

An acceptable tea was then had, which included an enjoyable pasta dish that looked straight out of the Ritchie Braithwaite cookbook. However there was no orange squash to accompany it, which was a slight disappointment for this non-tea drinker.

Thankfully this was not enough to distract this reporter from the job in hand. Opening the batting with Sir Stuart Payne, James N played second fiddle for most of their opening stand of 56. Paynie looked in good touch but before long the opposing captain realised that the hoik behind square on the leg side was the only shot being offered by the great man. One top edge too many and Stuart was walking back for a handy 24.

Cometh the carnage……. in the form of Joe " oh they were huge" O'Hara. He already knew that they would remember him from such scores as 97 (which he had scored against them earlier in the season).

On his arrival to the crease he informed the 1st team skipper that he was going to "go big" because he wanted to get to a wedding. To be honest, big was an understatement. Joe went massive! Oh it was huge! He raced past James, who was on about 25, within a couple of overs. Sixes and fours were being handed out as if they had gone out of fashion and before long Joe reached his 50.

Not to be outdone, James began opening up after a circumspect start to his innings. A few fours and a big straight six later, James was also past 50 and the game was won by 9 wickets. Joe finishing on 69 and James on 70.

Joe even managed to get in his customary slanging match with their aussie fast bowler before launching him back over his head for four.

Three out of three for the men from Cheapside Lane this week. Go on Denham!