Mitcham 3s win again

On Saturday 15th June, Mitcham clashed with a Woodmansterne side, hoping for a second successive win after the previous week's thriller against Wimbledon.

Mitcham were put into bat after skipper Martin lost the toss, and initially started of positively, with debutant Samir hitting the first ball for 4. However the first wicket partnership was broken after Martin was controversially given out LBW by the umpire (no names needed!).

Alston Wood entered, and continued till he fell for 17 (one 4 and two 6s!) to leave Mitcham at 54-2. Samir looked in solid touch, sending the bad balls to the fence, and was unlucky to miss out on his half century as he fell to a catch on the boundary for 44. Majid (15) and Matt (14) also fell soon after to leave Mitcham in a slightly precarious position at 113-5 and 160 or 170 seeming like the total we would get.

Sharrif, however, added impetus into the innings, and batted fairly sensibly (a rare sight, some would say!) but powerfully, and eventually fell for 38 off just 23 balls in a partnership of 46 with Uncle (who only hit 3 out of those 46!). Harris continued where Sharrif left off, with 26 off 19, and Shantosh finished off with 13* off 12 balls to see Mitcham to a solid total off 227-8. Uncle batted solidly (as always!) for his 30, and the pick of the bowlers were Don Siriwardena (4-49) and Ralph Patel (2-33).

The Mitcham bowlers carried the aggression and fire from last week into this week, with Sarrif and Shreyar opening up the bowling. Both bowled incredibly well to leave Woodmansterne in a perilous situation at 16-5. Despite some lower-middle order defiance from Joe Pryor (13), Ralph Patel (13) and Joe Dawson (15), the Woodmansterne innings never did get going, and they were eventually bundled for 80, for Mitcham to win by a huge 147 runs. Shreyar (3-18 in 6.4 overs) bowled well along with Uncle, Samir and Woody.

Man-of-the-match was giving to Sharrif Hosseini, for his 38 off 23 balls and 3-8 in 9 overs, with skipper Martin describing it as a terrific all round performance from him.
Successive wins for Mitcham lifts them out of the relegation zone now, and hopefully we can continue this newfound momentum next week where we are home to Banstead.

Dhruv Rupal