We won the toss and decided to have a bat on a belter of a day against bottom on the league Eastcote. No Joel, Connor, Fahrenheim or Birdy so some fresh faces entered the fold. We didn't have a great start losing Holmes (8), Cracknell (12) and Zaffar (2) cheaply. 27-3 and up against it. Finally 4, 5 and 6 scored some runs which has been a long time coming, but together we all cashed in. Flowers (52) and T Nicoll (124) put on a steady 85, which was then followed by a thoroughly enjoyable 155 run partnership with Murray (62). 266-5 going at a run a ball, decent bouy. Some homers by O'Driscoll (13) and W Nicoll (21) at the end saw us to 308 off 57 before declaration. We had 63 overs to bowl them out, ready for play. We started poorly dropping their in form batsman however T Nicoll, W Nicoll and O'Driscoll each took 1 wicket before tea. 70-3 and about 40 overs left. After tea T Nicoll (72/8 off 21.3) took the remaining 7 wickets and Eastcote ended up all out for 193 with 5 overs to spare. The last three games have been great fun and we are now 5th, 19 points off top with 7 games to play. We don't look like drawing or losing and everyone is excited for the run in.

North Midd 2nd XI vs Eastcote (Away)
North Midd win

North Midd 3rd XI vs Harrow St Marys (Away)
Harrow St Mary's 117 from 54 overs
North Midd 118-5 from 33.5 overs
North Midd win by 5 wickets

The train derailed, the monorail destabilised, the NM3 Victory hurtling towards the iceberg of disappointment. The bastion of triumph breached by our good friends from the Lymington Road just a week on from disappointment at the training ground of West London’s finest football team. “Without winning”, Nietzsche once (sort of) said, “life would be a mistake.” And indeed, how the champions are erring. Alas, the last time the mighty 3s masticated their way through the fruits of victory, impregnating another Third Team Division One side with seeds of defeat, much was different. Indeed, two new moons ago, as we trod upon Uxbridge’s green and pleasant pastures, Britain still had another week in the EU. Farage was still prancing around conning voters, Boris hadn’t yet swung himself from a zipwire dressed as a Britain’s Got Talent dog act, Cameron still owned a cat, Eagle and May were just a bird and a month, England hadn’t even played Slovakia, Iceland (alongside Bhutan and Lapland) were still on my list of countries that I didn’t think we could actually lose to, Chris Evans still had a job, Michael Gove was only despised for his policies, Skinner and Baddiel were enjoying two weeks of rejuvenated fame and the prospect of Gary Ballance back in an England shirt was no more than a bad dream. Indeed, what a time to be alive. Four quiet weeks later, the segway of success has arrived at Harrow St Mary’s, their harrowed grasslands awash in aromatic dew. It has been a traumatic week, with unavailability at an all-time high. Making more changes than if Roy Hodgson managed the Sugababes, only Dre and the Swindon Sarwan kept their places from last week. And so it was, with captain Ramnaresh doubting his new charges’ credentials, that we arrived in fear that IPL boy might be here. Alas, he arrives next week. Things improved thereafter, the HSM skipper winning the toss and electing to bat on a green, dead, damp, sad track – still no idea why, answers on a postcard. With heavyweight boxer Lloyd-Williams (6-3-7-1) galloping in from one end and Pittman (11-7-7-0) trotting in at the other, the innings quickly settled into a lovely little pattern. Maiden followed maiden followed maiden. Very much one for the purists as the ball landed and died with regularity – the pitch with all the life of a corpse. This pattern continued for some time. Lloyd Williams shnicked off the opener for a 26-ball 1 to the ever-reluctant keeper Sheppard, with an equally reluctant cordon alongside him as Dixon and Friend fought their bowels as well as the opposition. The excitement continued as the score rocketed up to 19. The good doctor saw to this, bowling the other opener for a 51-ball 6 – a knock as exciting as watching Babe the Sheep-Pig on mute with a blindfold on. With neither side able to contain their excitement at the shot-making on show – dour rather than Gower, the hosts reached 22-2 at drinks after 20 exhilarating overs. If one is honest, this was the lowlight of the day. The squash was unpleasant – vile almost. Fizzy apple does not lend itself to the diluted-drink market. Poor form although served from a terrific jug. Three overs later, our cricketing colleagues had reached a fairly significant landmark, going at under one an over. A cracking effort. Boycott could be heard giddy with transported delirium. The day’s zeal refused to relent – Friend having an lbw shout turned down with no DRS available. The spin-doctor (21-6-39-4) continued to wreak havoc from the other end, the batsmen only laying wood on leather on special occasions. As the runs dried up, they sweated with the discomfort of Mohammad Amir outside a Ladbrokes. With the Bakerloo Line full of passengers from the Mary’s middle order, debutant Wasim (2-10) came on to nick himself two quick wickets. The tail wagged briefly, flailing with the grace of Sam Allardyce attempting a double pike triple salchow off the 10m board. Fellow debutant Alex Croft saw to this waggage, running through the tail to take 3-11. A top effort after being invited to field. As nature came calling for one Middie, the rest went for tea. Nuggets, samosas and pizza – food heaven bingo. Bravo to all involved. Post-sarnie (excellent tuna mayo), we had to chase these 118 on this deck so slow that we named it Giroud. Banks and Friend opened up and found the going tough against one of the wilier attacks in world cricket. Chilcot works quicker than the opening bowlers as the Middies inched to 1 (a leg-bye) after 5 overs. When Banks fell, Dre was hauled up the order in the hope that we might get the ball off the square. After a quickfire 13 and having nearly decapitated the young seamer, the fun was over. Pittman joined Friend to continue the relative onslaught. Fun was had by all as the pair swatted, swept and twatted their way towards victory. Friend, ever the good sport, walked after gloving behind for a well-made 50 and KP soon followed. Seb Carr wandered to the crease in search of red ink but, such is life, found none. The utter commitment to his dismissal was unrivalled – watching his forward defence spin back towards his stumps, he thrust his bat back towards the ball to knock it away. Good thinking. On reflection however, the quality of the thinking is blurred by the execution of the rescue act – the desperate lunge missing the ball as it trickled back onto off-stump. Sheppard, accompanied by Oon (3*), saw the winning train home with a plinked leading edge through cover for one. Jubbly. A win to be really pleased with after a tough week with availability and the less than ideal circumstances that have seen us forego top spot in favour of a peruse of the upper echelons of mid-table. Big thanks to the many 3s debutants who stepped up superbly. After the niggle of the last few weeks, fair play to Harrow St Mary’s who, whilst having struggled this season, are a top bunch of blokes who play the game in a really excellent spirit and are game for a laugh. We march on. Teddington next to visit the stronghold. 24 points off top isn’t ideal but, while an England middle order features the names Vince and Ballance, anything is possible. Float like a butterfly, win like the threes. There’s a title to defend.

North Midd 4th XI vs Eastcote (Away)
North Midd 4s 66 all out
Eastcote 3s 67 for 0
North Midd lost by ten wickets

In a season of challenging availability, this week was the challenging-er-ist of all. Ten minutes before the departure time for the lush pastures of Eastcote, we still had only nine players. A North Midd Veterans XI has oft been muted – looking around the changing room before this game it was tempting to think it was already up and running. We were stuck in, wickets tumbled with regularity including a particularly bone-headed shot from the skipper, picking out the one man on the deep square boundary who had just been put there precisely because the experienced bowler thought he looked stupid enough to stick it down the solitary fielder's throat. Doug Teasdale gritted it out, getting full value for his match fee, while Uzi went all Inzi, stroking the ball through the covers. Aside from these two, there was little resistance and we were rolled for just 66, not the route to success this time. The 'chase' proved more of stroll and we were done and dusted before tea. But hey, we knew it was going to be a struggle. Massive thanks to everyone who turned out at such short notice, including Steve Nurse making his 4s debut. We'll put this one to bed and move on - big game next week.

North Midd 5th XI vs Old Actonians (Home)
North Midd136 all out from 32 overs
Old Actonians 4s 140 for 5 from 42.2 overs
North Midd lost by 5 wickets

On Tuesday evening the prospects of fulfilling this fixture and retaining our league status were remote. Huge thanks to those who changed plans/made themselves available to make up our required 55 players. With a full team and age spread from 13 to 66 we lost the toss and were inserted on typically placid Peter May track. On his 5s debut, Junaid (13) was soon stroking the ball to the boundary with the promoted James Gleadow providing dogged support from the other end. A brilliant diving catch at square leg did for Junaid and triggered a collapse. At 30 odd for 5 we were in deep trouble. The run out of Louis prompted an inspired innings from Olly Buxton. He combined straight and powerful hitting with excellent shot selection. His quick fire 82 off 45 balls included 5 fours and 8 sixes. Sadly no one could stay with him long enough to build a really challenging score until Chairman Steve Edwards, batting too low at 10, rolled back the years, oozed class and defiance to end up with a red ink 8. The Midd all out for 136 in 32 with only one player apart from Olly making double figures. Joe B and James ( 2 for 29 pff 11.2) opened out counter attack. An productive spell from Joe (2 for 21 off 12) had the OAs in trouble at 7 for 2. Sadly they nudged and hurdled for what seemed like a decade. We didn't take another wicket until the score had reached 78 and the horse (albeit an extremely slow one) had bolted. Some promising bowling from Alfie (5 overs for 11) and Louis (1 for 41 off 7) didn't convert into the wickets we needed and probably deserved. The game dragged on until a batsman with some attacking intent came in after the fall of the 5th wicket. He put us out of our misery with a flurry of Buxton quality shots. The fact that it took OAs over 42 overs to pass our score is a tribute to our bowlers. Welcome addition on the boundary was 5 week old Freddie Seward. Am sure he will have admired Carl's two catches.