On Sunday our 1s travelled to Stanmore for the Semi Final of the County T20 Comp. Batting first we made 155 for 9 in our 20 overs. Under 15 Luke Hollman top scored with 32 off 31 balls supported by Evan Flowers (26 off 13 balls), Liam O'Driscoll ( 20), John Mills (16), Joe Cracknell (12 off 8). In reply Stanmore were hit by a match turning spell of leg spin from skipper Tom Nicoll who took 6 for 11 off his 4 overs. Other wicket takers were Liam O'Driscoll with 2 for 24 and Joel Hughes 2 for 37 leaving Stanmore all out in 19.5 overs for 135 so the Midd march on to the County Final. Date and venue for Final to be published soon.

Saturday Match Reports for 23rd Jul 2016
North Midd 1st XI vs Teddington (Away)
North Midd 103-10
Teddington 101-10
North Midd win by 2 runs
We won the toss against league leaders Teddington, a strong batting team who have chased 300 four times this season. On a hot day with what looked like a road, we batted first. We didn't lose a wicket for the first 10 overs, Crackers (31) and W Nicoll (13) looking solid. However Will fell at 35 which then started a collapse. Credit to Teddington who bowled well getting good seam movement off the wicket backed up by good fielding. We scraped to 103 with only Evan (10), Hewton (18) and Nurse (12) in double figures with the openers. They were annoyingly chirpy and our heads down at half way. However, with our bowlers we would always be in the game. Joel struck in the first over however boundaries came easily as Teddington were looking to get it over with quickly. Joel struck again, 14/2. A couple more boundaries and then another for Joel, bowling Fear their leading run scorer. 39/3. Joel was backed up brilliantly by Birdy (2 for 24 off 11.2) at the other end who bowled quickly and with control. He was rewarded with the 4th wicket, knick to T Nicoll at first slip. We started to believe it was possible. Joel got 2 more wickets and ended up with 5 for 47 off 15 overs. I understand this is Joel's 100 premier league wicket since joining us a couple of years ago, the northerner a great find. T Nicoll came on and bowled well getting their dangerous captain and ending up with 3 for 19 off 10. 64/6, 72/7, 74/8, 74/9 is how it went. Surely they couldn't get the relatively vast total of 30 runs for the last wicket. They nearly did, getting 28 of them before Birdy knicked off their number 11. 101 all out and unbelievable celebrations unfolded with an extraordinary cart-wheel from Connor Nurse. The lads did very well here, digging deep to bowl out a very strong team. Now only 11 points off top, with our bowling attack, we will be the most feared team up there.

North Midd 2nd XI vs Teddington (Home)
North Midd 275 all out
Teddington 250 all out
North Midd won by 25 runs
Mills lost his 9th toss out of 10 games to break a North Midd record and we were inserted. We got off to steady start with Bamber and Stokoe but once they were dismissed in the 21st over, Mills partnered man of the moment Cracknell. They put on 120 off 63 balls including some extraordinary bomb hitting. Steady contributions from Zulfi and Medway got us up to 275 off 51. With a 32 yard boundary on one side and a beautifully prepared wicket we would be up against it. Jimmy got an early wicket but the Teddington captain started smashing it everywhere. With 10 overs left Teddington needed a run a ball with 7 wickets left and the Sky sports wasp calculation gave us 3 per cent chance of victory. In an inspired bit of captaincy Mills responded by putting everyone on the fence including 5 extra covers. Their skipper didn't know what to do and eventually played on to Carroll playing a dip scoop. A fantastic knock. In classic club cricket fashion, Teddington imploded with Carroll and Owen bowling beautifully. We took the last three wickets in the 47th and 48th over, with Owen cleaning up the number 11, leg stump cartwheeling. A brilliant 12 point victory which puts us firmly in the title race, 10 points off top. Special mention to Carroll for his 6 wickets and another lovely 70 from the in form Cracknell.

North Midd 3rd XI vs Teddington (Home)
North Midd 238/9 dec (50 overs)
Teddington 163/10 (37ish overs)
Midd win by 75 runs
“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” While recent results against our dearest friends from Hampstead and Ealing might blow the literal accuracy of Vince Lombardi’s words into doubt – indeed, the unwelcome discovery of ‘losing’ rather hindering both his research and our title defence, one cannot argue that the metaphorical gist of the soundbite is infallible in its truth. After the near capsizing of the NM3 Victory during a month of choppy waters, lifejackets were off in giddy relief as the much-changed champions cruised to triumph upon the community-protected savannahs of Harrow St Mary’s CC. Yet, with availability levels higher than a Russian shot-putter, a vast array of changes were in the offing as the Middies welcomed Teddington to the stronghold. As Michelle Obama once said, for it is in vogue to borrow her speeches: “We must find people who will make us better.” And what a mélange of excellence was found, served up on the silver plate of selection. The Swindon Sehwag was joined by stalwarts HRH The Ever-Impeccable Edwards Esquire, wicket machine Mishra and Roberts – the Llanelli Lara. The great Phil Victor returned to accompany left-arm firebrand Lloyd-Williams, the new-wristed Howeld restored, Will Crackers joined fellow ECB U13 national champion Friend whilst Tino Holloway played the last game of his loan spell from Canada and Tikare joined on a short-term deal from Kent. We could only have been stronger if the Russian tear-away fast bowler, Ivon Toknockyourheadov, hadn’t failed a random drugs test. And so it was, with the weather set extremely fair, that the middies arrived full of unshakable confidence. Such is the genius of the man, knowing that we will need to be inserted in order to make up ground on our friends from Hampstead, captain Virender lost the toss and, alas, we were invited to bat – a noble gesture from our esteemed opposition. Things didn’t start overly smoothly. To be honest, it was actually quite dull. Sehwag thick edged one to the man on the rope (literally) after a decent new ball burst from the Teddington youngsters. This brought Tikare to the crease. Alas, the greatest child star with a bat since Macauley Culkin hit Marv in Home Alone 2 couldn’t have the desired impact, undone by a good one from the impressive Lee. At 21-2 on a road, things were not looking terribly ideal. However, cometh the hour, cometh the Edwards Esquire. Michael and Holloway batted pleasantly as the score drifted past 100. Tino batted like a lovely dream, driving and cutting his way to 76, before doing what all good 3s players do, hacking a half-tracker straight at the midriff of a poor unassuming colt. The Llanfairpwllgwyngyll Lara followed, adding 8 before being undone by a decent nut. Friend (23) upped the rate in a brief cameo alongside Edwards, whose penchant for 63 has seen him dismissed twice on the number against this little town in Richmond-upon-Thames. Cracknell (30*) added some crucial late impetus, some extraordinary hitting accompanying some fairly staggering running – the highlight of which saw a two to short mid-wicket. 238 by no means a winning score but a decent one to creep up to given that we were behind the proverbial 8-ball for long parts of the 50 overs. Tea was consumed. Lovely again – chicken tikka sarnie a cracking addition, while the veggie pasta salad – arguably my favourite pasta salad dish of the past few months, is a lovely little number. Post-watermelon slice, we had some bowling to do. Emulating Pakistan by sporting three left-armers and a leg-spinner, all we were missing was for one of them to put a few quid on a no-ball. The great Phil Victor opened up with fellow left-arm slinger Lloyd-Williams (2-23). As per the batting, things did not start terribly swimmingly. Some fairly unhelpful deliveries down the legside flew beyond the impeccable Edwards. The ball followed him like it was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature British beef as he could then only parry a one-handed chance to his right. More sloppiness allowed our revered visitors to rocket along for a while before the opening bat went back on the North Midd track. Silly boy. With Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s fairy godfather now in full swing and accompanied by Lloyd-Williams’ pace, things began to improve. 40-1 became 40-3, Harrow’s finest forcing the other opener to plink a filthy full toss to mid-off, before the young number four came and went a ball later, driving with the lack of control usually only displayed when George Michael is at the wheel. Victor cleverly induced an edge to Chris Jordan’s hero at slip with a short wide longhop, before the flamboyant number six, whose pad straps alone merited penalty runs, took on the Friendy’s arm after a Lloyd-Williams dummy. Regrettably for lovers of silly pads, there was no run and he booked himself a ticket on the Megabus to Outville. Just after drinks - the green one delicious once again, Victor shnicked off his next victim as things began to become something of a procession, and when Philip cleaned up the number eight, complete with one of the all-time great sendoffs (knock knock, who’s there? Straight one), we believed we were home and hosed. Slightly inconvenient with dreams of beer and barbecues entering the minds of the middies was the young tailender’s commitment to twatting it out the ground. The score rocketed along for a while, the middies sweating like Mohammad Amir outside a Coral, like a Russian athlete at a blood test. Mishra though, the wicket machine that he is, got the crucial wicket of the budding colt. Like the poultry community of Kentucky when Colonel Sanders comes to visit, batsmen quiver with dread at the sight of Andre, ball in hand and ready to deep-fry them and place them in a bucket. And quiver they did, the spin doctor removing the linchpin of the Teddington lineup before Victor finished off proceedings with his fifth wicket. A win by 80 runs. As has been a common theme this season, we were comfortable but went through the motions for long periods. Yet another jovial affair against a decent bunch of blokes. Cheers to Tino for rolling back the years to 2008 for this three-week stint. Been a pleasure to have him back. Thanks to all involved in the BBQ - a quality night after a 44-point weekend. In fairly unsurprising news, Hampstead beat Harrow St Mary’s so remain 22 points clear of us at the top. Richmond away next week is massive. Win or bust for both sides. Let’s not bust. There’s a title to defend.

North Midd 4th XI vs South Hampstead (Home)
South Hampstead 107 from 35 overs
North Midd 110/1 from 18.3 overs
North MIdd won by nine wickets
On a sunny Walthamstow afternoon, stand-in captain, Pistol, won the toss on a hard, flat-looking deck and a dry, fast-looking outfield and South Hampstead we’re immediately asked to bat. A very tight opening spell from Pistol and Laurie Pearce saw South Hampstead crawl to 20/1 after 12 overs when Laurie was replaced after an excellent spell of bowling. At that stage, Pistol still had not conceded a run after six straight maidens. 4s debutant, Wasim (or Wazza), replaced Laurie (0/20 off 7) and immediately caused problems for the South Hampstead batsmen, picking up two wickets in his ten overs, finishing with 2/27. Pistol toiled away at the clubhouse end, and at one stage had figures of 2/5 off nine overs, before an onslaught in two overs of 23 runs changed things, finally finishing with 3/30 from 13. At drinks, South Hampstead were at a shaky 75/5, when Dykie was introduced for a remarkable spell of five overs. His first over saw a six and a four pummelled, with the bowler asking for more cover around the boundaries, a request which was denied by the skipper, who in turn asked the bowler for more control [1-0-0-10]. The first ball of the next over Dykie had the free swinging Khalid stumped, then a few balls later, Dave took a skier, before Dykie completed the over with a plum LBW [2-1-10-3]. Next over saw two fours go to the boundary [3-1-18-3], before over number four produced another stumping, before a clatter of fours [4-1–26]. Dykie rounded all this off with another skier to Alan (who took three good catches) to finish with a Michelle and figures of 5-1-31-5. All out 107. A very chase-able total, but after losing last week by ten wickets and also failing to run down 98 runs against this side in the first round, nothing was certain. Alan and Richard opened up and both batsmen immediately looked very composed. Al scored freely, hitting the ball to all parts, before nicking off for 32 from 36 balls, leaving the score 54/1 in the tenth over. Jonny Gould came in at three and from then on, it was smooth sailing as Rich (31* from 41) and Jonny (36* from 30) effortlessly knocked off the runs before the 20th over. A good, clinical win, which was desperately needed after the last few results, from a much more 4s-looking 4th XI.

North Midd 5th XI vs West Harrow (Away)
No match because West Harrow have dropped out of the League