North Midd 2s cruised to their 3rd successive title with a 9 wicket home win against Acton. Sadly the 1s failed with the bat and were bowled out cheaply at Prem leaders Richmond. Any chance of now catching Richmond has surely gone.

Summaries of Week 15 matches –

North Midd 1st XI vs Richmond (Away)
North Midd 104 all out
Richmond 105-6
Richmond won by 4 wickets

A visit to top of the league Richmond. The wicket looked flat and we decided to have a bat. It proved to be a bit spicy. It seemed and spun and bounced. In the face of this we didn’t bat well and some loose shots got us in to trouble at 50-6. We struggled up to 104, which was unlikely to be enough but we’ve defended it before. Ethan bowled a beautiful opening spell and ripped out the top 3. 30-3 and when Alex MacQueen joined the party bowling number 5 behind his legs, 40-4 felt like we had a real sniff. There was a bit of a partnership but a couple more wickets from MacQueen left Richmond 90-6 but numbers 7 and 8 squirmed over the line. 40/50 more and we’d have won.

North Midd 2nd XI vs Acton (Home)
Acton 98 all out
North Midd 101/1 (N Brand 54)

North Midd won by 9 wickets and are Champions again
39 points clear, one point required for league victory. Acton CC the next victims. 2 hours later Acton had been bowled out for 98. Duke 4. Torch 2. Brando 2. Harris 2 Izhan 1. 1 Hour later Tikare hit a bomb over cow corner to win the league in 11 overs, the middies celebrated with three bottles of Verve. Shout out to Acton's skipper for providing us with two victory jugs. They tasted extra sweet. 3 in 3 years, the second league title in three won by a bomb. Party time.

North Midd 3rd XI vs Hampstead (Home)
North Midd 219 from 44.5 overs (C Yorke-Starkey 57; W Chambers 49))
Hampstead 168/10 from 39 overs
North Midd win by 51 runs and stay top with a lead of 18 points. 30 more to play for. Two wins will bring the title home.

North Midd 4th XI vs Twickenham (Home)
North Midd 179 all out (A Thomas 44; A Gole 49)
Twickenham 180-6
North Midd lost by 4 wickets. This leaves the 4s as one of five teams hovering above the relegation zone and separated by just 11 points. Onwards to bottom of the league, Harrow St. Marys next week.

North Midd 5th XI vs Actonians (Away)
Actonians 186 from 43.1 overs (T Greenhalgh 4 for 23 off 10; W Frais 3 for 23 off 4; Matti Thal 2 for 31 off 10; Joe Bangerter 1 for 36 off 10)
North Midd 187/6 from 38.3 overs (M Pierre 61; C Martland 45 *)
North Midd won by 4 wickets

5s are up to 5th and our season now has the respectability we deserve.