Match report by Irshad Ramzam & Jon Kuhrt

As the hottest day of the year was upon us, Addiscombe 3’s showed up in full force. The trouble was we arrived at the wrong ground.

Due to a communications mishap, we arrived for a match in New Malden, only to discover that Old Emanuel have 'relocated' their ground 50 mins away in Warlingham. The fact that this was only minutes from where most of the team had just driven from was not lost on us. Poor Mano, in his first match, had his car break down in New Malden and had to wait most of the day for the AA. It meant we drove the 12 miles back to Croydon with just 10 players...

Still, it was an opportunity to show the resilience of the team - and we passed this test with flying colours.

Due to the rules, we had to concede the toss and Old Emanuel asked us to field in a reduced match of 36 overs per side. We only had 7 fielders to start with as people adjusted their sat-navs to find the place. But, just as the weather was amazing however, the wicket was not. As Old Emanuel opened the batting, the wicket was somewhat unpredictable. The ball had a mind of its own and Addiscombe bowled out Emmanuel for 94 runs within 28.5 overs. Imithaz seemed relentless as his medium pace was given unprecedented respect from the opposing batsmen and he ended with 3-26 off his 8 overs.

As always, father and son duo, Vinay and Nikhil gave a solid performance and were both very economical. Nikhil only gave away 12 runs in his 7 overs. Stand-in skipper Jon (Adam was injured) bowled his deceiving spin bowling left the opposition confused on how to play him. Sadiq also came on and got 3 cheap wickets in just 2 overs.

Addiscombe's fielding was also good. There were a few dropped catches, the MVP, without doubt, went to Jon with an amazing catch in at midwicket off a big hit. George, the returning wicketkeeper, after a 2 year gap, did an amazing job on a pitch with highly unpredictable bounce.

Addiscombe however, felt confident going into bat and quickly realized that their new found confidence was being shattered by some tight opening bowling.

Toby played on for 13 after looking good and Pete Murphy was caught for 10. We then started to struggle as Irshad fell LBW after whopping a massive 6 into the next postal code. But with the in-form Jack Stone falling for a golden duck and then George Baker missing a big heave and being bowled, we were looking down the barrel at 46 for 5.

Jon came in at 7 and with Sadiq took us to 55 before Sadiq fell to a one-handed wonder catch at slip. Big-hitting colt Nikhil came to the wicket and the captain said 'Don't slap it strraight to long-on'. Next ball, Nikhil slapped it straight down long-on's throat and was gone for 2.

This brought Imthiaz to the wicket and as we only had 10 men, we only had 2 wickets left. Imthi and Jon stayed calm and saw us home, running well and hitting the bad ball and taking us from 57-7 to 95-7 and to a victory. Jon ended 25 not out and Imthi 13 not out.

Many say that cricket is a slow and unexcited way to spend a day playing. I say that if you love the game, there is ultimately no other way to spend a day than with great team mates and the sound of the old willow plummeting that red ball skywards for the ultimate 6 run shot.

Irshad Ramzam & Jon K