Elthamians Cricket Club

London Knights 180 ao (39.3 overs) vs OECC 182 for 6 (33.2 overs)
OEs return to promotion slots
Another hot afternoon, another toss lost and another chance to bowl first on a stinking hot afternoon. Deprived of his normal partner, Bhupi opened up with Dom, who, by his own admission, produced a pale impersonation of Vijay’s normal control (Happy Anniversary Mrs R). The Knights – a determined and competitive side, keen to continue their meteoric rise through the Kent league structure came into the game with an impressive record sitting in 2nd place in the table. Their openers started quickly before Bupi took the first wicket with another caught and bowled. Dom produced a good ball (one of 3 he bowled) to take his only wicket and the Knights were 2 down for 40, in the 7th over. Searching for control, Irv turned to Abhishek to replace Dom (1 for 32 off 5) and Abhishek duly delivered, with a miserly spell of 9-1-25-1. Bhupi finished with figures of 8-2-1-32 and Irv came on trusting spin to apply to breaks to the Knights’ strong start. It worked, and although wickets didn’t tumble, the scoring rate slowed significantly. However, with the score on 127 for 4 in the 28th, they were well-placed to push on with a big final 12 overs. They reckoned against Jonny and Aayan. Jonny started to regularly pick up wickets, including two caught behind by the ever-improving Keeran, finishing with 6-0-36-4. Meanwhile, at the other end, Aayan, who’s been languishing in the 2s for the last couple of weeks bowled an exceptionally hostile, quick and well-directed spell of 5.3-1-17-3. This was characterised by a huge number of swings and misses as batters couldn’t handle his pace, a super catch by Josh in the covers and demolition of stumps. It was a good fielding performance with the only drop being off a no ball. Special mention to Bhupi’s pal Babu who was faultless in the field.180 all out would need some getting, but the outfield was quick and OE’s were confident.
Irv and Hammer opened up, and after a long first over featuring a hunt in Irv’s car for a new ball, Irv changing bat after hitting the first ball of the innings for four and a mighty 6 over square leg, settled in before Hammer perished to an interesting LBW decision. Abhishek fell 2 balls later caught behind and so Jonny went out to join the untroubled Irv. Jonny’s demise with the score on 40 left us teetering a little, but, Tom, on his 1st xi debut for the club, joined Irv and these two sensibly added 52 for the fourth wicket, taking us past the half way mark before Irv went for a well crafted 56. Keeran joined Tom who was ticking along nicely and Keeran characteristically punished any bad balls brutally, scoring 28 from his partnership of 45 with Tom. Keeran went to a far more plausible LBW (he’s got one right, he’s got one right, he’s got one right – unlike the Mankad or the phantom edge) and Josh strode to the crease, with the Knights’ captain foolishly telling his deep mid wicket fielder to come in 20 yards off the boundary. To be fair, Josh’s fist ball hit the trees by the footpath about 20 yards up. Josh then slowly built his innings of 22 with some disguised leaves and a couple of defensive slogs. Tom joined the fun whipping a 6 over backward square and these two moved us onto 167. Dom had negotiated his way down to number 8 – perhaps challenging Reyhan’s claim to be the best number 8 in the league and Dom duly accompanied Tom to close out the win, aptly with a lovely boundary from Tom, who had guided us home magnificently – all agreed it was great to have a number 5 with serious guns.
Another solid victory and we leapfrog London Knights back into the promotion zone at the halfway point of the season.
MOM – Tom Irwin
DOD – Aayan Patel
Abhishek Jaywant award for being far too good to play at this level – Aayan Patel
Nicola Fuller Safeguarding Award – Adam Fuller
Positive Race relations – Vijay
Hammer Supersupporter – Adam Fuller
Champagne Moment – Josh
James Doyle and Joe Bellingham award for period of sustained dominance – Aayan and Jonny
The Aldi award for shopping for wickets in the bargain basement donated by Irvine Turner – Jonny Nicholls
Sam Pope 30 yard circle award – Sam Pope (too busy winning games single-handedly in Div1)
The Mohammed Fayed Diana Rabbit Hole award - Josh

OECC 156 for 6 off 20.3 overs vs Beckenham 4s 155 for 7 off 40 overs

Comfortable thanks to Abhishek

Clever plotting between Reyhan and Hammer which prevented Irv from tossing up meant that we were able to 'choose' to bowl first on the hottest day of the year. Bhupi and Vijay took us back to the glory days of the ‘Doyle and Bellingham Period of sustained dominance award’, clamping down on any Beckenham attempts to score. Most notable features of the period of sustained dominance were Bhupi’s full length diving caught and bowled, alongside his 4 consecutive maidens. His figures were 9 overs 5 maidens 1 for 18, exemplary, backed ably by Vijay’s 9 overs for just 30. Beckenham crawled their way past 50 around the 20 over mark – whisper it – there was some good fielding on display too (Reyhan being the exception). Bushy replace Bhupi – presenting a significantly different challenge, and the boy’s still got it – pace and bounce at College Meadow – who’d have thought it. Unlucky not to take any wickets in his 3 overs, Elliot came on at the School End bowling a very tidy 8 over spell and breaking Beckenham’s second wicket partnership, that hadn’t threatened but got quite dull, thanks to an exceptional diving catch from Josh coming in off the boundary. 8 overs, 1 for just 44 at a time that Beckenham really were trying to get a move on was excellent. Irv took the Pavilion End and his spell of 8 overs, 3 for 29 included his very own leg spinning ball of the century. Abhishek came on at the end to maintain the tight grip we had and managed a wicket in his 3 overs. For those who are counting, Beckenham ended up seven down – the missing wicket being Josh’s run out, created by his cunning mis-field.
With a fast outfield, a little more bounce than usual at the Meadow and a target that felt distinctly below par, OE’s confidently began their reply, with Irv slashing hard at his 8 balls for 15. Hammer, opening for unknown reasons, was second out with the score on 36 (off 4), bringing Akshay to join Abhishek, who had already started motoring, despite selecting some lower risk shots to dispatch to the boundary. These two put on 50, taking us to 86 and featuring a sumptuous VVS Laxman flick off his legs for four from Akshay. Abhishek continued, stylishly as ever, now joined by Keeran. Their partnership added another 49, with the highlight being the two consecutive sixes that Keeran struck before unluckily falling to a smart catch at extra cover for 22. Things started getting a bit silly then, with the captain’s instructions to incoming batters focusing on attempts to win within 20 overs. Reyhan swished, then got run out, Josh swiped, then skied one – but Beckenham were a ice bunch of chaps who deserved the bonus points. Abhishek had passed 50 and continued to wend his merry way to an undefeated 76, with Bushy smacking the winning boundary in the 21st over – missing the overs target by 3 deliveries.
A pleasantly comfortable victory for OE’s taking us back into the promotion slots and building up well to a top of the table clash against London Knights next Saturday.
MOM – Bhupi
DOD – Reyhan
Nicola Fuller Safeguarding award – Josh the young leader
Mappy Magic Finger – Bushy
Champagne Moment – a hotly contested award this week with nominations for Irv, Akshay, Hammer, Bhupi and Keeran was finally awarded to Josh
The Doyle and Bellingham Period of Sustained Dominance award – Vijay and Bhupi
Positive Race Relations – Keeran (it involved horses somehow)
Hammer Supersupporter award – Kent legend Les Ames’ cousin – didn’t catch his name
The Blockbuster video rentals 30 yard circle award – Sam Pope

OECC 291 ao vs Bromley Common 202 for 3 off 40

Irvball done right

Without giving too much away to our future opponents, there is an absolute clarity to the 1s match strategy this season – bat first, score as many runs as fast as possible, then get Vijay and Bhupi to open the bowling, go for 3 an over meaning the oppo are too far behind the rate at drinks to stand a chance. Yesterday – it worked, perfectly.
An opening partnership of 30 (off 2 and half overs) may have been the key to this victory. Keeran, once more, in his considered opinion, unjustly given LBW, was responsible for just over 3% of that partnership. That, sadly for Bromley Common, brought Rikin to the crease to join Irv. Punishing the bad balls brutally, especially using the short boundary (Rikin in particular really muscled a few maximums into the woods that on another ground may have been dropped catches), these two took us to 72, with Irv perishing to a sweep in the 8th over for 41 off 25 balls. Abhishek joined Rikin in a partnership that could easily be described as beauty and the beast. We’ve all fallen head over heels for Abhishek’s stylish batting, whilst Rikin was the happy to admit that the first half of his innings could only be described as grotesquely ugly. However, these two brought up the OEs’ 100 in the twelfth over and had moved us on to 149 in the 19th when Rikin fell for a meaty 75. In a clear statement of intent from the skipper, Josh was sent in next and in his own, inimitable style, crashed a brutal 47 runs, overcoming the disappointment of watching Abhishek, out of character, miss a horrible swipe at a straight full toss to go for a run a ball 42. For pure entertainment, who wouldn’t want to see George and Josh bat together and, with a level of intent that was off the scale, these two moved the score onto 233 in the 30th over before Josh tried to play a delicate chip shot, praised off the bat by Vijay who hadn’t spotted that it was looping straight into square leg’s grateful hands. Louis, suffering from pad rash, came and went quickly, then Reyhan (best looking number 8 in the league) headed out to the middle. He and George added 24 before George gave the oppo more catching practice, then Reyhan left Hammer after chipping another one to grateful fielder. Vijay and Hammer worked the ball around well, before Vijay, in the afterglow of a fantastic six, offered up yet another catch. Bhupi struck his weekly boundary before missing another straight full toss – clearly a danger delivery for our batters this week, and our innings closed, after 37.5 overs on a fairly intimidating 291.
Having enjoyed another good tea, which helped a few of our team soak up some of the liquid refreshment they had imbibed in the latter stages of our innings, we started a gentle fielding warm up which was unremarkable with the exception of Josh, backpeddling furiously to take a catch, unaware of the sightscreen behind him. Moments later, Josh had disappeared THOROUGH the sightscreen and could be found lying, immobile, in a heap on the other side of the screen, at the foot of a hedge. He survived and we implemented the second part of the Irvball gameplan. Once more, our opening misers, Vijay and Bhupi intensified already prevalent scoreboard pressure, with Vijay’s 5 overs going for 13 and Bhupi’s 9 overs costing only 26. Admittedly, Bromley Common’s openers had laid a firm foundation, putting on 85 off the first 22 overs, but this left the rest of the batsmen needing to go at over 10 an over – a challenge too far, even for their number 3, Harrison Johns (yes, son of our very own Nick). By this stage, our wicketkeeper had been through several ups and downs, from an amazing first 5 overs of excellence and great chat, through being no-balled for taking the ball in front of the stumps, back up through what he himself described as Louis’ amazing spell of heat (perhaps the 19th fastest bowler in Division 9) through the crashing aftermath of several earlier beverages, to end up simply collapsing backwards when taking a ball from Abhishek. The rest of the bowlers performed a mixture of keeping it tight, bowling as many variations as possible at the co-chairman’s request, bowling front foot no balls off a two pace run up and demonstrating that there is nothing at which Abhishek fails to excel on a cricket pitch. His four overs cost just 12 runs, included a wicket and also one over timed at just 80 seconds – perfect! George kept challenging the batsmen in his spell of 8 overs 1 for 39, Irv’s cobraball didn’t take a wicket but did entertain (he bowled 7 overs for 38), Reyhan’s spin generated an under-impressive 2 overs for 33, whilst Rikin’s over of leg spin cost just 8 runs. Our third and final wicket came in Hammer’s over (the 40th) with a trademark dismissal of a batter confused by flight scooping a catch to George.
A fantastic afternoon, nearly 500 runs scored on a pitch variously described as a road and a minefield (you can be the judge of that) and OE’s back to winning ways with another 20 points secured.
MOM – Abhishek
DOD – Keeran
Breakthrough moment – Josh
Hammer Supersupporter – Rory’s mum (narrowly beating Mr and Mrs Johns and Richard Saunders)
Positive race relations – Josh
Nicola Fuller safeguarding award – Vijay
OBL - Reyhan

Our women’s team, the Elthamian Marvels, played their debut fixtures in the Kent Women’s Softball Cricket League (KWSCL) over the bank holiday. They played three games and secured one win. Most importantly, the squad had a great fun playing together and showcasing their new skills. They go again on Sunday. Go Marvels!

Today's Under 17 A team selection
https://www.oldelthamianscc.co.uk/teams/278137/match-centre/1-16659155?utm_campaign=team_selection&utm_medium=post&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=1

OECC 233 all out vs Bickley Park 3s 184 all out
As a mark of respect to Josh I have held off reporting on our first league game until the papal conclave had finished its work. I’m pleased to report, that just like Leo XIV we were triumphant. Despite a busy close season in the transfer market, the only new arrival on display last week was Reyhan’s magnificent moustache – little did we realise what a devastating impact it would have later. The game began on Bickley’s magnificent MCG sized playing area with Irv winning the toss and electing to…..well, you know.
The opening stand of 57 came at more than a run a ball, putting pressure on Bickley’s bowlers before Irv’s suicidal running backfired, sending him back for 33. Rikin was joined by Jonny, now having passed his 50 (years, not runs) and Irv’s nemesis got rid of Jonny too, this time with a fantastic one-handed catch. Keeran arrived and he and Rikin moved the score on steadily, putting on 77 before some 9th division running saw Keeran fall on his sword for 25. Jack arrived and looked very assured in compiling his 28. After Rikin’s fantastic innings of 88 (off just 84 balls) ended, Hammer came and went to an ugly swipe but that just hastened fan-favourite Josh’s arrival. Always strong early season, Josh bashed his way to a fine 27, sadly losing Jack on the way. Reyhan, the league’s best number 8 looked exactly that for his 5 ball 5 until he looked like an average number 8. A little tail-wagging took place with George, Vijay and Bhupi all getting off the mark and taking us to a pretty good-looking total of 233.
After a very welcome tea, the sun went in, the wind got up and we all set out to field in near freezing conditions. Bhupi got the early breakthrough bowling Bickley’s opener – his only wicket in a quite fantastic spell of 9-3-24-1. Vijay joined the party from the other end sending back the other opener with the score on 40, but with Bickley already well behind the run rate. Their number 3 batted well, ending up on 85, but not even he could manage to keep up with the rate. Tight bowling also came from Irv (9-1-27-3) and Vijay (5-1-20-0). Jonny went for a few more but picked up two very valuable wickets and by the time an old friend in the shape of Tom Franks-Moore came in, Bickley needed close to 10 an over with few wickets left. George and Jack were unlucky to miss out on wickets, but, as we waited for the inevitable, it arrived in the form oof our moustachioed hero Reyhan. His amazing spell of 1.1-1-0-4 included at least one good ball and finished off Bickley’s resistance.
Overall, a strong performance, with plenty of scope to improve next week as we take on ODCuaco at College Meadow.
MOM – Rikin
DOD – Reyhan
Champagne moment – Keeran
Positive race relations – Josh
Nicola Fuller safeguarding award – BPCC 3rd xi (excluding their number 11)
Hammer supersupporter of the day – Slim Jon Doyle

2025 season - message from the Chairs
https://www.oldelthamianscc.co.uk/news/2025-season-message-from-the-chairs-2913307.html

2025 SEASON MEMBERSHIPS OPEN
https://www.oldelthamianscc.co.uk/news/2025-season-memberships-open-2909885.html

2025 Winter training - half term
https://www.oldelthamianscc.co.uk/news/2025-winter-training-half-term-2899300.html

Pre-season indoor nets starting on 12th January. New members are always welcome!