There were mixed results across the weekend for North Enfield in a couple of friendly games against
Hatfield & Crusaders and Salmagundi Gardeners.

On Saturday, Hatfield & Crusaders elected to bat first in a fixture that allowed both teams to find out
more about an opponent that they would face next season in Division 4A of the Saracens
Hertfordshire Cricket League. Freddie Pearson and Oliver Munt ensured that Hatfield got off to a
relatively sedate start, as both bowled tight lines with the new ball and the latter was able to prise
out the first wicket with a ball that nipped back and took the inside edge to hit the top of off stump.
However, the arrival of the Hatfield number three saw the scoring rate accelerate, as he dismissed
any loose bowling from his presence and regularly found the boundary on his way to 50. Despite
some tight and prosperous bowling in tandem from Andy MacMurdie and Thomas Munt, the
visitors’ continued to move towards an intimidating total, as the number three reached 100 and
Hatfield pushed towards 250. Soon after he reached his 100, Thomas Munt had him caught by
Freddie Pearson at long off to claim his third wicket, but despite Hannah Gilmore and Oliver Munt
both claiming two late wickets, the visistors posted a daunting 268 from their 40 overs.

The North Enfield reply was a brief and painful one as they were bowled out for 40 inside 15 overs
in the face of some impressive bowling from the visitors. Ishan Tilakaratna top scored with 15, but
no other batter got into double figures and North Enfield slumped to a disastrous 228-run defeat.

Elsewhere on Sunday, there was much more to cheer from a North Enfield perspective as they
defeated Salmagundi Gardeners by five wickets in a damp and rain-affected affair. The Gardeners
elected to bat first and amassed a tricky looking 188 for 7 from their 35 overs, despite two rain
delays disrupting their innings, with David Malleson picking up three wickets and Freddie Pearson
and Steve Gilmore claiming two apiece for North Enfield. Chris Gillman’s quickfire 22 got the hosts
off to a rapid start, whilst cameos from Sam MacMurdie (22), Garry Orton (17) and Oliver Munt (10)
supported Tom Coughlan (80*) in steering North Enfield home, with Steve Gilmore hitting the
winning runs in the final over, as he finished on 9*.

North Enfield lost out in two entertaining friendly matches across the weekend, as they made the
most of the sweltering September sunshine.

On Saturday, it was no surprise that North Enfield were asked to field by the Enfield captain on a
blistering afternoon. Enfield got off to a fast start on a belter of a wicket, with the rapid outfield and
humid conditions making for a long day in the field for the visitors. At 54 - 0, Enfield were motoring
along; however - two quick wickets from Adam Jessop checked the hosts’ progress. Unfortunately
for North Enfield, they were made to pay for dropped catches as a third wicket partnership of 64
saw both batters pass 50 and the run rate accelerate. Despite captain Chris Gillman running out one
set batter and the other being bowled by David Malleson, Enfield continued to push towards an
imposing total. Hannah Gilmore and Ishan Tilakaratna shared three wickets between them, but
some lower order hitting saw Enfield amass a mammoth 263 for 7 from their 40 overs.

After 40 long overs in the heat, the home faithful expected the visitors to wilt in the second innings,
only for the visistors’ answer to the attacking ‘Bazball’ approach of the England men’s test team to
flourish in the evening sun. The positive nature of their ‘Gillmanball’ approach saw North Enfield
race out of the blocks, with William Munt and Daniel Vanniasingham making the most of some
wayward early bowling. Both passed 50 as they shared a 121-run first wicket partnership, before
being dismissed for 57 and 52 respectively, shortly after reaching their milestones. The arrival of
Gillman (46) and Garry Orton (18) to the crease saw North Enfield continue their positive approach
as they pushed for an unlikely victory. With just over 50 runs required from 5 overs and the
dangerous Tilakaratna at the crease, the raucous home crowd were starting to worry and the small
contingent of travelling supporters started to believe, but in the end North Enfield fell just short,
posting a respectable 244 for 7, as they fell 19 runs short in the 456 derby.

Elsewhere, North Enfield succumbed to a six-wicket defeat against Fives on Sunday. Tom Coughlan’s
unbeaten fifty helped North Enfield to post a target of 170, but Fives chased it down despite two
wickets for Sam MacMurdie and a wicket apiece for Malleson and Tilakaratna.

North Enfield’s 1 st XI were relegated to Division 4A of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League
following an entertaining defeat to Chipperfield & Clarendon.

Chipperfield elected to bat first, but found themselves in early strife, as after one opener had found
the boundary on multiple occasions, he unthinkably ran himself out after hitting the ball straight to
Pat Honnor. He was soon followed back to the pavilion by the number three batter, removed by
Thomas Munt, before the captain’s torturous innings (4 from 49) was ended when he edged the
impressive Adam Jessop through to William Munt. With the visitors 80 - 3 at drinks, North Enfield
were in command, however - a considerable fourth wicket partnership took the game away from
them, as both the number four (78) and number five (79) batters played some eye-catching shots,
but also took advantage of some sub-par catching from the hosts. Lower order hitting propelled
Chipperfield past 250, before Will Griesdale claimed two wickets in the final over to restrict them to
274 / 8.

Unfortunately, North Enfield found themselves in the familiar position of being three wickets down
early on, before Honnor and Irfan Ali steadied the ship. Despite Honnor falling for 33, Ali and Sam
MacMurdie continued to accumulate, steering North Enfield towards a potential winning position.
As Ali passed 50 and motored on, a growing home contingent started to get excited as the hosts
neared 200, however - the fall of Ali for a wonderful 86 and MacMurdie for a gritty 39 saw the end
of their chase and they were eventually bowled out for 229, losing by 45 runs and being condemned
to Division 4A next season. There was better news elsewhere, as the 2’s 6 run victory over Reed,
spearheaded by Kieran Jones’ 98, meant that they finished 6 th in Division 9B.

Over the past week, North Enfield also completed two friendly victories, as 50s from William Munt
and Ishan Tilakaratna saw them post 241 / 8 against Enfield Ignatians Rugby Club, before two
wickets apiece for David Brandon, Hannah Gilmore, Freddie Pearson and Chris Gillman saw them
bowl the Rugby Club out for 121 to complete a 120-run victory. Also, centuries for Gillman (102*)
and Tilakaratna (108*) saw North Enfield amass 301 / 4 against Camel CC on Sunday, who posted
277 in reply, as North Enfield won a high scoring thriller by just 24 runs.

North Enfield II 166/6 (40) (K Jones 98, G Orton 22)
Reed III 160/6 (40) (D Malleson 1-20, K Jones 1-23)

Result: Won by 6 runs (30 pts)

The final week of the 2022 season saw the 2s need an away win to double-promote to Div 9A - with both the toss and weather conspiring to see us fall just short. This year, after early concessions in other fixtures, the 2s needed at least 8 pts to secure their Div 9B status for another year - and this was eventually secured as a tense conclusion to the match began to play out.

After weeks of scrambling to fill the side, a shock surplus of availability saw a strong team travel to Reed hoping to avenge their home defeat earlier in the season. The captain concluded his season with a toss record of W6 L9 (note: W6 L10 in 2022, so technically an improvement), and did not appreciate the inevitable invitation to bat first on a damp uncovered wicket. 185 runs was the target, and it didn't take long to note that would be a tough ask as Reed's opening bowlers gave little away. The captain fell to B Mathews, finishing his season with an off-stump misjudgement, and S Halley followed soon after with a drive to cover. G Orton joined K Jones for a patient rebuilding job, with the latter quick to punish anything short and on leg with several pulls behind square to the ropes. Orton's dismissal came with the score on a healthy 108, allowing D Gandy (10) a chance to up the rate before T Ahmad (14) continued the impetus. Chasing 170+ and a crucial 7th batting point, K Jones fell to long off for a sparkling 98 in the final over, and Temur couldn't find a boundary from the final ball - ending up stumped. The 2's had a defendable score but required 2 wickets to make sure of league survival.

Reed's innings began slowly, with the young opener dismissed by an excellent A Pearson leg-side strangle off O Munt. This saw K Ward join P Johnson - both of whom finished not out in the original fixture. Overs came and went, with the run rate remaining steady but behind the required, with the batters biding their time to keep their team in the game. Both would pass 50, and a couple of high-scoring overs saw the required rate drop close to a run per ball, with all results in play. It took something special to break the partnership on 125, with T Ahmad running from short third to a very fine edge, picking up cleanly and firing in to AP for a tight run-out on a second run. Just 5 runs later and K Jones combined with AP to have the captain caught for a well-made 65, and now NECC felt very confident of victory. Another run-out saw D Gandy at deep cover throw flat to the bowler's end, where A Jones did superbly to take the ball from the popping crease, turn and break the stumps - 134/4! Arguably the best was still to come as R Lee took a bizarre catch at deep mid-wicket that it's safe to say he knew little to nothing about before grabbing the ball with both hands and seeming to spin in mid-air with the dexterity of a ballerina half his age ("you're nicked!" being an excellent summary from S Halley). D Malleson would pick up a deserved wicket in the 39th over, and whilst the match did go down to the final ball after severals 2s and a 4, O Munt sealed the win with a dot ball. Job done!

A 6th win from 14 completed matches is a reasonable haul in a competitive league, as is a 6th placed finish. The 2s look forward to seeing what the proposed regionalisation of Divs 8B-9B results in for 2024.

Thanks to everyone who has played their part in many enjoyable matches throughout the year, and special thanks to the volunteer scorers (Bob White and Jess Lessiter), the emergency players making once-per-decade appearances, and those who helped the 1s which in turn also helped the 2s.

Catch of the Match: R Lee - A late contender for "catch of the season" at deep mid-wicket
Champagne Moment: T Ahmad and A Pearson's run out to secure the 8th bonus point
Observation of the Day: The overall fielding performance was probably the best of the season. Everyone played their part, and this ultimately secured the win

Langlebury III 149/5 (33.1) (D Gandy 3-21, K Jones 1-26)
North Enfield II 0/0 (0)

Result: Match Abandoned (10 pts)

The final home games for the 2s was potentially the last match for the club's esteemed long-serving scorer, Bob White. It would feature two unusual "firsts" for Bob, the second of which would cause the most unusual abandonment of a game in North Enfield's recent (if not all-time) history.

Langleybury were happy to bat first despite the threat of intermittent showers later in the day. An opening stand of 92 frustrated the home side, with anything loose duly punished by both openers. It took the spin of K Jones to break the partnership, getting one through the defences of M Bowen as he fell just short of 50. Before the storm clouds gathered, D Gandy bowled a game-changing spell, starting with the wicket of captain P Crawley for 48 - caught by O Munt falling forwards at cover point. Gandy's second wicket would see K Jones well-positioned at midwicket to catch the dangerous J Singh, before the first unusual incident of the match - the young no. 4 bat defending a ball into the ground, seeing it head backwards & potentially on to his stumps, instinctively catching it. Once a mixture of surprise, discussion and law-quoting had concluded, the youngster was (correctly) adjudged to be out for obstructing the field - most probably for the first and last time of his career. Not long after, the skies darkened to the point of bad light genuinely being a consideration. There was just enough time for Gandy's third wicket (again caught at mid-wicket, this time by K Carroll) before the heavens opened and the covers were rushed into place.

An early tea was sensibly taken, and the ground took a soaking which would require a full-team effort to mop up - pitchforks aplenty to aid drainage of the heavy puddles, a hand-rolled sopper sponge pushed in pairs (some more competent than others...) to help dry the top end. With the sun trying to pierce through, the captains agreed a target of 149 off 33 overs for NECC to chase (for a win by virtue of "runs per over") - both sides hoping for no further rainfall and the conclusion of a good-natured game. Sadly, whilst drizzle returned with Langleybury preparing to field, and the captain (padded-up) failing to find a tub of sawdust inside the containers, an almighty crack and crash was heard - thunder (again)? No, to the surprise of everyone, the long branch of our famous Oak tree nearest the road had fallen onto the outfield, hedge and road - thankfully with nobody near it at the time.

The strangest and saddest end to a game in memory leaves the 2s needing a win from their final match to guarantee 9B survival. To our knowledge, Reed's ground won't contain a tree, so here's hoping for an overdue rain-free match to end the season.

Catch of the Match: Not a lot between the candidates this week, but O Munt's slightly misjudged effort gets the nod
Babycham Moment: Partly-fallen tree ends play & potentially renders the existing club logo obsolete
Dismissal of the Day: Batters can't catch the ball - and what used to be termed "Handling the ball" now comes under "Obstructing the field"

North Enfield Relegated

North Enfield Cricket Club’s 1 st XI were consigned to relegation from Division 3A of the Saracens
Hertfordshire Cricket League following a rain-affected and bad-tempered loss at Allenburys &
County Hall CC!

With the threat of rain later on in the day, it was no surprise that the Allenburys captain elected to
bowl first when he won the toss. Needing to win both of their final two games to stay up, North
Enfield got off to the worst possible start, as first William Munt (4) and then David Brandon (13) fell
cheaply. However, an Irfan Ali counter-attack (23) got the scoreboard moving, as he found the fence
freely on both sides of the wicket, before a questionable caught behind decision halted the visitors’
momentum. Tom Coughlan and Ishan Tilakaratna stabilised the situation for North Enfield, dragging
the visitors towards the 100 mark, only for a disastrous run out to send Tilakaratna packing (30) and
leave North Enfield in some strife at 100 - 4. Temur Ahmad joined Coughlan and calmly ticked along
to 16, before he was removed by a stunning caught and bowled, which sparked a terrible collapse, as
Gandy, Coughlan (39) and Pearson all followed in quick succession. Cameos of 21 and 8 from Adam
Jessop and Thomas Munt respectively dragged the visitors up to a respectable score of 168 on a
relatively slow surface.

The forecasted rain, thunder and lightning arrived during the innings break, shortening the game to
36 overs. Despite tensions running high following the Allenburys opener refusing to walk on 0,
Jessop and Pearson bowled well in tandem to remove both openers, before a Gandy delivery was
spliced to Jessop at mid off to leave the hosts struggling at 47 - 3. However, the rain returned to
further reduce the target to 129 from 31 overs, but following the delay North Enfield were unable to
create much pressure and boundaries were easier to come by on the slick outfield, meaning that the
hosts cruised to a seven-wicket victory with 13 deliveries remaining. The defeat meant that North
Enfield were relegated from Division 3A, although a victory next week at home to Chipperfield &
Clarendon would mean that they are only relegated one sub-division (to 3B rather than 4A).

North Enfield Cricket Club’s 1st XI earned a vital second win of the season in Division 3A of the
Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League, with the Sunday XI also strolling to a comfortable victory!

After being inserted by Potton Town on a damp, sticky wicket, the hosts initially struggled as a
combination of some good bowling, a tricky pitch and questionable shot selection left them three
down relatively early. However, Ishan Tilakaratna’s brief cameo (18) got the scoreboard moving,
whilst Tom Coughlan held things together at the other end. Despite the fall of Tilakaratna, North
Enfield continued to dig themselves out of a hole, as Coughlan continued to accumulate and moved
past 50 with some beautiful ground strokes and impressive power hitting, ably supported by first
Callum Mackay (14) and then Josh Jones (20). When Coughlan gloved through to the wicket keeper
for a stunning 95 (9 fours and 4 sixes), the North Enfield innings was swiftly wrapped up, although
the hosts’ 192 would make for a challenging chase on a sticky wicket.

From the start, North Enfield knew that the big wicket was the destructive Potton Town captain,
who immediately demonstrated why by depositing two of Thomas Munt’s first three balls over the
leg side boundary. Whilst he was at the crease the visitors were in command, but North Enfield were
able to put some pressure on as first Mackay and then Coughlan removed the number one and three
batters respectively. The crunch moment of the game came when the Potton captain skimmed a
Coughlan delivery hard and flat to Tilakaratna at long off, swinging the pendulum in North Enfield’s
favour. From then on, Coughlan and Steve Gandy dried up the runs and took a further three wickets,
before Mackay and Tilakaratna finished the job with a further two wickets apiece, as the hosts
defeated the side third in the table by 40 runs for a win that keeps their chances of survival alive.

Elsewhere, North Enfield’s Sunday XI strolled to an easy win over Hendricks by 105 runs as a brutal
150* from Chris Gillman and 39 from Zane Green helped them to 260 - 5, before wickets for William
Munt (3) and Nick Munt (2), helped to bowl the visitors out for 155, with captain Freddie Pearson
and Nick Munt both also taking stunning one-handed catches in an entertaining match.

Stevenage IV 208/9 (40) (J Murphy 4-52, K Jones 2-41)
North Enfield II 151/7 (40) (I Tilakaratna 21, A Pearson 20, O Scott 16, O Munt 10, A Jones 6*)

Result: Lost by 57 runs (14 pts)

The latest week of low availability saw Neil McHugh making his first NECC league appearance in possibly a decade, as an eventually full side travelled to Stevenage seeking a first away win of the season. On a council pitch with no sightscreens, no covers and overnight rain, it was a straightforward call to bowl when winning the toss.

The Olivers took the new ball and found a solid opening partnership tough to break - runs coming steadily on a track playing better than it looked. It took the introduction of J Murphy to give the away side what was initially a breakthrough before becoming a potentially match-winning spell. All of the top four fell, a smart caught behind for AP complemented with two good catches for N Munt & K Jones interspersed with a clean bowled. This brought the middle order to the crease under pressure, and as per last week an umpiring decision wasn't given which would prove costly - this week an obvious snick behind to AP which was probably audible to passengers on the low-flying aircraft. The reprieved batter took his score from 4 to 62, and despite wickets falling to D Gandy and K Jones (plus a late stumping off D Malleson) the total score of 208/9 was imposing.

The chase started slowly, with the captain struggling even more than usual against a young outswinging bowler - surviving two drops before being caught off a top-edge with the score on 38. S Halley joined K Jones and batted steadily through to reach drinks at 88/1 - leaving a run a ball for the final push. Unfortunately, the introduction of a leg-spinning bowler created a run of dot balls and the wickets of S Halley (16), O Scott (1) and A Pearson (19 inc several lovely reverse sweeps). With overs and recognised batting partners running out, K Jones fell to a catch at long off for a well-made 69, and there was just enough time for Neil to face the final ball for a 0*.

Results elsewhere were favourable to the 2s this week, and the side remains in 7th place with 2 matches remaining.

Catch of the Match: D Vanniasingham held his customary "skier for the season" at square leg (when the ball eventually fell back to Earth)
Champagne Moment: J Murphy completing a league 4 for on his first bowl for over a decade
Shot of the Day: A Pearson reverse-sweeping the leg-spinner to the third man boundary (more than once!)

Markyate 318/9 (40) (M Liversidge 4-66, A Jones 2-67)
North Enfield II 131/6 (40) (S Halley 34, W Grisedale 34, O Scott 23)

Result: Lost by 187 runs (13 pts)

At the toss the home captain (and stand-in wk) noted that his opposite number had lost 0 tosses since their previous encounter, whilst he had won just 1. Unsurprisingly, Markyate won the toss and elected to bat.

There weren't many positives to report from the 40 overs in the field this week, with an overall catching display that was reminiscint of the opening match against West Herts - and this would prove increasingly costly. Markyate reached 136/1 at drinks, and after the second opening bat survived what was allegedly 7 drops (& a run out at the bowler's end which wasn't given) he was eventually dismissed for 149 - with several lost balls in the process. Aggression flowed throughout the batting line-up to compile a score of 318/9 - putting the result out of any doubt, but giving the home side 9 crucial points. M Liversidge ended up with an excellent 4 wicket haul as catches were finally held, and A Jones added to her 2 wickets (whch should've been more) with 2 catches, including an excellently-judged leap at extra cover. A Mian's latest NECC debut picked up a wicket, as did O Scott with his own death bowling. A Macmurdie claimed the centurion, and an unorthodox catch of his own, and J Corgan had his first senior league bowling spell.

The NECC innings began brightly with 13 off the first over, and 46/0 off 8 - batting looking deceptively easy to the untrained eye. Unfortunately, the wheels quickly came off with S Halley (34) bowled, D Vanniasingham (15) ct wk, A Corgan (1) lbw and J Scott (2) bowled as the total slipped to 60/4 off 15 - not ideal against a side who can all bowl. It required a steady and sensible partnership to rebuild the innings, which W Grisedale (34) and O Scott (23) performed admirdably to secure batting points for the side. Whilst both fell, this allowed J Corgan to add his first league run for the club along with A Jones (another not out) to end the innings.

Our final 3 games of the season should be considerably closer, with Markyate all-but confirmed as Div 9B winners for 2023.

Catch of the Match: A Jones times her leap to perfection at cover
Champagne Moment: A Macmurdie's catch at short third - first requiring a shout from wk, then somehow catching the top-edged swirler with a combination of forearm and armpit
Quote of the Day: "I've never been hit for a 6 that big" - A Mian post-match after being dispatched somewhere over the cow corner boundary down the slope

North Enfield CC’s Friendly XI put in a couple of impressive performances in a drawn fixture that they
dominated against East Herts Cavaliers and a comfortable victory against Pelican CC.

On Thursday, the Cavaliers elected to field first in a timed fixture at Strayfield Road. David Brandon
and Daniel Vanniasingham got North Enfield off to a watchful start in the midst of some tight
bowling, with boundaries hard to come by due to the sodden outfield. The hosts started to
accelerate and break the shackles as Brandon reached a second half century of the season, only for
Vanniasingham to sky an attempted sweep to fall for 19. The arrival of Ishan Tilakaratna at the
crease hurried the game along, as his brief cameo of 41 (24 balls) pushed North Enfield past the 100
mark and into a commanding position. When he was bowled, Garry Orton (38*) continued to push
towards an imposing total, finding the boundary on multiple occasions, before allowing Brandon to
farm the strike at the back end of the innings, so that he could reach a magnificent maiden hundred
for North Enfield (100*).

Miserly bowling from Adam Klewin and Oliver Munt saw the Cavaliers drop anchor, rather than go
after an intimidating target of 204. The latter found the initial break through, when one of the
openers edged through to William Munt, before the introduction of Adam Jessop prized out another
wicket, as he disturbed the stumps with just his second delivery. After drinks, Jessop and David
Malleson broke the game open with four wickets in eight overs (another for Jessop and three for
Malleson). However, despite the field closing in and both Malleson and Tom Coughlan regularly
beating the bat, the hosts ran out of time as the Cavaliers scraped home for a draw.

Elsewhere, North Enfield defeated Pelican CC by 53 runs on Sunday, as runs for Brandon (45), Oliver
Scott (43) and Tilakaratna (59*) saw them post 207 for 6 from their 40 overs; a total which proved
too much for the Pelicans, who were bowled out for 154, largely due to 4 wickets for Josh Jones and
3 for Tilakaratna.