Ickenham 1st XI

Sunday, 4th May 2003 - IBEX CUP

The first competitive game of the season came in the form of a 45 Over Game against Ickenham, promoted last season from the third division of the Middlesex County League.  Having lost the toss on a sunny afternoon North London were forced to field on a slow but true wicket.   Three hundred and fifteen runs (no, that's not a misprint) later, the 45 overs were up.  None of the bowlers covered themselves in glory, all guilty of bowling too full and unlucky to come up against some of the best batsmen likely to grace Shepherds Cot this year.  Sims (formerly of Middlesex), and a tall South African  (top scorer of the NZ premier league last winter) both scored over 100 at less than a run-a-ball, while Ickenham's other opener accumulated 70 runs.  The wickets were shared between Tom Amedee (three wickets, including two in two balls), Tom Wakeford (2-39) and Rian (2-PLENTY).  Mark Askew completed two sharp stumpings off both Toms).  The huge target was never realistically reachable, though we did have a fair crack at it, ending up with 275(ish) from the allotted overs.  Richard Swann, Ian Johns, Mahroof Anwar (a new addition to NLCC), Tom Wakeford and Tom Amedee all chipped in with 20s and 30s, but the star of the batting was Mark Askew, who followed up his 40 last week with a magnificent 69 (ooh-eerrr!).  He smashed the Ickenham attack to all parts of the ground, and was unlucky to play the ball onto his stumps with 12 overs to go.  We were never really in the hunt, but if Ickenham had lost either of their two centurions earlier in their innings, we may well have stood a chance of winning.  The bowling will certainly have to improve, but we did come up against a quality batting line-up, and the overall signs were pretty good for the coming season.   

Report by: Tom Wakeford