MIDDLESEX COUNTY LEAGUE DIVISION TWO

Brentham 190-8

Harrow St Mary’s 61 all out

Brentham won by 129 runs

HARROW St Mary’s’ difficult start to the new Division Two campaign continued on Saturday.

Saints were beaten by Brentham and are still looking for their first win following opening day disappointment against league new boys Brondesbury.

Luck appeared to be on St Mary’s skipper Gary Pettet’s side before Saturday’s match started when he won the toss and elected to bowl.

Haran Dharmaraja opened the bowling and saw his first ball despatched to the boundary. Roger Bellamy was next in and after two overs, Brentham had 13 on the board and were looking dangerous.

With 15 overs gone, and no breakthrough made, spinner Lakmal Kasthuri replaced Bellamy. His first ball, a full toss, was pulled for six as the onslaught continued,

Brentham’s opener reached his 50 in the 17th over and, with 20 gone and the score on 93-0, Aalok Soni replaced Dharmaraja.

Soni was the first to get a Brentham wicket, aided by Ben Aitken, a last-minute replacement from the thirds, who took a high catch in deep mid-wicket

Great fielding from Tom Pettet throughout helped get the score to 143-3, while Kasthuri was plugging away and took two quick wickets before Brentham declared in the 51st with the score on 190-8.

HSM entered tea pleased with getting their eight wickets for 60 runs and knowing a target of under four an over would secure a great win.

Zac Sheather and Liam Coady opened. Sheather was dropped with the last ball of the first over but Brentham struck three overs later when Coady was caught in the slips for two.

It was a disappointing start and the Saints failed to gain any momentum as Kasthuri was in next but he did not last long, caught for one in the next over as the wickets started to fall in quick succession.

It was left to captain Pettet to again try and get the team to a respectable score, however he (16) and Aitken (17) were the only two to get into double figures and HSM were all out for just 61.

There was better news from HSM seconds as they beat MTSSC by 63 runs, Raj Patel finishing with figures of 8-3 from 10.2 overs and John Gale hitting 38.

Harrow St Mary’s thirds lost by 35 runs to Twickenham.

Meanwhile, HSM progressed in the 20-20 County League Cup at the expense of Ickenham, but there was disappointment as they exited the National Cup against Stanmore.

Stanmore remain top of the Middlesex County League Premier Division after beating Eastcote on Saturday.