MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE

Uxbridge 126 all out

Indian Gymkhana CC 1ST XI 97 all out

Uxbridge won by 29 runs

JONATHAN Tall showed true grit to push Uxbridge to a narrow 29-run victory over Indian Gymkhana on Saturday.

The Uxbridge star formed a stubborn final stand with Gareth Stoneman before taking four wickets with the ball to complete the job for his side.

Uxbridge won the toss and decided to bat, putting in Nish Patel and Andre Jason, who started cautiously before Jason was adjudged LBW after six overs.

Malkeet Dhaliwal then joined Patel and the duo steadied the ship before the latter was also given LBW, having put 21 runs on the board.

Francois Louw came and went, with Prabhjot Singh joining Dhaliwal for another rebuilding exercise before the visitors slipped to 97-9.

But then came Tall (16) and Stoneman (eight not out) to produce the highest partnership of the innings and leave Uxbridge all out for 126 after 52.4 overs.

That total was always going to be difficult to defend, but Uxbridge started brightly with Patel taking the first wicket in the seventh over.

Buoyed by his performance with the bat, Tall took four wickets to leave Gymkhana 36-5 and they never recovered as John Somerville-Hendrie’s first two deliveries bagged two more and Patel finished the job.

Meanwhile, Uxbridge seconds also enjoyed victory over Highgate in an exciting game at Park Road.

The teams played out a close finish, with all three results still possible as the match headed into the penultimate over.

Highgate’s opening pair struggled against the accurate bowling of Naseer Jamali and Murtaza Jivraj, with Jamali going on to take four wickets as the visitors were dismissed in 55.4 overs after setting a 120 target.

Uxbridge started off well in reply as Michael Stafford and, in particular, Taran Hans scored freely.

But a controversial decision that saw Stafford given caught behind started a difficult period for Uxbridge and when Taran (41) was caught at short leg things got worse.

The wickets started to tumble and a draw looked likely. However, overseas player Jamali was the star again as he smashed a six to win the match for the hosts, who breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

A winning Saturday for thirds completed the perfect set of results as they won by six wickets at Ealing.