Middlesex Championship Division One
MTSSC 167 all out
SKLP 71 all out
MTSSC won by 96 runs
ASHOK Andrew was the star as MTSSC consolidated their place at the top of the Division One with what turned out to be a convincing 96 run victory over SKLP on Saturday afternoon.
Andrew (pictured) salvaged his side's rather underwhelming batting display with a patient and assured innings of 53 which carried his side to 167 when it appeared at stages their total would be far less.
After winning the toss, Abdul Hamza elected to place the home side in bat in the hope of establishing a strong position. This decision certainly initially seemed to backfire as the hosts lost a series of quick early wickets.
It took David Devadoss and Kishore Sathasivam (both 25) to add some stability to the order but soon they too found themselves in the pavilion as wickets continued to tumble.
Andrew's arrival then was much needed as MTSSC looked in a real predicament as his calm approach in the face of a bowling attack in high spirits helped stem the tide. The right hander's innings included six boundaries of which two were maximums as MTSSC eventually posted a reasonable total of 167 in 43.5 overs.
After the break, the SKLP reply did not start well as the in form Kavi Kannathasan claimed the scalps of the visitors' two opening batsmen before tea.
The combination of Kannathasan and Devadoss, as was the case last week, proved to much for the batsmen as their flight and guile continued to deceive them. Both bowlers ripped into the middle order and tail, with Kannathasan finishing with figures of 5-57 and Devadoss 4-17 as the two shared nine wickets for the second week running.
