SHEPHERD’S BUSH CC
MIDDLESEX LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
Shepherd’s Bush 145 all out (52.5 overs)
Uxbridge 146-6 (33.3 overs)
Uxbridge (10pts) beat Bush (0pts) by four wickets
BUSH were caught in a spin on Saturday and crash-landed without any points.
The win one, lose one syndrome is driving captain Sam Dishon crazy, but there is little he can do except thank his lucky stars three key players are set to return against Southgate tomorrow (Saturday).
Aaron Johnson was keen to play but the ace batsman-spinner is still recovering from a damaged knee that Dishon wanted to avoid aggravating. Amit Suman’s in-laws arrived from India at just the wrong time, and the man with 29 wickets to his name as well as Tom Bryan was sorely missed.
Dishon won the toss for the second week running and on a dry wicket he thought might crumble, batted first – and watched no one in particular get to grips with Uxbridge spinner Nish Patel.
The twiddling tormentor ended on 5-56, with only Matt Davis (36) and Dom Harris (37) covering themselves in any glory.
Hope returned when Uxbridge were also in trouble at 23-4 as Del Mian and last week’s match-winner Will Speer got among the early batsmen.
It proved a false hope when the opposition stopped trying to hit the ball into the next postcode, and chipped away with sixth and seventh-wicket partnerships to ease them home and depose Bush from the second promotion spot.
Dishon admitted he hoped his batsman would practise against spin in time to face Southgate.
“To tell the truth, some of our shot selection was poor and they bogged us down,” he said.
“But we were missing important players, and maybe with a couple of more spinners beside Del it might have been a different story.
“Aaron was up for it, but had they batted first with him out in the field for 50 overs or more, who knows what that might have done to his knee?
“When they started to bat, they were also a bit reckless. Once they approached it sensibly they had what it takes to win.”
