Record Stand Hands Gents Early Lead

The Gents won their third successive May game against their oldest adversaries, and it is to be hoped that they can conjure up a home win in July to regain the Bob Ashton Memorial Cup, on loan since 2002. If they can, it will be their first in this series since 2000, when a monumental 61 from Jim Wright laid the foundations for victory by 30 runs. This was a towering performance in a game of many talking points, not least two splendid Gents fifties, differing in character but of equal technical merit. Suman Rudru's strokeplay was sublime, though Sachin Desai matched him for watchfulness. The unbeaten stand of 117 was a Gent wicket record for the series.

The withdrawal of Taylor and late arrival of Bapu, in their captain's mind the probable openers, meant a reshuffle of the batting, the dogged Bignell and Bender going out at a quarter to two. Hemin Patel countered with an opening attack of his own off-spin and Sciberras's slow seamers. West XI became bogged down before in the fifth over Bignell sliced to gully Sachin Desai, the first of his four catches, to give Hemin his hundredth club wicket. Khan's loosener was slashed to the same fielder to give poor Chris Dane a golden duck but Bender hit Sachin Desai out of the attack, including the only six of the innings over cover. The Australian Boden was close to being run out early but batted fluently thereafter as the score mounted, helped by too many extras (though 'keeper Shu Desai was blameless) and a few dodgy bounces on the pitted outfield. Khan's subtle bowling got Bender, Desai, at square-leg this time, obliging. The Beggar quipster then blotted his copybook by boisterously thumping the Gent scorer on the noddle with his box, concussion the result.

West XI's talented middle order then settled down to play some good shots, the Beggars' best period of the match by far. The pacy Iqbal had Bapu caught Desai at mid-wicket before Hemin Patel pinned Boden for 40 but Wright and Bhatt batted powerfully. Wright then pulled a muscle, another piece of rank ill fortune for them as he could not bowl. When the two batsmen and runner Dane pitched up at the same end, Hemin Patel jogged in to run out a furious Bhatt, calm, sensible cricket. A score of 170 plus had looked likely at one point but Snelling bowled Allerton and Hill and Iqbal beat Wright for pace with an absolute beauty. The Gents used nine bowlers as Hemin chopped and changed. West XI would go on to use eight, though in rather different circumstances. Cricket historians will one day ponder and write theses on the circumstances in which Snelling and Iqbal were respectively fourth and sixth change bowlers.

The Gents initially proceeded towards their goal with grim determination, just the start they needed though Laing, in a testing spell, bowled Khan in the tenth over. Rudru started off like a whirlwind and once Laing and Boden were seen off both batsmen scored freely. Rudru's straight driving was impeccable and Desai's cover driving a delight. They respectively hit eight fours and two sixes, and seven fours to put alongside Khan's square cut four to the longest boundary. The end came with nearly nine overs left, to Gent exultation.