After what was an excellent start to the season, we've found ourselves, in recent weeks, beginning to slip a little. Round 11 was no different.

Our 1s played host to Osterley, who asked us to bat first. We looked like we'd regained some of our form and confidence with the bat as we built a competitive total. Each of our top 5 reached the 30s, with Tasin (53) and Tony (75) going on to good scores, but all five would have hoped to have made good of their starts. In the end, we batted our full allocation of overs for 256-5.
Osterley's reply was remarkably similar to our innings, with all five of their top order batsman making starts, though they scored at a slightly quicker rate, which would prove key to the result. We made breakthroughs at key points but couldn't get the final wickets, and Osterley's better scoring rate meant that they took the winning draw - four points to our one.

Our 2s went over to Southgate, looking to regain their own form. Southgate chose to bat first and their openers made full use of that, putting on 147 for the first wicket. It was that partnership that was key, as no other Southgate batsman scored more than 12. For us, the spin pairing of Sam Martin (6-51) and James Ryan (3-71) were vital.
With the bat, we had partnerships and starts but were never quite able to put together something game-changing. Kamil's 64 put us in with a good shout, as did Sam's 38, but, unfortunately, we just weren't able to put enough together to support them. We fell 30 runs short.

Our 3s hosted Southgate at the Grammar School and chose to field first. Southgate made a good start with the bat, reaching 54-0 and 140-2, but Adnan's 6-45 dragged us back into the game as Southgate's bottom 7 only scored 35 between them. We dismissed them for 182.
Things started very well for us with the bat, as our openers - Siran (56) and Noor (52) - both hit half-centuries. We then wobbled and lost 5 for 17, but Adeel (25*) and Ali (15*) came together to see us home. Winners by 4 wickets.

Finally, our 4s went over to Mill Hill Village, who batted first. Our bowlers bowled excellently: Joe Simons (4-14), Ayaan Bokhari (3-13), Muhammad Fawaz (2-17) and Fahim Arbabzai (1-22). We bowled Mill Hill out for 78.
In reply, however, we couldn't capitalise as none of our batsmen reached double-figures and we were all out for 38.

This weekend:

1s at Eastcote
2s vs. Headstone Manor
3s at Stoke Newington
4s vs. Cockfosters (already conceded)