Barnet B’s Sunday 1st XI started the season under the inspiring captaincy of Zaid Shoaib who only turned 21 the day before. The game was being played at home against a St Albans CC XI. The weather was glorious and temperatures were in the high 20’s

Following on from the example set by his peers, Zaid made sure the team were at the ground early and was soon barking out orders for setting the stumps out, markers etc etc….wonder where he gets this dictatorial streak from???

The opposition arrived soon after boasting at least 6 Saturday 1^st teamers including some overseas players from down under and a South African springbok behind the stumps. In confident mood they strutted into the ground, had a good long look at the pitch and the team they had to face and proceeded to prepare.

The toss was won by Zaid and he elected to bat first, which given the heat and the fact Mo wanted to watch the Man Utd game worked out very well.

The openers, Rocky and Anas went out and soon it became apparent that this was a highly competitive St Albans side who were quite vociferous in the field making numerous comments about the batsman’s technique etc. One such comment proceeded to distract Anas, who up to then was playing the opening bowler very well with some lovely cover drives and leg glances…next ball he played onto his stumps.

In comes Harry “the Cat” Singh, nicknamed by Mo as the Cat as he is ultra lively behind the stumps! The Barnet lads debated whether wearing his thigh guard on the outside was a ploy to lure the opposition into thinking Harry was a park / village cricketer or just that Harry couldn’t be bothered to drop his draws ? The debte remains open but what ever the case, it worked. The opposition jumped at the opportunity to make comments and generally had a good giggle.

Soon however, this myth was dispelled as Harry started playing 1^st class strokes all over the ground ( the shot wagon wheel would look super on sky sports!) including 6 sixes and 15 fours! With Rocky also taking shape they reached a 120 partnership before Rocky fell on 47. Vinny aka Panks ( why Panks is anyones guess), joined the party and together Vinny and Harry went on to take the total to 247 ( 100 partnership) before Harry fell for 133. Great knock and was given acknowledgement by the oppo too!. Panks fell on 47 and eventually the B’s were 283 for 6 off the allotted 40 overs.

After tea proceedings continued and Zaid (aka WWW) and Jeetu opened the bowling. Zaid turned up the speed and took the 1^st wicket. Middle stump.

Bowling changes followed with young Fahad given a chance. However, the partying the night before at Zaid’s 21^st and having played for the under 15’s in the morning showed and he was soon replaced by Vinny aka Panks who bamboozled the batsman with his varied spin. Panks was well supported by Kamran “ I like to whinge” Gill who continued his great form of Saturday and took 4 very good wickets including a super one handed catch in the gully from Amit “Bombay Aloo” Madan. Panks took 3 wickets with his sexy Bollywood bowling and the last wicket fell to a run out, in between which Jeetu added his name in the book.

Lovely day ended with the perfect result. The opposition were bowled out for 134 falling 150 runs short of the target. Following the game, the lads enjoyed a few drinks and mingled well with the oppo who sportingly stayed behind to have a few drinks.

Next game : Ealing Wanderers – Friendly – Sun 18 May 1pm start (TBC) 

Report by Mo Hussein

Barnet B’s 4^th XI started the league season with a “home” game, which was played on another ground due to the home ground not being available. This meant even more work for the skipper, which now included taking on the role of the tea lady as well as 4^th XI dogs body!

A few last minute changes and drop outs (nothing changes!) resulted in Lady Yas aka Yasir Ayub beings asked to play (he was coming to watch the boys play having just got off a plane from Dubai!). Yasir is over in the UK on vacation for a week and the dedicated club man he is decided to spend his first full day back with the 4^th XI!  As per his reputation he was late and was the last one to arrive!

Matt “ I wanna be skipper” Holland had his customary moan at the skipper for getting him to the ground an hour early (Mo said the start was 1pm when it was 1.30pm…genuine mistake…honest).  Having looked at the pitch, Matt suggested a bat second approach. Having won the toss, Mo put Edmonton into bat. The Edmonton skipper shook Mo’s hand at this and thanked him for letting him bat first…mind games?  Had the B’s made a big error?…No not really !

The opener fell to the 1^st ball of the innings by Vishal Singh who has joined the illustrious ranks of the 4^th XI, the breeding ground of talent…statistics speak for themselves.

Vishal went on to claim 6 wickets for 15 runs. Vishal was well supported at the other end by young Sufi, another debutant. Zayn Shah and Mo chipped in with a few overs before Kamran and Matt got the Edmonton Middle order bogged down.

Edmonton were all out for 79 in 36 overs with the pitch playing a part.

After a wonderful tea ( fresh fruit, Sandwiches, cakes and drinks) prepared by Mo, the B’s set about the target of 80 to win.

At 4 for 2 after the 1^st over, the chase looked like it was going to be hard. Kamran fell to a low ball and was trapped LBW, and Karan skied one straight after hitting a super boundary! But Kuldeep and Pran (Sunday 2^nd XI) steadied the ship and worked a good partnership and brought it home with Pran not out on 52.

The B’s won by 8 wickets. Good all round effort from everyone including Young Sandy Kiddle who was also making his first start for the seniors. Didn’t bat but did well behind the stumps on an uneven pitch.

From last year’s successful side only Mo, Matt and Yasir remain. 8 new players, all played their part and played like they have known each other for years. Team work and work rate gelled the team. Well done.

Next game : Calthorpe 3^rd XI . 

Report by Mo Hussein

SAT 8 SEPT 07

The Barnet B’s 4^th XI approached their final game of the league season in high sprits following the thrashing of Brentham the week before in the Harry Thakrar cup final.

North Middx, who despite their league standing were a very good team who have been robbed of a higher place in the league due to the number of abandoned games they have had,  turned up bright and bushey tailed hoping to ruin Barnet B’s day.

A combination of various traffic incidents meant that some of the Barnet boys arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled start, which put the captain, Mo Hussein’s team talk plans to bed!

Barnet B’s won the toss and elected to bat, which if they won would guarantee them the League title but also give them the possible option of 15 bonus points if the match was drawn, still possibly enough to win the league if the second placed team, Ealing 3 Bridges lost the toss and won (only 20 points awarded in this case). However there was a risk with this option as it would give the opposition the chance to play for a draw which could spoil the party ( if Ealing 3 Bridges won their game by batting first and got the full 25 points). This fact was spotted by Muz, the vice skipper, who felt batting second would be a better option.

Given the late arrival of the team (including vice skip), a rush decision was made to bat first which resulted in the openers racing onto a 80 partnership without loss. The opener Noor, who has been in fine form for the 4’s raced to a quick 50 in less then 6 overs with his hallmark big hits which included a few into the gardens and bushes, leaving the opposition scarred with nettle rashes and stings !

A small collapse in the top order resulted in Nabeel picking up the pieces and continuing his fine form in recent weeks (despite still being injured with a foot complaint), and getting a respectable 60 runs.

Barnet were eventually bowled out for 249 in 39 overs (the team had always decided on batting no more then 40 overs to ensure enough overs remained to bowl the oppo out).

After a quick tea both teams were back out.  The openers, Janaka and Farid “Kabul Express” Gul took the 1^st three batsman for low runs. A stubborn stand in the middle got the score ticking again.

never looked like they could get the score set despite having 49 overs bowled at them, and eventually finished on 175 for 9.

Mo Hussein got 4 wickets, Muz, 1 wicket, Nabeel 1 wicket, Farid 1 wicket and Janaka 2 wickets. The 10^th wicket proved to be difficult to get.

A mixture of some poor fielding including 4 dropped catches and some very confusing umpiring decisions ( 4 plum LBW’s not given as the umpires in built HawkEye scanner seemed to think the ball was missing off stump when it was hitting middle and leg ! very strange) cost the Barnet boys the chance to be crowned league champs.

The game was played in good sprit with good friendly banter at all times.

News filtered through that Ealing 3 Bridges had won the toss, batted and won, this giving them the league title by a mere 1 point.

The boys were down but not out. Its been a good 1^st season where initial hopes were to survive. But to win a cup, be in another cup final and finish second in the league and be promoted is a real achievement. Well done lads, head up and roll on next season where we will be older and wiser from our first season in the league.

After the game the lads met up with the rest of the club at one of Selly’s many favourite dining venues for a good old curry. 

Report by: Mo Hussein – Barnet B’s 4^th XI Capt.

WEMBLEY CUP FINAL AT UXBRIDGE CC

SAT 15 SEPT 07

The Barnet B’s 4^th XI approached their final game of the season with mixed emotions. Elation at winning the Harry Thakrar Shield but disappointment at finishing second in the league despite being the best side in the league all season and even taking a total of 39 points out of a possible 50 from the League winners including an emphatic 5 run victory against the same team when they needed only 27 runs off 18 overs with 7 wickets in hand!

However a series of events worked against the team including re-arranged fixtures by the league winners, which allowed them to enjoy their day off on a Saturday when every single game of cricket was called off! A series of last minute pull outs by the weaker teams and some strange umpiring decisions all added up in the 4^th XI missing out on their first league title by a single point.

However, the team have remained unbeaten in the league and many promising new players have emerged this season.

The final against Indian Gymkhana (officially 3^rd XI but in reality considered and admitted by some as being a mixture of their 1^st & 2^nd XI) was a game everyone was looking forward to and given we had beaten 2 other top sides en route to the final, the boys were confident of taking on any team. The Indian Gymkhana club brought big support with them and willed their team on every ball. In return the Barnet boys had to be content with Tony and Suki from the 3^rd XI being the sole support, alongside Zaid Shoaib who has been scoring for the boys and despite being a 1^st / 2^nd team player loves to be the “slave” of the 4^th XI…strange!.

The toss was won by Barnet B’s and on a hot and humid day ( with over half of the team observing the religious fasting for Ramadan), the skipper decided to bat first. The openers got off to a great start with 65 being hit of the first 11 overs before the 1^st wicket fell to a rather bizarre and strange LBW decision. Allegedly, although the batsman offered a shot he was adjudged as not offering a shot (the fact he was well outside his crease and the ball was missing leg stump didn’t seem to count!) but without argument the opener, Najam walked back.

The other opener Noor was in fine form and continued his 50 last week with another 50 in probably half the amount of balls including 3 big sixes over backward point.

However a touch of cramp ( the lad had been working till 7am!) got the better of Noor forcing him to retire . Number 3, Rocky didn’t last very long and was out to a rather good catch at gully for 4.

A slight change in the batting order pushed Nabeel up from 6 to 4 and he quickly formed a good partnership ( not for the first time this season) with our young 15 yr old colt Fahad who hit a swift and well deserved 43.

Noor had recovered by the time Nabeel’s wicket fell to go back in a get a few more runs before being given out to a ball hitting his thigh but given a LBW ( 2^nd strange decision of the day ).

From being 167 for 2 the team was all out for 218 in 43.2 overs. Inexperience of the younger lads showed, nevertheless it was a good effort given the calibre of bowlers on show ( including overseas super stars).

A quick tea followed by a rather sporting presentation to the Barnet B’s skipper by the Indian Gymkhana chairman, the teams were back out. Half the Barnet team had gone for a nap as they were observing fasts and were conserving the little energy, which was left in them for the fielding.

A quick breakthrough was needed and that’s what the B’s got with both openers going for 17 and 6. At 50 for 2 after 9 overs it looked like game on , and it was to stay like this until the 37^th over when the run rate was still a challenge.

The number 3 and 4 settled down to a partnership, both of them riding their luck with a few thick edges which were dropped behind the stumps, possible caught & bowled chances and some very fortunate umpiring decisions ( LBW rejected as bat hitting ground was deemed to be the same as bat hitting ball!).

The winning runs were hit in the 42nd over. In hindsight if the B’s had scored an extra 20 to 30 runs the finale would have been more tense. As the skipper had pointed out to the team that a 250 target would have been ideal. Inconsistent umpiring and some good fortune made the victory for Indian Gymkhana look easier then it was.

So that was the end of the cup dream. A run, which has pitted the rookies against some division 1 opposition in the last 2 rounds. It was through good cricket and hard work that the lads got this far. Experience gained and lessons learnt for next season is what the skipper had to say. Tasting defeat for the first time in the season didn’t feel good but it made us appreciate what we have achieved in our first ever season in the league and overall we have had a great season, something which all of us would have accepted at the start. Great support from the opposition fans / club members also seemed to inspire the teams, but the support for the Barnet boys was a little poor to say the least.

Next season will be just as big a challenge, with some players ear marked to be moved up in the ranks and new blood waiting to join the ranks. The boys are up for it and so long as they show the same metal and attitude they have done in their first season playing competitive cricket, then the future looks good.

Report by

Mo Hussein

Barnet B’s 4^th XI capt.