Saturday saw the 2s travel to the picturesque Harrow St Marys CC. Southgate largely arrived on time and there were no notable hangovers being nursed. Captain Dangerfield Senior, struggling with a chest infection, won the toss and elected to bat on what seemed to be a reasonable pitch.

Harrow St Marys bowled well at the top with Chris Brown (not to be confused with the girlfriend beating RnB star) striking in his first over to remove opener for the day Nick Varney. Disciplined bowling and some undisciplined batting left Southgate 19-5 after 7 overs. Adeel and Ollie began a rebuild job and showed that runs were there to be scored when bowlers erred in line or length. Both were removed by the left arm spinner for 32 and 22 respectively. Contributions from Ed and Ricky saw Southgate through to a thoroughly sub-par 105 all out. Ex Southgate playing member Omair Ali went wicketless on what was a ‘fill your boots’ day.

After being bowled out in 38 overs, the teams went back out for a 40 minute session before tea. Jez, clearly riled by the lack of application shown in the Southgate innings (and his personal contribution of zero) made his feeling known to the team. The captain recounted an early memory of his, the signing of the inaugural Middlesex County Cricket League constitution in 1972. The team were reminded that Southgate Cricket Club is, and forever will be, a founding member of the Middlesex League. A full transcript of this team talk is available on request.

Visibly moved following the mid innings team talk, Pranay bowled with good pace and Nick bowled tight areas in the opening overs. Pranay nicked off one of the openers to see Harrow St Marys 7-1 after 5 overs. A spicy session of play followed and Southgate were unlucky not to have the opposition more than 1 down before tea.

Tea was good – marinated chicken on the bone, potato wedges and a good spread of sandwiches and cakes. Shiv provided questionable commentary to the tea break by insisting that New Zealand quick bowler Lockie Ferguson doesn’t bowl in spikes. It was concluded that the Kiwi, who regularly bowls in excess of 90mph, does wear spikes. Meanwhile, Southgate’s resident Kiwi Michael Cox had to be reminded that Robinsons Orange Squash doesn’t come pre-diluted after emptying a bottle into two pint glasses.

The spinners bowled well after the break with wickets shared between the offies, however, the opposition opener settled and made a brisk 60 which effectively killed the game.

The loss leaves the 2s 13 points from safety at the season mid-point, but just 15 points from 5th place. A point last week vs Indian Gymkhana looks slightly better upon hearing the news that offspinner Aditya Archiya, who troubled Southgate, took 9-34 against Eastcote on Saturday. Next week will see Southgate at home looking to gather momentum into the second half of the season against the beatable MTSCC, without a win in four games.

Ricky Uppal