Metropolitan Police Cricket Club Website

On a bright and sunny saturday afternoon MPBCC 3rd XI scored an impressive win over Old Albanians.

With the return of Craig Gumsley & Kevin West in the side, team was buzzing with excitement. Captain Dave Halsey won the toss and invited Old Albanians 4th XI to bat, Jagata and Hughes opened the innings and provided the team with a steady start, on the other hand Stuart Ross had other ideas and was lining himself for an aggressive display of fast bowling, soon Ross cleaned up Hughes, Pindoria and D’Souza and Old Albanians were left tottering by the furious display of fast bowling by Ross, from the other end Vivek Pathak bowled a steady length and accounted for the dismissal of well settled batsmen Jagata. With more than half of the team back in the hut Old Albanian’s captain Gibson (57) dug in for a long haul with Rahul Thakur (28*) to ensure that the team played their allocated quota of 47 overs, both the batsmen were involved in a 98 runs seventh wicket partnership. In the end Old Albanians 4th XI posted a formidable total of 192 for 8, with Ross finishing with impressive figures of 5 for 45.

‘Sid’ Shahid Anwar (14) and Craig Gumsley (30) opened Met Police’s innings and provided the team with a steady start. Kevin West (29) coming in at the loss of Sid’s wicket, played a steady innings but the wickets kept on falling at the other end. Team was put in extreme pressure with wickets of Harry, Halsey, Stevenson and Burrows falling in quick succession. Still close to 90 runs to get, batsmen number eight Vivek Pathak on his debut walked in to bat, playing after a gap of 15 years he played some very elegant strokes. With the fall of Kevin West’s wicket Stuart Ross joined Pathak in the middle and ensured that both the batsmen kept playing their strokes and soon the team as in sight of the target. Pathak was the highest scorer hitting three sixes to score 41 runs in thirty balls. Stuart Ross's classic straight drive in the 43rd over sealed the win for MPBCC.