Victoria Park Cricket League: Island Community overcome Martians

A superb all-round display from Tanjeem Chouldery led Island Community to victory over Martians in the first round of the cup.

Martians won the toss and batted first, but could only muster 112-3 from their 16 overs, as Chouldery captured two wickets from two overs, conceding only six runs in the process.

He then took Martians apart with the bat as he smashed 53 not out as Island Community reached their target in eight overs for the loss of only one wicket.

Contenders were far too strong for Victoria Lounge as their huge total of 232-3 was never in danger of being caught.

Ramsey smashed 51 not out, while Baptiste made 38 to set a huge total.

In reply Lounge struggled and could only make 149-3 from their allocation of 16 overs as Ramsey picked up a couple of wickets.

Caledonian Conquerors were also easy victors, beating Old Ranwellians by 61 runs.

Conquerors won the toss and batting first made an impressive 159-4, with Trevor Sempert the pick of the batsman hitting 51 not out, while Amir Khan compiled 28.

Ranwellians could not build momentum in their innings and made 98-7 in 11.4 overs.

Tower Hamlets College put their batting power to good use as they beat League of Ordinary Gentleman by 26 runs.

Having been put into bat, Tower Hamlets College got off to a brisk start, and reached 100-1 in the 11th over before opener Tofizul (52) had to retire having reached his half century. Tofizul's retirement led to the fall of three quick wickets, including Rahol (29), with two wickets falling to John Dignan, one of which led the stumps literally being broken.

However from 110-4 in the 13th over, Tower Hamlets recovered to finish on 147-4. The League of Ordinary Gentleman also got off to an excellent start in their innings, with Mike Scanlon (52 not out) and Jack Errington (30) putting on 70 for the second wicket.

However from 99-1 in the 10th over, Errington's dismissal led to a collapse, led by Afjol, who finished with excellent figures of 2-0-6-4.

The fall of quick wickets was compounded by Scanlon having to retire on reaching his half century, and though he returned to the crease at the fall of the sixth wicket, he could only add a further single to his score before the innings ended, with the League of Ordinary Gentleman being bowled out for 121.

In the second round of the cup, London Tigers roared past TMC Old Boys, winning by 63 runs.

After winning the toss and batting first Khaled Ahmed, smashed 50 not out to give Tigers an excellent start, which was built on by Syful Khan (21), with the innings ending on an imposing 156-3.

TMC could not get anywhere near the total, with Khan taking two wickets as Old Boys could only make 93-5 in 12.3 overs.

East London Community probably pulled off the shock of the round as they beat Dynamite Ducks by 44 runs.

Batting first, Community smashed their way to 193-4 in 16 overs, with three players making half centuries, with Abbas was the only player to make any impact, taking two wickets.

In reply, Zahid hit 81 to try and win the game for the Ducks, but he received little support, as his side could only reach 147-5.

A last ball boundary gave Rose & Crown the victory over New Boys.

The New Boys won the toss and chose to bat and although they kept wickets in hand, a sound fielding display from the Rose and Crown limited their score to 144, with Amin (38), Mohsin (37) and Shojib (34) the best performers as Tim Standley took 3-19.

In reply, a good second wicket partnership helped Rose and Crown into a good position with Pat Heaphy finishing not out on 50.

The moment of the match however went to Krishna who, in fading light with seven runs needed off three balls, launched a glorious straight six followed by a followed by a square cut to the boundary to seal a win in a very closely fought game.

In a low-scoring affair, Victoria Juniors had just enough to beat West Ham, winning by two wickets.

West Ham made 79-7 as Miron made, with Rahat in excellent bowling form taking figures of 4-15.

In reply Juniors registered 80-5 in 15.5 overs with James Panton the stand-out with the bat hitting 34, while Nahid took 3-17 with the ball.

Safe Skills had just enough to scrape past Junoon, winning by four wickets.

Junoon lost the toss and were put into bat. A slow start meant the run rate was lower than required, as they finished on 99.

After a stop-start innings, Safe Skills made their target for the loss of three wickets in 14 overs.

Contenders were superb with the bat as they racked up 165 in just 14 overs to beat Island Communities.

Island battled hard to overhaul that massive total, but fell 14 runs short, with Dee Alexander the best of the bowlers, picking up 3-35 from four overs.

Next weeks fixtures: Monday: Division Three: Old Fallopians Stoke Newington, Martians v Best Nationals. Division Two: Junoon v Victoria Park Juniors. Tuesday: Division Three: Tower Hamlets College v Regents, Bengal Tigers v London Tigers. Division Two: Tufnell Parkians v Tower Cavaliers. Wednesday: Cup Quarter-Final: London Tigers v East London Community, London Fields v Rose & Crown, Victoria Park Juniors v Safe Skills. Thursday: Cup quarter final: Contenders v Caledonian Conquerors.