Victoria Park Cricket League: Tufnell Parkians and Chats Palace play out a thrilling draw

Tufnell Parkians and Chats Palace played out a thrilling tie last week in the latest round of Victoria Park Community Cricket League matches.

With both sides sitting towards the bottom of Division Two, the pressure was on to grab a victory and both gave their all in doing so, making 161.

"It's quite amazing actually, it is our first drawn match in 15 years," Palace skipper Gary Horsham said.

"We actually drew a game last year against Wrong'uns so to do the same this time around is truely unbeliavble," Parkians skipper James Haper added.

"It was such an exciting game and brilliant to be a part of."

Palace chose to field and were made to regret their decision as Dominic Stabbs smacked an unbeaten 50, while Robbie Sachs (47) and James Harper (31) also made good scores.

The introduction of Austin Downing into the attack did lead to some success for Palace, with the bowler picking 3-11 from two overs, with Lawrence Hutchinson taking two fine catches, but Parkians finished on 161.

"I was delighted with the score we made and thought we had more than enough," Harper said.

"The conditions were good when we were batting, the outfield was very fast and of course we batted well."

Palace made the perfect start to the chase, scoring 30 from the first five overs, with Hutchinson's well-made 42, keeping his side in the hunt.

Rory Byrne (27) and John Saunders-Griffiths (23) made useful contributions before a thrilling final over.

Ned Woodman was at the crease needing nine to win the game and cracked a four off the third ball and needing three from the final ball, ran two to leave the scores level.

"Ned does bat lower down, but he has got a good head on him," Horsham added.

"It was quite casual after wards, no-one from either sidereally celebrated.

"We are not big scorers so it was great to see us make that many runs."

"I thought we had plenty, but when they were on 75 half-way through their innings, I thought that we had a game on here and we would have to up our game," Harper said.

"In the end we both probably deserved something from the match although we are a bit disappointed we did not win."

Safe Skills kept the pressure on Division One leaders Contenders with a comfortable 58-run triumph over struggling London Fields.

Batting first, Skills racked up 150-6 with Haroon Hafiz the biggest scoring making 39.

In reply Fields struggled to build partnerships with Will Isaac (25) only one of two Fields batsman to make double figures as they collapsed to 92.

Tower Hamlets College were too strong for Martians chasing down their target of 126 with five overs to spare.

Fielding first, the college restricted to their opponents to 125-5 and then proceeded to reach the target without losing a wicket as Rahul Ahmed (43 not out) ran riot.

Victoria Lounge showed great nerve with the ball to beat Wrong'uns by three runs.

Despite only losing two wickets, Lounge had trouble hitting boundaries and ended up at 134-2 in 14 overs, with Will Flloyd the key batsman, making an unbeaten half century.

Wrong'uns also struggled score and they lost only one wicket in the chase, but needing 14 runs from the final over, fell short.

An impressive unbeaten half century from John Mortimer led Regents to a five wicket win over Best Nationals.

Nationals after winning the toss and choosing to bat lost two early wickets, but were thankful to Chisholm, whose well-made 50 gave their side a decent total of 122-5.

Henrik Dinesen and Rob Donnellan were the pick of the Regents attack as they both picked up two wickets apiece.

Regents lost an early wicket, but recovered through Simon Walsh (45) and Mortimer to push themselves close to the win.

Walsh departed after running himself out and it was left to Dinesen to find the winning run, digging out a yorker to point for the single.

Fazal Mohammed hit an unbeaten half century, whil Saj Rehman took three wickets as Caledonian Conquerors beat Sky by nine runs.

Mohammed opened the batting with brother Nadeem (30) and the pair gave the Conquerors a great start, which was well followed up by Mojahid Khan (19).

Caledonian opened with spin and it made an immediate impression as Rehman picked up two wickets in the second over to leave Sky on the back foot.

Shakeel Durrani and Imran Khan both made unbeaten half centuries to give their side a fighting chance, but after the pair were forced to retire, their departure signaled the end of Sky's challenge.

Tower Cavaliers were dominant with bat and ball to beat Pacific by 45 runs.

After winning the toss and batting first Ross Arnold smashed an unbeaten half century, ably supported by Steve Williams (31 not out) as the Cavaliers made 144, for the loss of only two wickets.

In reply Pacific could not build any momentum as Cavaliers were excellent with the ball.

Andrew Dickson was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets, while Williams picked up a brace as Pacific were dismissed for 99.

Victoria Juniors were superb with the ball to beat Rose & Crown by 28 runs.

Both side struggled to make runs, with Hassan Motaharul making 23 and Soyfur Rahman 22 for Juniors as they limped to 105, with Richard Britton taking 2-22.

They soon made amends however as Rahman, Jem Carter and Jubayed Miah all picked up two wickets each to bowl Rose & Crown out for 77 in 13 overs.

Victoria Park Cricket league Fixtures: Monday: Division Three: (all matches published in pitch order): Old Ranwellians v Martians, Old Fallopians v Bengal Tigers. Division Two: Victoria Lounge v Chats Palace. Tuesday: Division Two: Tufnell Parkians v Junoon. Division One: Dynamite Ducks v Caledonian Conquerors, Sky v East London Community.