Cup
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 12:17
Blackheath wipe the smiles off East Grinstead
Written by Chris Willetts
Blackheath travelled to North East Sussex in their first cup outing of the season, with a much changed team.
Ivan Thomas' and Daniel Bell-Drummond's involvement with Kent, Warren Lee's game for the Unicorns (also in Sussex), Dipayan Paul's game for the MCC Young Cricketers and Mohammad Ashraful's ineligibility meant that opportunities arose for youngsters Charlie Speller, Ahmed Akbari and Mehdi Abbas. The experienced Stuart Fern also came in to add some steel to the Blackheath middle order.
On a ground that had seen no play for the previous 3 weeks due to wet weather and a used and patchy pitch…
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After good pre-season workouts at Brondesbury and Sawbridgeworth, Blackheath CC's 1st XI began competitive proceedings at Shenfield CC in the Conference Cup.
As skipper Chris Willetts won the toss on a bright yet blustery day, he elected to bat in the knowledge that Zobie Sharif and the returning David Hammond would have a little extra motivation to impress the gathering Essex crowd.
They did not disappoint and despite a reasonable opening burst from the youthful Shenfield attack and some committed and enthusiastic fielding from the home side, the pair had negated the new ball threat and had amassed 65 before Zobie fell…
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No, not Omar in Doctor Zhivago or Lawrence of Arabia, but Zobie in the National KO 2nd round at Brentwood. His unbeaten 81 was a leading role worthy of note as he demonstrated patience, deftness of touch and an overwhelmingly accurate assessment of conditions, not to mention the confidence to stick to that assessment.
Blackheath travelled to the reigning Essex Premier champs with confidence, but caution. As grey clouds gathered and the skippers strode out onto a scrubby looking pitch for the toss, Chris Willetts knew he would win his second toss of the weekend, even though he would…
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Blackheath's 1st XI returned to North London on Sunday, and recorded a relatively comfortable victory to earn themselves a second round National KO game away at Brentwood.
Two weeks earlier the club had bowled 43 overs of the original tie when the rains came, and there was a strange feeling of déjà vu as Chris Willetts again lost the toss and was asked to field.
That familiar feel continued as Ruel Brathwaite made early headway into the Winchmore Hill top order, the home side's progress painfully slow on what was a very good wicket. When Ruel removed the opposition captain for…
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