Cricket: Middlesex County League - Premier Division - Hampstead 171-8 ao Stanmore 173-4

Published: 18 August, 2011
by STEVE BARNETT

HAMPSTEAD’S slide down the table continued on Saturday when they suffered their third defeat on the spin at Stanmore.

Having been put in to bat the visitors got off to a bad start when opener Brandon Buckley was dismissed for just seven runs.

Robert Tidey and Mubasher Hassan combined well to form a second-wicket partnership of 58 in what was to prove a rare settled period for Hampstead.

Tidey was finding runs hard to come by, however, as he scored a patient 25 off 56 balls, including a six and a four, before being caught by Nicholas Goh off the bowling of Marc Reingold.

Hassan went on to complete his half-century, but no sooner had he hit the 50-mark he was bowled by Mukesh Bhatt to leave Hampstead on 108-3.

His dismissal triggered a collapse with Goh taking 5-58 as Joe Cotterell’s side was bowled out for 171 in 64 overs.

There was still hope for Hampstead as they took to the field against a Stanmore side who had managed just 41 runs against Teddington earlier this season.

Zac Khan provided the perfect start as he removed Goh and Steve Mehra for 11 and 19 respectively to leave the home side struggling on 43-2.

But Thomas Cullen put in a man-of-the-match display with the bat to turn the game back in Stanmore’s favour as he scored 72 not out off 177 balls.

With Tim Percival and Chanmeet Kohli scoring 34 and 25 runs respectively, Stanmore sealed a six-wicket victory with 173-4 off 64.1 overs.