Ricky completed the double over Bushey with an ultimately comfortable 71 run win over their local rivals. It didn’t start off that way though on a pitch with a lot of bounce as Jeevan and Yash were both back in the hutch with just 8 on the board. Raunak (16) and Matt dug in to take the score close to 50 and then Billy did what he does best and refused to surrender his wicket. When Matt was out for 39, Harvey (17)and Rameez (13) added some impetus in an effort to get the team past 200. This was duly achieved with Aman bashing 23 whilst Billy top-scored as anchor with 45. An unspectacular innings but hard work on a testing wicket and a total Ricky’s bowling could defend.

Angus made an early breakthrough dismissing Ishaq for 5, and with Harvey taking a smart catch off Raunak, Bushey were 46/2 after 14 overs Runs continued to be at a premium and Ricky chipped away taking wickets including a stunning catch at slip by Matt Allsop. Bushey were 4 down for 114 and needed 100 off the last 14 overs when Jeevan struck with the vital wicket of Butt for 27. The remaining batsmen became a procession as Aman grabbed 2 quick ones and Rameez tidied up the tail with 3 wickets, including a stunning catch by Aman at short mid-wicket and a game finishing skyer taken by Angus in the deep. Ricky stay top of the league and extend their lead to 27 points over third placed Chipperfield.

For much of their game at home, the 2nd XI were in complete control and so it was a disappointing outcome to be beaten again by struggling Northwood. Batting first, Tom Mac and Bobby C put on 116 for the 2nd wicket scoring 56 and 67 respectively. However the remaining batters couldn’t seem to quite get going and a final score of 211/7 was perhaps 20/30 less than hoped for. Without the talismanic Tom Bev and Charlie opening the bowling, Ricky were lucky to have Vivek who bowled his 10 overs for just 29 runs. After this it was trial by spin, with Azeem, Keshav and Hamza bowling 24 overs between them. But the wickets would not come and 4 dropped catches eventually took their toll as Sanga and Cronje joined in vital; partnerships and saw Northwood home by 3 wickets. Catches win matches and dropped catches do not win them! Ricky still stay in 3rd place but a distant 40 points away from 2nd place. Better results needed in the weeks to come.

The 3rd XI took on a team flying under the banner of Old Eascotians, though it’s not clear if any of them actually attended the school. A wandering team having lost their ground in London a few years ago, they are able to call on a variety of players and as a result racked up an impressive 236/9 on our top pitch. I would like to mention the Ricky reply, however the Eastcotians have deleted the scorepage. Waheed scored about 75 but the rest is lost to history.

The 4th XI made very short work of Chorleywood 3rds bowling them out for just 81. 3 wickets for Nikhil and for Nasser and 2 for Nitish Raj as Neil struggled to give every bowler a game!Anuj scored 29 in reply making it 125 runs at Westwood Park this season. Ubaid with 17 helped the team get over the line with 5 wickets to spare on what was described by both captains as a “challenging wicket” (unless your name is Anuj Babber….)

The 5th XI also had a resounding win with Rohit hitting 68 and Bobby Shome 36 in a total of 221. Highlights were Vikram with 21 and Isabel with 16 showing how our u15s have so much talent. This continued with the bowling as Vikram too 2-16 and Manny 2-23. But the player of the match award had to go to Isabel who took 4-12 in 4 overs to go with her run-a-ball batting earlier. This girl certainly can!

Finally what a pleasure to get a 6th team out for the first time in 2026. Captained by Graham, the innings of 199 in 35 overs was anchored by Jayesh making 49 (one of the Dads), Ken 21 (at least he says) and Ollie 16. OACC put up a brave challenge with many batsmen getting good starts but Rohan and Sammi both got 2 wickets whilst Max and Tom both had debuts with the ball. OACC came up 8 runs short on 191