Left-arm spinner Yousef Majid at Cranleigh is certainly making a name for himself. Against MCC, he took seven for 77 as the school bowled the visitors out for 224. Following an aggressive 79 from Sachin Shanmugavel, Cranleigh required three to win from the final ball with two wickets in hand. They ended the game as a draw (it was a declaration game). John Kings finished with five for 105 for the MCC.
Majid then followed this up, in a two-day game with Hurstpierpoint, with an even more sensational performance. Batting first, Cranleigh reached 262 for eight from their allotted 60 overs; Aidan Drew impressed taking five for 32 while runs were scored all down the order. In response Hurstpierpoint quickly found themselves in trouble with Majid again causing problems, and they were dismissed for 73: he bowled unchanged, finishing with figures of eight for 15 from 15 overs. With 18 overs remaining in the day Cranleigh batted again and closed the first day 80 for three. Cranleigh quickly moved to 163 for five on day two, declaring after an hour of play. Second time around Hurstpierpoint took a more adventurous approach but with Majid again bowling unchanged they fell well short of the 353 needed for victory. Majid ending with figures of six for 60 and match figures of 14-75.
Majid still has one year to go, and has already played for Sussex 2nd XI. He now has 42 wickets at about 7.00 with five 5-wicket hauls and there still a few games to go.
I wrote last week about cricketing intelligence. I shall not disclose the poor lad’s name, such must have been his embarrassment, but Eltham, struggling to save the match as they were well behind the MCC’s total declared, were on the point of safety with just the last two balls to be kept out. At which point the number 11 contrived to get himself stumped.
Term has now ended for the overwhelming majority of independent schools, especially the boarding ones. There are several festivals this week, Covid and weather permitting, and I hope to have the results for those next week, which will be the last column of the season.
And what a bizarre season. Quite a fair number of schools have played almost a normal season of 15 – 20 matches, while a very large number of others have played virtually no matches that they would deem to be their 1st XI. As Wisden returns start rolling in I may have rather more information on that front for next week. Nevertheless, most schools seem to have managed to play cricket even in year-group bubbles or just internally. Better than nothing at all, as happened last year.
Results (see below for National T20 full and final results):
Boys’ cricket
MCC 224 (Y Majid 7-77), *Cranleigh 223-9 (J Kings 5-105)
*Cranleigh 262-6 dec (A Drew 5-32) & 163-5, Hurstpierpoint 73 (Y Majid 8-15) & 227 (Y Majid 6-60)
MCC 210-8 dec,*Eltham 81
*Eton College 205 (50 overs), Cranleigh 34-3
*Eton 186, Professor Sir Christopher Dobson XI 172
(Memorial match in memory of Professor Sir Christopher Dobson, Master of St John’s, Cambridge and Fellow of Eton College for Royal Marsden Hospital)
*Eton 241-5 (50 overs) (G Freeman 103), Hampton 149
*Eton 183-9 dec (H Chappell 7-55), Eton Ramblers 109
XL Club 132, *St Peter’s, York 73-2 (rain)
Girls’ cricket
Cardiff Met University 132-7 (30 overs), *Millfield 127-9
Millfield 226-3 (20 overs), Blundell’s 27 (Neutral Venue)
Millfield 116-5 (15 overs), MCC 118-1 (Neutral Venue)
Millfield 189-3 (20 overs), *Wellington (Somerset) 89
*Millfield 144-3 (20 overs), King’s Taunton 58-3 (13 overs)(Millfield win on run rate)
Millfield 189-4 (20 overs), *Clayesmore 63-10
Somerset Under-18 149-3 (20 overs),*Millfield 140-5
Millfield 200-3 (20 overs),*Taunton 89
*Millfield 83-9 (20 overs), Gloucestershire Under-18 85-4
Gloucestershire Under-18 Girls (20 overs), *Millfield 101-9
Denmark Road HS 147-6 (20 overs),*Millfield 148-1
Bridgwater Ladies CC 162-4 (20 overs),*Millfield 79