Match Report: Southgate 3rd XI vs North London 6s (Friendly - Home)
Result: Southgate 3rd XI won
A Delayed Start & Friendly Betrayals
The match got underway after an hour’s delay as NL6 waited for their full squad to arrive. Showing true club spirit, Southgate skipper Parinda Kularatne offered up a volunteer to help out the short-handed opposition. Amila Cooray kindly stepped up—a gesture he might have slightly regretted later!
The game featured some intense Gate-on-Gate action. Amila looked in fine form for the opposition, playing some beautiful shots, including a massive six. He later hilariously claimed, "I tried to defend that," meaning he will definitely be available for batting coaching consultations in 2027.
However, the skipper showed no mercy to his own clubman. Parinda provided the crucial breakthrough, trapping Amila LBW for a highly respectable 49 off 51 balls, brutally robbing him of a well-deserved half-century.
The scorecard’s mysterious “AK” was completely unplayable. He tore through the NL6 top order, clean-bowling C. Bartram (0) and R. Ahmed (0), before forcing T. Rowan (1) into a bizarre hit-wicket dismissal to claim a magnificent three-wicket haul.
Rahul Pawar piled on the misery for the middle order, getting T. Woodfield caught for just 3.
The Mystery Fielders: A sharp piece of fielding resulted in the run-out of N. Gooley (33)—play cricket doesn’t say who but I’m tempted to say it was someone beginning with a K so maybe Kaz maybe Kevin maybe it wasn’t someone with a K🤷♀️. Another sharp catch was claimed by either Div, Kevin, or Mohit, executed with the most nonchalant reaction of the day. Again play cricket didn’t say who and I can’t remember but someone did it.
Yo’s Danger Zone: Parinda officially labeled Yo a "dangerous bowler," a title she earned after accidentally hitting a 15-year-old batsman right in the balls. She then proceeded to laugh, claiming, "It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, sorry are you okay?!" (Thankfully, the youngster recovered).
The bowling unit was incredibly disciplined, choking the run rate with a flurry of maiden overs. Ashraf Hussein ultimately wrapped up the innings in style, using his beautiful spin bowling to easily claim the final wicket.
Best Bowling Figures:
Rahul Pawar: 4-1-5-1
Ashraf Hussein: 4-1-8-1
Alan Babwah: 4-2-10-0
Parinda Kularatne: 4-1-14-1
Nish Shah: 5-1-21-1
Southgate CC Innings: A Determined Run Chase
Chasing the target set by NL6, Southgate experienced a mixed start but ultimately showed excellent depth in the batting order to pull off a brilliant chase.
Opener AB fell early for 1, clean-bowled by R. Ahmed. However, Kev Lazarus and Nish Shah steadied the ship with a vital partnership. Both batsmen played brilliantly measured innings to get the chase back on track, unleashing some big shots to punish the bad balls in style. 💪
The backbone of the chase, however, relied heavily on Bhavesh Koetcha and Ashraf Hussein. Bhavesh anchored the middle order magnificently, falling agonizingly short of a half-century on 49 off 69 balls. In a poetic twist, he was caught by... Amila. Naturally, Amila was the only person on the NL6 field who wasn't allergic to taking a catch or two that day!
Ashraf Hussein played an exceptionally fluent supporting role, striking a swift 32 off 42 balls before falling to the exact same combination.
With the game hanging in the balance, skipper Parinda Kularatne stepped up and showed great composure under pressure. He remained 18 not out off 18 balls to safely guide Southgate home to victory alongside Divyen Harish (1*).
Best Batting Stats:
Bhavesh Koetcha (BK): 49 (69) | SR: 71.01
Ashraf Hussein (AH): 32 (42) | SR: 76.19
K Lazarus (KL): 30 (29) | SR: 103.45
Nish Shah (NS): 30 (43) | SR: 69.77
Parinda Kularatne (PK): 18* (18) | SR: 100.00
A fantastic, entertaining win for the 3rd XI!