After a strong start to the season, Southgate 2s have hit a bump in momentum.

We continue to play lots of good cricket in games and are competitive every week, but a series of close contests have been ceded to the opposition and we find ourselves two or three results shy of an important promotion with another crucial game against a close rival on July 4th.

The unmitigated success story of the season so far has been the form of Liam Collett. The aussie batter had, incredibly, never reached three figures in any form of cricket before joining us. He now has four centuries to his name, three in club colours, and is averaging well over 100 in the league batting with a maturity that belies his years.

Once again, it was Liam and the top four who built a solid foundation against Perivale Phoenicians on Saturday. His 100* was preceded by an excellent opening partnership from Rory Miscampbell (61) and Mustapha Mirza (39), with Stefan Fernando contributing a sprightly 22.

Unfortunately, there was a mid-late order crumbling which included four in four balls for Phoenicians sixth bowler Adeel Yaseen. He stole the limelight from the very capable Ahmer Baloch, a real handful of a left-arm spinner. Failing to capitalise on strong top-order performances is one aspect of our game we need to eradicate if we are to strike form again in this division.

The most obvious, and worrying, concern, though, is outfield catching. Having been forced to bat beyond halfway, Southgate created almost 20 chances to take wickets, but grounded three or four very reasonable opportunities to seal the win.

Ahmed Khawaja was as assured as his australian namesake before throwing his wicket away on 82, he was supported in two significant partnerships by gritty knocks from Bilal Ali and Salman Majeed as Perivale passed the winning draw total with two balls left in the game. Not a defeat for Southgate, but ten points go begging and we have a fight on our hands to return to div 3 at the first time of asking.

Ollie Bellwood