North Enfield Cricket Club Friendly XI vs East Herts Cavaliers (H) - Thursday 03rd August 2023

North Enfield CC’s Friendly XI put in a couple of impressive performances in a drawn fixture that they dominated against East Herts Cavaliers and a comfortable victory against Pelican CC.

On Thursday, the Cavaliers elected to field first in a timed fixture at Strayfield Road. David Brandon and Daniel Vanniasingham got North Enfield off to a watchful start in the midst of some tight bowling, with boundaries hard to come by due to the sodden outfield. The hosts started to accelerate and break the shackles as Brandon reached a second half century of the season, only for Vanniasingham to sky an attempted sweep to fall for 19. The arrival of Ishan Tilakaratna at the crease hurried the game along, as his brief cameo of 41 (24 balls) pushed North Enfield past the 100 mark and into a commanding position. When he was bowled, Garry Orton (38*) continued to push towards an imposing total, finding the boundary on multiple occasions, before allowing Brandon to farm the strike at the back end of the innings, so that he could reach a magnificent maiden hundred for North Enfield (100*).

Miserly bowling from Adam Klewin and Oliver Munt saw the Cavaliers drop anchor, rather than go after an intimidating target of 204. The latter found the initial break through, when one of the openers edged through to William Munt, before the introduction of Adam Jessop prized out another wicket, as he disturbed the stumps with just his second delivery. After drinks, Jessop and David Malleson broke the game open with four wickets in eight overs (another for Jessop and three for Malleson). However, despite the field closing in and both Malleson and Tom Coughlan regularly beating the bat, the hosts ran out of time as the Cavaliers scraped home for a draw.

Elsewhere, North Enfield defeated Pelican CC by 53 runs on Sunday, as runs for Brandon (45), Oliver Scott (43) and Tilakaratna (59*) saw them post 207 for 6 from their 40 overs; a total which proved too much for the Pelicans, who were bowled out for 154, largely due to 4 wickets for Josh Jones and 3 for Tilakaratna.