Camden I v Stapleford (home(ish))

30/08/25

THIRDS SECURE SECOND

Farid’s fifty lights the way to promotion

Camden (20pts) 197-7 beat Stapleford (pts) 165  by 32 runs

To the last game of the season. Nominally a home game against Stapleford, but – with Queens’ unavailable – Stapleford was the venue. Stapleford, the scene of the season’s first win. A repeat would see Camden promoted. In fact, with Barrington conceding last week’ sgame in hand, promotion would be secured with six points. With rain forecast, it was agreed that it would be 30 overs per side. Captain Redfern was suffering with a gammy wisdom tooth, so Sutton was back in charge and duly lost the toss.

Asked to bat first, Krishna creamed the second ball to the extra-cover boundary. The third ball crashed into his stumps. It might have been worse, had Sutton been caught without scoring. And he really should have been. It was the simplest of chances. Thereafter, Sutton and Coe saw off the new ball, and 41 had been added when Coe (12) picked out the fielder at long leg. That brought Ketul to the crease, and it looked like the bespectacled all-rounder was on for a repeat of his heroics at this ground earlier in the season – particularly once he had lost the ‘calming’ presence of Sutton, bowled for 29. This time, however, Ketul had to settle for a mere ix fours and two sixes in a knock of 43 from 27 balls. Irtaza (11) hit two fours of his own, and Deepak (9) struck a magnificent six – but when the latter and Karan (1) were run out, Camden were faltering at 145-7. Karan took solace in Vice President (Cake)’s date slices. If Farid felt culpable for the run outs, he responded in fine style. With Clarke (11 not out) for company, 33 had been added for the eighth wicket going into the final over. 33 was next to Farid’s name, too. Three sixes later, the all-rounder had a deserved first fifty for Camden. In an outstanding season, The Finisher had left his best finish until last. A single off the last ball meant that the Thirds had posted a formidable 197-7.

It didn’t look such a formidable total when the Stapleford openers took a liking to Rizwan’s opening spell, but Farid – buoyed by his exploits with the bat – was bowling terrifically and was rewarded with a catch for Mukesh. Karan replaced Rizwan, starting with a maiden. It was clear that ’Deadly’ Derekar (1-20) enjoyed bowling in partnership with Farid (1-17) more than he had enjoyed batting with him, but the wily off-spinner had to wait until his sixth and final over to take a wicket.  Prior to that, Farid had returned the favour to Mukesh by taking a catch. With the Stapleford opener batting well, the game wasn’t won. A fourth wicket – a second bowling point to go with the four batting points –  would seal promotion, however. And there it was – a catch for Coe off Mukesh (2-41)). Let it rain. Stapleford could chase down the 89 needed from the last nine overs. In the event, the rain held off and Rizwan (2-42) returned to take two wickets – the second caught by Krishna. With the game over as a contest, Clarke convinced Sutton to take Ketul off and give Deepak a bowl. He needed just ten balls to finish the game. Ten legal balls, that is. Clarke might have been questioning his wisdom, but Deepak’s second legal ball – the eighth in total – found the edge. Genius. The final ball of the over – thirteenth in total – saw the end of Stapleford’s opener, bowled for a well-made 68. Deepak wasn’t finished. A second over began – after a no ball – with Sutton effecting a direct-hit run out. The fourth ball – nineteenth in total – saw the stumps hit again. Bowled. All out for 165. Deepak finishing with the scarcely believable figures of 1.4-0-26-3.

Barrington conceding again might have rendered this 32-run victory irrelevant. But try telling that to the Camden boys, for whom this was a tenth triumph of a wholly successful season. For context, the three previous seasons had yielded just nine wins.

Just how far would the Thirds have to plummet in the nation’s flattest county before they encountered a level playing field?

Promotion from Junior 3 West is quite the response to a question posed in the wake of a particularly savage opening-day defeat, and your correspondent is more than happy to eat his words.

Man of the Match: Farid Pardess