Saverus Special Keep Edgware League Hopes Alive

Jude Saverus' maiden 5-wicket haul was the catalyst for Edgware's first league win of the season against Cockfosters at a sun baked ECG.

Having lost the first two games of the season, Edgware knew they would have to beat Cockfosters to keep alive any chance of securing promotion in 2019. Losing the toss, Edgware were put into the field and got an early breakthrough when Deep Shah pulled off a cracking one handed catch at fine leg off the bowling of Nakul Jilka to remove opener and Cockfosters Saturday First XI captain, Sam Barker for 14. Unfortunately for Edgware that was as good as it got, at least for the next 20 overs as wicket-keeper Dan Stead survived a number of opportunities to reach 50 and he was ably supported by Yasir Khan who made a tidy albeit risky 36.

However, the partnership was finally broken when Jude Saverus removed Yasir Khan for 36 just before the drinks break to leave Cockfosters 119-2 after 22 overs. And one soon became two as an inspired bowling performance from Jude saw Cockfosters collapse from 130-2 to 136-7 with Jude removing numbers 4, 5, 6 and 8 to claim his maiden 5-wicket haul. Sunny Halai then bowled opener Stead for 59 to leave Cockfosters in real trouble, before Deep Shah cleaned up the tail to end Cockfosters on 149-9 off 36.3 overs.

Edgware's reliable opening pair of Ciaran Hosty and Nakul Jilka then set to work to chase down the total and it was Nakul who moved into fifth gear first striking a run a ball 35 to put on 68 for the first wicket. However, first XI cricketer Sam Barker then got to work and his expert leg spin removed Nakul first for 35, before then removing Shuraj Vekaria for 9, Sajith Sriwickramasekaran for 6 and Sunny Halai for 4 to leave Edgware on 117-4. Amongst the drama, captain Hosty stuck in and brought up his second fifty of the season before putting on a 26-run partnership with Rahul Kothari to effectively kill the game. Despite Rahul losing his wicket just before victory, Ciaran and Dharmish knocked off the final few runs to secure a 5-wicket victory for Edgware and more importantly a first league win of the season.

Edgware certainly have a mountain to climb to keep themselves in the hunt for promotion and will probably need to win their remaining three games to have an outside shot.