August to dictate whether 2024 is a successful season for Edgware

It's officially crunch-time in the 2024 season. As of the 31st July, Edgware sit in a competitive 2nd place in the Hertfordshire Saturday Cricket League and a disappointing 8th place in the Chess Valley Legaue. I'll run through the permutations of the final 6 weeks of the season and reflect on whether Edgware have what it takes to claim a trophy come September.

Vidanda Galgamuwa (cricketer) places his field

Saturday League Cricket

Edgware's third season in the Hertfordshire Saturday Cricket League has been similar to the first two seasons, dominant. In their debut season in 2022, Edgware won 10 out of 14 matches (3 lost and 1 NR) and last season went unbeaten as they won 9 out of 13 matches (4 NR). So far this year, they've won 9 out of 12 (2 lost and 1 NR) meaning that over the past three years Edgware have won 85% of all completed matches. It's some record. In fact, it places Edgware as one of the top 5 most succesful clubs in the league since records began. It also highlights the need for the club to keep progressing up the league pyramid and play stronger opposition. And they aren't alone in this quest.

In 2016, Aldenham Cricket Club joined the Hertfordshire Cricket League and like Edgware started at the bottom of the pile. As of August 2024, they are set to be promoted into Division 5 having secured what will likely be 6 promotions in 9 seasons (inc. the 2020 COVID season where no promotion or relegation was contested). It's a story that can be observed numerous times across all divisions over the past 15 years and it's a story that Edgware will be hoping to emulate.

Standing in their way is three sides. Old Eastcotains, Royal Herts and Batchworth. When the fixtures were released in early 2024, you'd have been able to put good money on all four sides competing for top spot and that's exactly how it's played out. Why four 1st XI sides are competing in a single Regional Division is a valid question and this is further exacerbated by the fact that there is only one guaranteed promotion spot, with the best placed second place side across Division 10E, 10S, 10W, 10N and 10C also moving up to Division 9. But perhaps that conversation is for another day.

Old Eastoctians have been ruthless so far this season. They've only dropped points once, to Northwood Town and in that fixture Kunj Vadgama scored the only 100 so far in Division 10S to win Northwood the game. Whlst the old adage is "catches win matches", it seems that in the regionals it's runs scored that is making the key difference between winning and losing and Edgware know that better than most. On Saturday 11th May, Edgware were bowled out for just 83 against Bushey to lose by 5 runs, their first loss in Saturday League Cricket in over a year. This was followed by a close escape against Pinner in June whereby they bowled out the opposition for just 72 having been bowled out for 93 earlier in the day. Whilst some of the sloppy batting performances can be attributed to poor pitches and poor weather in the first half of the season, moving forward, the batting will hold the key to getting Edgware over the line against Royal Herts, Batchworth and Old Eastcotians, provided the bowling unit continues to impress as it has done all season long.

Edgware's run-in compared to it's peers is night and day. Old Eastcotians' remaining 6 matches sees them play Edgware on the 10th August before playing sides mostly in the second half of the table. Edgware in contrast will need to play Old Eastcotians and then Royal Herts and Batchworth in the final two fixtures of the season. The relative difficulty of the run-ins means that Edgware's game against Old Eastcotians carries even greater importance and they'll likely need to beat Old Eastcotians whilst not giving up more than 19 points to secure top spot and ensure destiny remains in their own hands for the run-in.

Edgware CC - FINAL RUN-IN (HERTS CRICKET LEAGUE - DIVISION 10 SOUTH)

Sat 3 August - Abbots Langley (H) - 9th

Sat 10 August - Old Eastcotians (A) - 1st

Sat 17 August - Pinner (H) - 6th

Sat 24 August - West Herts (A) - 10th

Sat 31 August - Royal Herts (H) - 4th

Sat 7 September - Batchworth (A) - 3rd

Sunday League Cricket

Edgware's 7th season in the Chess Valley League has been, by comparison, chaotic. Edgware's promotion chances have been plagued by availability issues and an inability to build challenging totals. In truth though, the prioritisation of the saturday league has meant that players playing once a week have opted to play on Saturday which is fair, but it has meant that for the time being, Edgware are floundering in a competion that they've historically been very competitve in.

Edgware's woes are compounded by the loss to Northwood Town a couple of weeks ago. Northwood Town had previously conceded all four of their playable games, gifting full points to their opposition. The situation is frustrating to say the least as league rules do cite termination of membership after 2 concedes and it's a wonder why Northwood have been handed such a long leash. However, it may well be that in the coming weeks their membership is terminated and their win against Edgware voided, as well as the points gifted to their opposition which may work in Edgware's favour.

The final Sunday run-in for Edgware is an optimistic one. Whilst they play Alexandra Park on Sunday, a side who comfortably sits in third place and has dominated proceedings alongside Ickenham, the remaining two games against Pinner (6th) and Rickmansworth (9th) are winnable and mean that Edgware could end up with a maximum of 20 points, should they win all three of their final games.

One would think that three wins would guarantee Edgware at least third place in the division, particualrly if Northwood's membership is removed and fellow promotion hunters Alexandra Park and Harrow St Mary's lose 4 points each. Either way, it would be a good return in what has been a challenging campagin for the boys in blue.

Moving forward, the Edgware heirachy will need to have throrough discussions as to whether Sunday League Cricket is still something Edgware wishes to pursue. The availability is clearly an issue, but it can be solved by growing the wider squad and the competition does offer a higher quality and volume of cricket for those that want it, whilst requiring less commitment than the alternative which would likely be a push for a 2nd XI in the Hertfordshire Saturday Cricket League.

Statistics and Records in Sight

As we head into the final few weeks, we run through what Stats and Records can be broken by players between now and the year-end.

Appearances

50 Games for Edgware - Sagar Raghvani, Kabeer Soni, Jaimin Patel and Jeet Swaminaryan are just one game, 3 games, 5 games and 6 games respectively away from passing the 50 game mark.

100 Games for Edgware - Vidanda Galgamuwa and Shuraj Vekaria are just 8 games away from reaching their 100th cap. They'll likely be just the 5th and 6th players to achieve the feat.

Batting

Nakul Jilka needs just 13 runs to reach 3,500 club runs for Edgware.

Shuraj Vekaria is 14 runs away from surpassing Kishan Varsani on the all-time run scoring list and will move to 4th overall.

Vidanda Galgamuwa needs just 28 more runs to pass 500 Hertfordshire Saturday League Cricket runs (becoming just the third person to achieve the feat).

Bowling

Dean Veerapen needs just 4 more wickets to surpass Ananya Dixit's tally of 119 wickets and become Edgware's second most successful bowler ever (by wickets taken).

Jaimin Patel needs 2 more wickets to break the record for the most wickets taken in a single season (Currently 34 - Shared by Ananya Dixit and Rahul Kothari). Jaimin also only needs 5 wickets to surpass Sajith Sriwickramasekaran's tally of 90 wickets and become Edgware's fifth most succesful bowler ever (by wickets taken).

Fielding