After the highs of Week 4, and a pretty good start to the season for the Club, we went into the last of the first set of limited overs fixtures feeling positive.

The 1s went over to Wembley, missing a few key players, and having lost another player on the Friday night due to miscommunication. We won the toss and elected to bat first and two early wickets raised the pressure levels. However, some very sensible batting from Tasin Iqbal (41) and James Cormack steadied the ship. A middle-order collapse threatened to derail our efforts before Nick Jackson (43), ably supported by Harry Wilkins (26*), took us towards a reasonable total of 193.
Wembley got off to a fairly good start, albeit helped by three dropped catches and a missed run out in the first 6 overs. At 97-1, and even 132-2, they looked well set for victory but our bowlers - led by Zac Bayliss (4-21) - hauled us back into the contest as Wembley lost their last 8 wickets for 31 runs.
Not our finest performance but a fifth win in a row to put the 1s top of the table going into the timed matches.

The 2s found this less easy going, despite starting well with the ball. Having been asked to field first, they bowled tightly early on and had West Harrow 118-6 but lower order hitting and dropped catches meant our opponents took themselves up to 229-9. An opportunity missed.
In reply, we never got going and the chase was never really in our grasp. No-one got higher than 23 as we were all out for 104. The less said the better really.

The 3s had almost the exact opposite experience. Fielding first, led by Jawad (12-5-14-2), they got off to a good start with the ball, with a wicket before Brondesbury got off the mark. Our opponents steadied, reaching 48-1, before losing 9 for 16 - Noor Maroof taking 4-5 and Mohsin Mahmood grabbing 3-12.
In reply, we didn't hang around as Noor (54*) took the attack to the Brondesbury bowlers. We reached our total without losing a wicket inside 11 overs. Back at the club before tea.

Our 4s continued their progress and improvements against Southgate Adelaide this week. We fielded first and bowled well, but wickets took a while to come. Our change bowlers, however, had more success with Joe Simons (3-32) leading the charge. It was a good bowling performance, though the 33 extras conceded will have been a concern.
With the bat, things started cautiously but calmly. Our top order kept things ticking along, as we knew we had batters in the shed who could accelerate, if needed. And, that is what happened. Anthony Freer (44) and Ayaan Bokhari (43*) attacked late on to drag us towards the total. However, unfortunately, we couldn't quite get there as we fell 9 runs shy of victory.

At this point, it's probably important to take stock of where we are and appreciate the progress we're making this year. It's been a very positive start across the board and we look forward to that continuing.

Thanks to our sponsor for Round 5, Underpin & Makegood. We really appreciate their support and generosity.