This week 3rd XI were away at Perivale focussed on getting maximum points after mucking up the potential 10 points at home last week. Since it was a gloomy overcast day Skipper Kala had no hesitation in putting in the opposition to bat. The fact that in the previous season Perivale had cried away citing bad light  when MTSSC were on the verge of a Win/Winning draw also was a factor in the decision.

Our opening bowlers Nadeem and Thana started well hustling the batsman but the Perivale batsman survived the first few overs and started picking up a few boundaries of the loose balls and Perivale Umpires true to form started dishing out harsh wide calls while turning a blind eye to any LBW appeals. Perivale scored about 80 odd runs for no wickets in 15 Overs when MTSSC made a double change for Sree Prakash and Kala to come in to the attack. Sree started very loosely in the first 2 Overs but MTSSC persisted with him and once Sree to find the line and length he was a handful.  He deceived the well set Perivale Opening batsman with his flight and Dharan effected a stumping to remove the opener for 55 runs with the score near 100. Kala removed the No 3 batsman cheaply and MTSSC cut down the run flow in the next few overs but were unable to prise another wicket.Perivale had scored 132 runs of 32 overs when Mannan was brought into the attack to replace Kala. Meanwhile Sree continued to impress with his variations and control making life difficult for the batsman.But it was in this period that Perivale showed their true colours with cheating taken to a new level. While continuing to turn down the plumb LBW calls they also started to call no-balls after a couple of catches were taken in the deep which threatened to break out into a row with our players frustrated and angry . The skipper and a couple of other players had their hands full in controlling the rest of team and letting play continue.  Perivale ended their innings with 243 runs in 50 Overs leaving MTSSC to chase it in 42 Overs.

It was a charged up tea with our players focussed on winning the match. The brief was simple and straight forward.MTSSC had to go at 5 an Over for a winning Draw and 6 an Over for a Victory. Hence Kala decided to change the batting order and Sendi who had scored a good 60 as an opener and Dharan who was in consistent form were held back in the lineup as Insurance policy and MTSSC front loaded the lineup with attacking batsman. It was drizzling when the 2nd Innings was to start. However the Perivale captain had one more Ace up his Sleeve in gamesmanship. He left MTSSC gasping when he offered a "Neutral Umpire" for our innings.No doubt this was a tactic to wind us up but our Openers Pradeep and Ramanan did not fall for the bait and saw out the first few overs sensibly before Ramanan imposed himself on the game.He tore into the Perivale attack and bowling change after change was made but the end result was Perivale having to fetch the ball from the bushes that surrounded the park. It's not often that we see Pradeep playing the second fiddle but today was one such day even though he score 46 runs in a 138 run partnership in 20 Overs.Ramanan scored his well deserved century the first for  the season in MTSSC for any XI and continued to thump Perivale all over thepark.

13 Sixes and One lost ball later he was out for 143 runs but he had already taken MTSSC to a commanding position of 220 for 3 in 30 Overs leaving us needing just 24 runs in 12 Overs for a victory. Nadeem and Sendi saw us home in the next 5 Overs to leave a scoreboard of 247 for 5 in 34.1 Overs .

It was a brilliant performance on the back of last 2 weeks and leaves MTSSC as Second on the table. If we continue playing the way we are there is no reason why we can't mount a title challenge this season. Next week we welcome Wembley to Post Office and they were the only team to do the double against us last season. So we will approach the game with caution but this week's wipe-out does give a great deal of confidence to carry forward