We have arranged three pre-season nets at the indoor school at Lords – as follows:

Wednesday 12 April 7-8pm

Wednesday 19 April 7-8pm

Wednesday 26 April 8-9pm

Availability will be checked and confirmed via the WhatsApp group in the same way as the match selection process.

Congrats to Shahid Iqbal who was appointed club captain for the start of the 2023 season… Shahid has made 54 appearances for the club since his debut in 2017 and has to date scored 924 runs at 18 and taken 18 wickets at 21. He has also won the fielding trophy twice.

Good luck to Shahid in the role!

Exiles finished the 2022 season with 12 wins and 7 defeats.

Trophy winners are confirmed as follows:

Bhau Patel Batting Trophy: Andrew Wingfield – 276 runs at 30.67; (Andy wins this trophy for the second time, first time since 2011, Ansar was not a club member so doesn’t qualify)

Bowling Trophy: Ajmal Safi – 22 wickets @ 11.32; (Golden arm Ajmal wins the trophy for the first time!)

Fielding Trophy: Shahid Iqbal – 8 catches & 1 run-out; (Shahid wins the fielding trophy for the second year in a row)

Man-of-the-match trophy – Ajmal Safi – 6 matches; (Ajmal wins the trophy for the first time!)

Captains Prize – Bernard presented this to Shahid at the AGM;

Nets are likely to be at Lords this spring – details tbc;

Exiles put up an excellent fight but were narrowly beaten by 4 wickets by Kings Road CC at Haydon’s Road on Sunday.

Batting first, Exiles flew out of the blocks with 43 for Ajmal and 39 for Ansar in partnership of 65 off the first 10 overs. When they were out, contributions from Shahid, Andy and Yahya sustained the innings and a flourish from Jibs (with 27no off 16 balls) helped the side to a seemingly decent 197 for 5 off 35 overs.

Exiles seemed well on their way to victory when they reduced Kings Road to 64 for 4 with a wicket for Naren and three for Jibs. But a stunning 100no off 64 from Matt Andrews turned the tide and he took his side home with 3 balls to spare. Jibs also finished with an excellent, Exiles career best of 4 for 19.

This was a terrific game of cricket and without the innings from Andrews, Exiles were surely likely winners. 12 wins and 7 defeats to finish the 2022 season.