Naren Patel took 3 for 10 to steer the Exiles to an excellent 7 win against new opponents Streatham & Marlborough CC.

After conceding 10 runs in his first 2 overs, Naren produced a spell of 4 straight maidens with 3 wickets, to slow down Streatham after they’d raced to 29 for 0 in 4 overs. Thereafter, Exiles dominated in the field, bowling out the away side for 143. Wickets were shared – notably to both Roberts boys. With Evan and Naren both taking wickets – is this the largest ever gap in ages for wicket taking in the same side?

Exiles batted sensibly to take the game home, the skipper getting some form with 34 not out, with contributions from Bilal, Omid and Keith.

SLOBs CC next week at Nursery Road.

Exiles suffered their first defeat of 2019 with a 7 wicket defeat by the Clapham Nomads.

Batting first, the Exiles started well thanks to Bilal Musakhel (45), but collapsed from 87 for 2 to 95 for 7, before Andy Wingfield (43no) rebuilt with the tail – including a 35 partnership with unheralded batsman Phil Ling for the last wicket – taking the side to 180 all out, probably 30 short of par.

2 strikes from Bilal (2 for 21) saw Nomads slip to 48 for 3, but a superb unbeaten partnership of 135 between Hassan (76no) and the hard-hitting Zia (64no) took the Nomads home.

Viscount at Nursery Road next week.

It seems churlish to claim an abandonment out of this game, but that was technically the result as a light shower brought a premature end to a game where the Exiles had been heavily outplayed by a very strong Sutton side.

Some hard hitting by Shahid Iqbal (36) in partnership with the returning Avi Mahapatra had seen the Exiles start well in reaching 60 without loss. But after Iqbal was bowled, there followed a disappointing procession of wickets as the Exiles subsided in just 25.5 overs to 125 all out.

The Sutton openers were racing to the target and had reached 106 without loss in 13 overs when a shower arrived at the ground and with Sutton playing a t20 tournament on the square the following day, the game was quickly abandoned.

Ploughmans away in Dulwich next Sunday.

Exiles continued their fine start to 2019 with their 3rd straight win courtesy of an excellent chase against Whalers.

Exiles bowled first and reduced Whalers to 14 for 3 before an excellent unbeaten hundred from Whalers skipper Dean (103no) steered his side to an imposing 207 for 8 off their 35 overs, Andy Wingfield taking 3 for 27.

The reply was teetering at 57 for 4, before Darwin Gunawardena (48) and Yayha Khan (36) put on 50 to rebuild the Exiles innings, before opening bowlers Wingfield (51no) and Jibran Ahmed (28no) took their side home with 3 balls to spare.

A very satisfying chase. There is due to be a rematch with the Whalers next week, but with Whalers availability known to be an issue the opposition may well change.