Bessborough’s Under 15s captain Vidoosha Jayawardena has passed 1,000 runs for the season following his innings of 79 for the Third XI on Saturday.

Vidoosha has so far scored 607 runs for the colts (U15s and U17s) at an average of 46.69 with four half-centuries, while for the seniors (2nd XI and 3rd XI) he has racked up 413 runs at an average of 37.54 (five 50s).

His combined tally for the year so far is 1,020 runs at 40.80 with a highest score of 85 not out for the U15s in Division 1 of the MCA North League against Stanmore in July. His best for the seniors came last Saturday with 79 for the 3rd XI in their vital 1987 Cricket League Division 2 promotion-chasing game away to Indian Gymkhana.

Vidoosha’s excellent performances for Bessborough have seen him gain recognition at County level with Middlesex CCC.

He will have more opportunities to plunder more runs as his successful U15s will take part in the MCA Finals Day on Sunday 30th August, while the seniors still have four more league weekends of action, not to mention the Colin Horsley Trophy on Saturday 12th September when the Bessborough colts take on their elders. Few senior bowlers will relish taking on Vidoosha in his current form.

As well as scoring runs for fun Vidoosha has also picked up 15 wickets for Bessborough across all teams, with a tidy average of 27.33.

"Congratulations to Vidoosha. He is following the tradition of many fine batsmen the club has produced over the years," said Graham Sainsbury, Bessborough’s president and former first team captain who was heavily involved in the colts’ set-up in the 1970s and 80s.

Other players that have scored 1,000 runs in a season for Bessborough while colts include David Fell,  Andrew Miller, Geoff Watson, Richard Ayre, Mark Ramprakash (pictured in action for the Borough in 1982), Graeme and Duncan West, Peter Longfield, Rupert Thaker, Paul Snelling and Keith Dutch.

The last player to score 1,000 runs in a season was former first team captain Dan Hawes, who scored 1,099 runs in 2013 at an average of 49.95. 

The club’s record for 1,000 runs seasons is held by Graham Sainsbury, who achieved the feat 17 times, while Graeme West scored the most ever runs in a single season in 1993 when he hit 2,012 runs, including five centuries.

Few would bet against Vidoosha getting close to or breaking that record in a few years.

Bessborough reach MCA Finals Day

A great all-round team performance saw Bessborough’s Under 15s beat Ealing in their MCA County League U15 knock-out quarter-final on Friday (7 August) evening by 18 runs, which sees them progress to the Finals Day at the end of August.

Skipper Vidoosha Jayawardena won the toss and elected to bat first on a very sunny evening with the wicket dry and flat. He and fellow opener Sujan Sivakumar made a good start by putting on 26 runs in the first five overs, before Vidoosha bottom edged onto the stumps from a short ball from county bowler Tom Sheen.

Sujan and Beavan Fernando added another 26 to take the score to 52 before Beavan was caught for nine. Rebant Ruparel was unlucky to get out for one after a top edge to another county bowler Rafique Ossman. Jamie Young (12) then joined Sujan and put on a very useful partnership before Sujan was out for a valuable 32.

Retesh Jesuthasan and Stefaan Fernando then added further to the tally as Retesh top scored with 33, while Steefan ended with a rapid 21 not out from 15 balls.

Bessborough finished their innings on 133 for six wickets in 20 overs, setting Ealing a difficult rate of 6.7 runs per over. Sujan made the first inroad when he trapped Ossman lbw for five and some excellent bowling and fielding meant that the home side needed 30 runs from the last two overs with six wickets in hand.

Vidoosha enstrusted the task to the Sivakumar twins (one of three sets of brothers in the team) and they rewarded his faith with Sujan only giving away eight runs with his pace bowling in the penultimate over, while the very talented spinner Ajan took two wickets and conceded only three runs in the last over to complete the memorable victory.

Bessborough's bowling figures were:

Ajan Sivakumar 4-0-13-3
Sujan Sivakumar 4-0-26-2
Thanuka Jayawardena 4-0-25-1
Vidoosha Jayawardena 4-0-31-0
Stefaan Fernando 4-0-18-0

Team manager and Bessborough colts chairman Raj Kanagaraj described the win as one of the best colts matches that he has managed in recent memory, adding that nine of the boys in the U15 squad have also played senior cricket for Bessborough, something that has helped them greatly to develop their cricketing skills and techniques.

Following this win the U15s have qualified for the Finals Day on Sunday 30th August at North Middlesex CC, 185a Park Road, London N8 8JJ.  

The other quarter-finals still to be played by 23 August are:

Richmond vs Sunbury
Finchley vs Eastcote
Osterley vs Old Merchant Taylors

Bessborough will meet the winners of the Richmond vs Sunbury match in the semi-finals. Winners of the Finchley vs Eastcote and Osterley vs OMT games will contest the other semi-final.
 
Bessborough U15 Squad: Vidoosha Jayawardena (captain), Sujan Sivakumar, Beavan Fernando, Rebant Ruparel, Jamie Young, Retesh Jeysuthasan, Stefaan Fernando, Thanuka Jayawardena, Sameer Aggarwal, Ajan Sivakumar, Hammad Rathore, Devan Patel, Raj Kanagaraj (Team Manager), Aruna Jayawardena (Assistant Team Manager), Vernon Senanayake (Coach), Ravi Vyas (Coaching Assistant).

© Cricket World 2015