Winning streak continues as Scintilla beat Leyton

Man of the match: Abul Hasib

Emdad Rahman: A low scoring thriller ended in Barking based Scintilla’s favour as man of the match Abul Hasib took centre stage.

Hasib struck three crucial wickets and notched up a hard fought 29 not out at the crease as his team mates ground out yet another impressive win.

The weather was not the best at Hainault Recreation and Leyton County decided to bat first after the coin toss resulted in their favour.  Scintilla tasted success as early as the first over as skipper Rafiur Rahman took the scalp of Lamuel English from a direct through. Scintilla bowlers took advantage of the excellent bowling surface with Abdul Muhit (1-13) and Abul Hasib (3-17) proving to be the main thorns for Leyton County’s openers.

Juinor Kingsley scored 25 and Adam Ali reached 21 before being dispatched by Scintilla.

The resistance was short-lived as Shakil Bhuyan (2-8) and Minhaz Khan (1-9) bowled Leyton County all out for 77.

Scintilla confidence at what seemed a routine win faded as the opening three batsmen were all humbled for 0 with Lamuel English (3 for 24) and Sumit Sharma (1-13) aggressive in attack. Ahsan Bashir struck 10 before man of the match Abul Hasib reached 29 not out. After Bashir was caught out, Mohammed Billal’s offensive approach gained another 16 runs to take the score past 50.  Captain Joseph Pierre (4-21) took care of Billal and Leyton seemed set for a deserved victory. Hasib had other ideas, playing with great maturity and discipline to see Scintilla home with a cracking four off Joseph Pierre.

Jubilant captain Rafiur Rahman said: “it was one of the closest encounters I’ve ever played.  My bowlers bowled fantastically well by exploiting the condition and fielders backed them up with catches.  I was really pleased with our performance.  But Leyton County bowled really well, and to get a win on Saturday was like getting out of prison.

“Our batsmen made some basic mistakes which we talked about after the game and the only person who got the basics right was Hasib – I am grateful to him for and I hope the boys have learned something from his innings of responsibility.  We have a tough match next week against Newham and our batsmen need to get back to basics and put up a decent score if we are to compete against last year’s runner up. Hard luck to Leyton who played with great spirit and teams can expect a serious fight against Pierre’s men.”

Score summary:

Leyton County - 77 all out (27.4 overs)
Scintilla CC - 78 for 9 (18.5 ngovers)
Scintilla won by 1 wicket