Stoke Newington suffered a disappointing loss on Saturday in a low-scoring and spiteful contest against Willow Leather, but still stay top of Middlesex 1st XI Division Four.
The Stokey bowlers looked razor sharp, led by the ever-destructive pace of MV Rao who took a stunning 7-18 from eight overs as Willow Leather succumbed for just 64.
With confidence high, Stokey faced similar challenges as they slipped to 39-7 on a poor pitch.
Rao and skipper Dominic Haddock looked in solid touch, putting on what appeared to be a match-winning eighth-wicket stand to take the score to 61-7, before the last three wickets fell without scoring, as Stokey slipped to a three-run defeat.
Stokey seconds enjoyed much better fortunes with a resounding 106-run victory over Old Isleworthians seconds.
Opting to bat, opener and captain Abhi Sen led the way with a well-crafted 61, aided by knocks from Ismaeel Dawood (31), Ben Gale (18) and Ramiz Khan (18) as Stokey finished on a highly defendable 211-9.
Ismaeel followed up with a destructive opening spell, taking two quick wickets, and Ananth Raghuraman then charged through the card to take a ruthless 5-12 from his nine overs as Isleworthians fell for just 105.
The thirds fell to a three-wicket defeat at Enfield thirds, after succumbing for 139 as big-hitting Waseem Saleem was left stranded on 18.
They made Enfield work hard for their win, taking seven wickets to claim a losing bonus point with junior off-spinners Fred Owen (U16) and Sonny Baderman (U13) bowling excellently in tandem.
A 19-ball knock of 35 from Kashif Rashid helped the fourths storm past Wembley fourths.
Despite slipping to 65-4, Boopathi Murugan (26), Felix Chettiar (26) and skipper Som Batabyal (19) helped them to 161-9, aided by last-minute call-up Lisa Buckingham who shared a 28-run last-wicket stand with Kashif.
In the end, this simply increased the margin of victory as Wembley crashed to just 46 all out, thanks to a superb all-round bowling display from Stokey.
Somnath Batabyal was the pick of the bowlers with 3-13, alongside Felix Chettiar (3-12) and Liam Mannion (2-3).
The day was rounded off with defeat for the fives against Highgate sixths, who were reduced to 55-5.
A crucial 72 from low-order batter Sam Lamsdale took Highgate to a very respectable 202-7 from their 45 overs, as Bilal Imran led the Stokey attack with 3-55.
But despite a wonderful 82 not out from stand-in skipper Kamran Khan, who smashed four sixes in his 71-ball knock, Stokey slipped to an agonising eight-run defeat, with a frustrating 10 balls left unused.
*Defending champions St Clements earned a tense two-wicket win over Camels in the North East London League at London Fields.
Opting to bat, Camels lost centurion from two weeks ago Rana Ghosh in the opening over, and it was left to opener Gideon Hymas (23) and the ever aggressive Kiwi, Seb Buddle, who smashed an unbeaten 38, to help them reach 99 - the largest first innings total of the weekend.
Bowling spoils shared between Adeel Khan, Afghan Khan, Arfan K and Nadeem Akhtar who all took two wickets.
But what felt like a comfortable chase, soon turned into a nightmare for the defending champions with wickets tumbling across the sun drenched park.
St Clements slipped to 67-8 after a triple wicket maiden from Sarfraz Thajudeenn, who tore through the middle order to finish with 4-8.
And it took the level head of skipper Afghan Khan, who finished up unbeaten on 25 to see his team home.
Royal Sovereigns battled past the Passage at Springfield Park, after dismissing their rivals for just 74 and surviving a wobble to win by five wickets in five overs.
Bloomsbury Royals enjoyed a comprehensive victory over Stamford Hill, who were skittled for just 38, at Millfields Park.
Only one wicket was lost as Bloomsbury easily chased it down in 13.2 overs.
It was a rain drenched week in the Victoria Park Community League, just three nights of matches.
On Monday, Wapping Dolphins smashed the second highest score of the year in defeating Anirban in Division Two.
Adam Al-Ahdawie struck 55 alongside 52 from Dudley Spiers as the Dolphins amassed 196-2.
Despite 48 from skipper Masum Ahmed, Anirban were bowled out for 136.
In Division One, Stepney Royals recovered from 36-5 thanks to Iqbal Choudrey’s late smashing 40 as they were bowled out for 117 by Kahsmir Rangers, who wobbled for a short time before reaching their target thanks to the ever reliable Asad Mujtaba, who carried his bat for 40.
Rigs powered past Wolverines in Division Four thanks to a fine all-round display from John Connolly.
The pace bowler claimed 2-26 as Wolverines struggled to get going and posted 120-6 with Jake Waring top scoring on an ever defiant 29.
Connolly followed up his bowling with a 20-ball 52 as Rigs powered to victory in just 10.1 overs.
On Wednesday, Wanstead claimed their first win of the season in the Gina Bogan Women’s League, defeating North London.
They bowled north London out for 69 in 16 overs, with Katie Davies top scoring, and despite losing skipper Noor Talib first ball and slipping to 21-2, Zaynah Rahman helped them home with a clinical unbeaten 43.
Camel Lights earned their first win of the season in Division Four against MUFG as Rana Ghosh led the way with 43 alongside a typically aggressive 29 from Marcus Weekes.
Late wickets halted a fine start from the Camels, MUFG eventually reducing them to 126-6.
But Kit Caless claimed 2-28 alongside 3-23 from Alex Patton as only captain and keeper Manikandan Perumalsamy (26) and Savio Dias (21) troubled the scorers in MUFG's 84 all out.
Royal Tigers earned an impressive win over previously unbeaten Mighty Tigers, who made 151-6 off their 16 overs.
Soiod Milon Huda Milon and Muzzammal Salman both smashed half-centuries as the Tigers rushed to victory in 11.5 overs.
On the final night of the week, Pacific defeated Bansko Bears in Division Two, after their rivals chose to bat and made just 93.
Pacific took some superb catches in the deep, Maroof Ebrahim claiming three, with a diving take from Kalim Lutha as Dave Rudd (21) top scored for Bansko.
Despite losing two early wickets in reply, Pacific reached their target in 10 overs as veteran stalwart Rizwan Siddiqui smashed a 22-ball 50.
Unbeaten London Eagles returned to the top of Division One after defeating Rose & Crown.
Half-centuries from Shawon Chowdhury and Mostafiz Rahman helped Eagles to 162-4 and the bowlers followed up, bowling Rose & Crown out for 104.
Tuhid Islam, Apu Chanda and Hossain Mahmud claimed two wickets each with Sam Mac finishing unbeaten on 36 for the Roses.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here