North Enfield Cricket Club’s Friendly XI put in a solid all-round performance against Cockfosters on Sunday to claim a 31 run victory.
David Malleson claimed 5 - 30 as North Enfield restricted the hosts to 159 - 9 from their 35 overs, after Chris Gillman’s fine 129* had earlier seen them post 187 - 2.
Despite Gillman affecting an early run out, Cockfosters were going well in their pursuit of 188 and reached 85 - 1, before Malleson and Tom Coughlan (2 - 20) turned the game back towards North Enfield.
Malleson started the visitors’ comeback by claiming two wickets in the same over, before then repeating the feat after Coughlan had cleaned up Cockfosters’ number five.
The result of the match then looked to be a forgone conclusion, when Malleson capped an outstanding spell of bowling with his fifth wicket from his final delivery and Coughlan took his second via a routine caught and bowled.
Having slipped from 85 - 1 to 122 - 8, Cockfosters were unable to put any real pressure on North Enfield at the backend of their innings, but managed to bat through their 35 overs, despite Otis Halley claiming his side’s ninth wicket.
Gillman had earlier lit up a rather overcast day with a beautifully paced innings that propelled North Enfield to a total that ultimately proved to be well over par.
After a controlled start, he burst into life after passing 50 and found the boundary with increasing ease.
The fall of fellow opener William Munt (31) to end a 92 run first wicket partnership seemed to spur Gillman on to cause further carnage, as he struck three of his four sixes consecutively and went on to reach a 14th century for the club.
Alongside Garry Orton (18*), he then ensured that North Enfield finished with a flourish, finding the fence on several more occasions to finish on 129* from just 115 deliveries.
Having been put into bat, North Enfield’s 187 - 2 seemed a great effort at the time and proved to be all the more so, as they then bowled themselves to a 31 run victory.
Elsewhere, both the club’s league sides saw their Saturday encounters cancelled, following heavy rainfall over the early part of the weekend.
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