Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket club captain Joe Ellis-Grewal spoke of his pride after the team secured a memorable five wicket victory over MCC at Lords last week.

The club were handed the fixture after being crowned National Club Champions back in September after beating Ormskirk by 12 runs and proved just why they are the best club side in the country by securing a comfortable five wicket victory with two overs to spare.

In the end, Wanstead chased down the 300 scored by MCC with ease and captain Ellis-Grewal was delighted with his team’s performance, against a side which contained a handful of former professionals.

Ellis-Grewal said: “It was an absolutely brilliant performance. It was the first game of the season and we were a little bit under strength against a very strong MCC side with a few ex-professionals in there and they are a really good team.

“To chase down 300 in any game is a brilliant achievement and to do it at Lords against the MCC, was just even better. It was a brilliant day and I’m really proud of the lads.”

There were a number of impressive individual performances on the day from Wanstead, with Hassan Chowdhury and 16-year-old Robin Das getting the team off to a strong start, as they struck up a 103 run partnership.

Then with the team at 180-4, Ellis-Grewal and Tom Cummins entered the crease, notching 93 runs between them to put Wanstead in a commanding position.

The win was then sealed thanks to a late cameo from Jonathan Das, who hit 18 from five balls to secure a five wicket victory, and Ellis-Grewal was full of praise for his players, particularly Chowdhury and Das.

He said: “The score run was tough at times and the way Hassan batted, he really is a top player. He’s experienced now and leads from the front when he’s batting for us. Everyone must have been thinking ‘who is this little kid going out to bat’ when Robin Das went out, but off the first ball he goes and crashes one into the covers. That partnership was fantastic.

“We then lost a couple of wickets but the way me and Tom batted just showed what a strong team we are. To go in at 180-4 and to effectively kill the game off with another 100 partnership was just brilliant and a very promising start to the season for us.”