Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI old v Wembley CC on Thu 23 Jul 2015 at 2pm
Match was Tied

Match report An eventful midweek afternoon's cricket at Clarence Park was cloaked in no little controversy as a St Albans 5X1 tied with Wembley CC.

Starting the day with only 10 men St Albans batted first and things didn't get off to a great start as the top order collapsed almost immediately , all victims of fairly gentle off spin on a low bouncing wicket. Murray, Ahmed and Rajani all departed with single figures to their name as the prospect of an early tea loomed.

Into the middle came Eammo and Aleem Iqbal though, who set about the opposition's bowling with relish, racking up the runs and restoring order to proceedings. A partnership of 100+ swung the momentum back to St Albans with both players demonstrating their full repertoire of shots . Iqbal was eventually stumped for a splendid 60 while Eammo, struggling with terrible calf cramp , needed a runner for the latter part of his masterful 79 before succumbing to a straight one .

Credit too to youngsters George Thomas (13 no) and Harry Knill-Jones (20 no) who saw out the remaining overs with style and saw us to a competitive total of 191-6 off the allotted 40 overs.

Perhaps the slowest innings known to man - 2 hours and 45 minutes to bowl 40 overs - had come to a close.

St Albans entered the field a man short and a man down with Eammo confined to slip duties -no bad thing as it happened as he took 3 corking catches there.

Alfie Tinkler and Amit Rajani kept it tight in the early part of the innings, with good line and length preventing either of the opposition openers getting momentum. Rajani soon ripped through the top 3 with less than 20 on the board and things were looking comfortable.

Enter their number 4 batsmen. A big lad with a big bat. he found it hard going initially ,particularly against Rajani , whose nagging length and late swing pegged him down.

And then the turning point of the match. A big nick off Rajani's bowling caught behind by the always excellent James Thompson standing up to the stumps. The St Albans players going up as one to celebrate but the geriatric umpire , brought along by the opposition, remaining motionless. Not out.

It was a massive edge . The batsman smirked , shrugged his shoulders and didn't walk. In a league game , in a top division on a Saturday ? Maybe . Unsporting but maybe. In a friendly game on a Thursday afternoon ? Shocking, unforgivable. There is no place for that nonsense in the game in this writers humble opinion.

Of course the batsman went on to get 129. His confidence growing by the over, fuelled by the knowledge that he'd been given an extra life.

Ahmed and Murray stuck to their bowling tasks well but by now the big number 4 was into his stride, caning the ball to all parts and what had looked like an easily defendable total was being eaten away by his belligerent batting.

Having a shortage of fielders didn't help and although the bowling was honest it wasn't too hard a task for the batsman to find the gaps , particularly on a short, leg side boundary.

Harry Knill-Jones and Andy Saunders took the final overs - a thankless task on a flat pitch against a batsman who was seeing it like a beachball. Knill-Jones did very well to keep a lid on things and with 17 required to win off the last over Saunders stepped up to bowl. Walking down the pitch the batsman missed the first ball , hit the next two for 4, scored two off each of the next two and a four off the last ball to record 16 off the over.

A tie.

It felt like a loss.

The contribution of all was excellent with particular thanks to Molly who helped splendidly at fine leg throughout the game and to 12 year old George Thomas for whom this game was his longest to date (it was for many of us to be fair!), and who stuck to the task valiantly contributing well with the bat and in the field.

But after a game that was generally played in good spirit it's a real shame that a bitter taste was left in the mouth by a batsmen who should have walked and didn't.





St Albans Cricket Club 5XI old Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
6w 4b  
for 6 wickets
10
191		        
Stuart Murray Bowled  4
Naveed Ahmed Bowled  5
Amit Rajani Caught  0
Michael Eames Bowled  79
Aleem Iqbal Stumped  60
Andy Saunders Stumped  0
A.N. Other Not Out  13
Harry Knill-Jones Not Out  20
Alfred (Alfie) Tinkler  
James Thompson  
A.N. Other  

Wembley CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
White8.0143221.505.37
Hopkinson8.0134134.004.25
Dugdale8.0335217.504.38
Shah8.0240140.005.00
Meyers4.003000.007.50
Whatley4.03500.001.25

Wembley CC Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 4b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
12
191 (40.0 overs)		     
Patel Caught  3
Plum Caught  12
Ahmed Bowled  1
Butt Not Out  129
Patel Caught  5
Furness Caught  10
Dugdale Stumped  15
Whatley Stumped  1
Hopkinson Not Out  3
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI old Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alfred (Alfie) Tinkler8.011800.002.25
Amit Rajani8.04933.001.13
Naveed Ahmed8.015500.006.87
Stuart Murray8.0136312.004.50
Harry Knill-Jones4.002600.006.50
Andy Saunders4.0041141.0010.25

  • Umpire :
    Barry ?
  • Scorer :