Scorecard

Little Berkhamsted Sahibs v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 10 Jun 2023 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 28 runs

Match report Looking to go 4 for 4 and continue the promotion charge, the 3XI faced a trip to Little Berkhamsted Sahibs, who actually reside in Hertford. Unfortunately, umpire/enforcer Macca was unaware of this fact and found himself at Berkhamsted CC, eventually turning up to the correct ground in the 13th over, but not joining the action before having a spot of lunch on the sidelines.
Prior to his arrival, St Albans had been buoyed by a successful warm up with Manny in especially good form on the catching front, and the entertainment of the Sahibs team wrestling with their own boundary rope - leading to Murph and Wilton making a u-turn on their claim that having one at CP would be ideal.
West tossed well, and elected to bat on a pitch that looked reasonable, combined with the very short straight boundaries which filled him with optimism for his check driving tendencies.
Unfortunately, winning the toss and a selection plea to a certain member of the 3s side on the day was all that West would be able to offer for the remainder of the day. He was the first to depart, a 5 ball duck coming via a feathered snick through to the keeper.

After his strop, West was out in the middle umpiring as Manny chipped one to midwicket after looking to punish a short ball promoting Tooley to vacate his post in just 6 overs. Lawrence was now joined by Wilton, who fresh from flogging dodgy rental car insurance found himself in the middle attempting to halt a St Albans collapse in its tracks with the score at 14-2.
James wasn’t able to stick with Tom long, getting through a drive too early that was apparently meant to go on the floor. Instead, it ended up 30 feet in the air plopping into covers breadbasket. Quite the miscalculation.

One portion of the Boot attending crew of Friday evening had failed to deliver, and 2 more of them were now at the crease together - with Murph joining Wilton. West, standing at square leg, was not exactly brimming with confidence, but he had faith in the pairs ability.

What followed was a display of remarkable application from Tom and his chubby mate, Adam. Together they put on 138 quality runs, with great shots from both, but mostly Tom. Both passed 50, Tom bringing his up with a 6 out of the ground prompting a new ball being required. Murph dealing with the brunt of the “good balls” (in his opinion), a more measured single to bring up his own landmark.
Not long after, Murph departed to a full toss and Richard had a brief stay with Tom until holing out to long off and bringing SACC Masuri whites model Hicksy to the crease with him, who at this point had was poised on 85*.
A tucked single off his legs to bring up his maiden SACC ton was celebrated wildly on the sidelines, a truly great moment for all present and a really important innings in the context of the game. By the time he was done having fun, he’d contributed 122, including a few dismissive sixes after reaching three figures. Winners also chipped in in that regard late on, with a good moose over cow for a maximum as we closed on 238.

A splendid tea of Fajitas and an array of sandwiches was enjoyed by all, and the fielding effort was got underway by Chaz, making his first appearance of the season.
A few good overs were peppered with the experimental delivery that went the distance, but in comparison to his opening partner Winners at the other end, he kept it very tight and was a little unlucky not to take an early breakthrough.
Winners’ first over consisted of no less than 18 deliveries, with Sam Davey making a good point that this must have been stressful for the scorers. However, after said over things did improve and there was a big shout for a nick behind waived away much to Lawrence’s dismay. Wicketless Winners was replaced by Hicks, with Finlay having taken over at the top end and finding his rhythm. Murph goading their hard hitting opener into playing a big shot backfired for us and Finlay, as the next ball was sent straight over the wall for 6.
With the older replacement ball, Finlay found a good length and bowled well. Tom dropping a sharp chance at gully denied him a wicket but nonetheless, it was a good spell from the 3s debutant.

With drinks at 15, the opposition were 76-0. Albeit behind the rate slightly, the wickets in hand were the main cause for concern.
As so commonly happens however, drinks was followed by a wicket, as their more dangerous opener slapped one to Winfield at cover and Hicks had made the breakthrough we needed.
O’Toole got into his work at the other end, replacing Finlay and runs started to slow for the Sahibs. With the rate climbing, a big shot followed and Chaz made an excellent grab at long on, again off the bowling of Hicks.
A few overs later, Tooley had his first, snicking one through to the gloves of Lawrence and the Saints had the momentum with them, but the game was by no means over with skipper West doing his best to keep the Sahibs in the game with his frankly awful fielding effort, conceding no less than 12 runs on his own.
However, one man who had a day to remember in the field was Chaz. After one ball from Tooley was smashed 10 feet away from him at deep square without him noticing, the very next ball was lofted out to him and an incredible grab diving forward was taken. The very next ball, the Saints had another with Tooley squeezing in a Yorker to the new man.
The score was now 151-5 and the Sahibs needed to go at above 10s to win. Sam Davey bowled an excellent spell at the death to restrict the batters to singles, and Chaz reintroduced at the other end did the same while also claiming a wicket to put the game further out of the oppositions reach. With the game all but over, Sam took the ball in the last over and got the just rewards for his efforts with a sensational hattrick. Finlay taking a good catch for the first, and Sam doing all the work for the following two.

We ran out the game 28 run winners, and continued our 100% record. A day that belongs to Tom Wilton for his excellent maiden Ton, and with special mention to the good displays turned out by Finlay, Sam and Chaz making their first appearance for the 3s this year. Sam’s hattrick a great ending to a good game of cricket.
The 3s are back at home next week against Datchworth, hoping to silence the mouthy Datchworth pair encountered in Hertford’s Jungle Bar in the early hours of Sunday morning.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 9w 7b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
20
238		        
Nauman Nisar ct Unsure b Unsure 7 9 1 77.78
Zach West ct Unsure b Unsure 0 5 0
James Lawrence ct Unsure b Unsure 6 16 1 37.50 1
Tom Wilton ct Unsure b Unsure 122 106 14 3 115.09
Adam Murphy ct Unsure b Unsure 54 74 7 72.97
Richard O'Toole ct Unsure b Unsure 3 4 75.00
Ben Hicks ct Unsure b Unsure 7 12 1 58.33
Jacob Winfield ct Unsure b Unsure 15 8 1 1 187.50 1
Sam Davey Not Out  3 6 50.0 1
Finlay Killner Not Out  1 2 50.0 1
Charles Smith   2
Ian McKinlay  

Little Berkhamsted Sahibs Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Syed7.0057319.008.14

Little Berkhamsted Sahibs Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 16w 1b  
for 9 wickets
18
210 (40.0 overs)		     
A Marso ct S Davey b S Davey 0
C Fisher b C Smith 12
H M Faisal ct C Smith b R O’Toole 16
J Tracey ct F Killner b S Davey 8
J Syed ct J Lawrence b R O’Toole 32
K Shahzad b S Davey 0
M Green ct C Smith b B Hicks 36
M Barrell Not Out  41
P Trishan FERNANDO ct J Winfield b B Hicks 39
R Tait b R O’Toole 0 1 0
S Bhattacharjee Not Out  2
   

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Richard O'Toole7.0032310.674.57
Charles Smith7.0136136.005.14
Ben Hicks8.0038219.004.75
Jacob Winfield6.003000.005.00
Finlay Killner6.003000.005.00
Sam Davey6.0038312.676.33

  • Umpire :
    Macca
  • Scorer :
    Team