Scorecard

Chipperfield Clarendon II v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 24 Jun 2023 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 177 runs

Match report In what is one of the more idyllic settings that the 3XI will have the pleasure of spending their Saturdays at this year, a still frame of our arrival at Chipperfield and Clarendon CC had one noticeable blemish. Amongst the scenery which included the esteemed Two Brewers Pub, the grand Church overlooking the outfield, family picnickers plotted on the green and a Saxophonist serenading our arrival with his smooth Jazz hum, there lay a bush of nettles aside the clubhouse. Crouched over this bush was a certain 3XI player vacating the contents of his stomach - clearly this man had not respected the Boot on Friday evening, and he had paid the price.

West, who had girlfriend duties the night before and thus was kept away from the Boot’s good luck duly lost his toss streak, and the opposition skipper chose to continue with the season long trend of winning the toss and bowling first at this ground - a confusing one when inspecting the wicket, as all looked to be as ‘bat first’ as can be in appearance.

The stacked batting line up of the 3XI was kicked off by Manny and Moksy, with the latter adding the desired impetus for all of 4 balls, with 2 boundaries soon followed by a reflex one handed grab from their keeper, after he gloved a poor ball down the leg side. Zach then middled his pad with his bat slam after failing to hit a slot ball properly (again), and Manny snicked off chasing a wide one, as they both followed Moksy to the hutch failing to add scores of note.
Rory, who had come equipped with his own fan club on the sidelines, was then joined by Nick with instructions to stop the rot in its tracks at 33-3.
Rory was clearly keen to impress his non-cricket friends, and later disclosed that they were likely unaware of the concept of dooring it and the only way he could look bad is if he got out. Rory Door mode was activated, and 21 dot balls later he began to score more freely once his eye was tuned sufficiently. At the other end, Nick had taken a similar approach but the pair had done a job and seen off the openers, with the change bowling offering more of the coveted bad balls for Rory to punish and prompt some ‘jolly good’s from the crowd gathering in his support.

With Nick then falling for 27, Lawrence joined Rory and he looked in good touch from the off. The ball now began to sail into the bushes on the far side of the ground regularly, one a strong biff for 6 from big Ror on his way to 61 before he snicked behind and went to lap up the plaudits from his groupies - what a day for the man.
This brought Murph to the crease, fresh from his match winning exploits in the 2XI that had earned him a recall to the 3XI. He too had brought some travelling support, and perhaps it was this added pressure, or Boot misconduct the night before that lead to what came next.
With Uni mates, parents and teammates watching on a half tracker was drilled to point and held. Whilst not ideal for the team, even Skipper West couldn’t hide his slight amusement, as the ever capable Church took his place. Perhaps another confidence building week in the 2s is in order before Murph is ready to rejoin this promotion charge?

In the presence of Holy ground, Church was clearly inspired and proceeded to put on a display of lovely straight hitting, with a couple of AA shot of the day contenders. Soon after, 200 was surpassed and Lawrence reached 50, a great knock from the keeper batsman that could have been larger had he not sacrificed himself with poor shot selection the very next ball - although entertaining it would have been, a Root inspired scoop off middle stump is perhaps not optimal, although James was keen to say otherwise.
Church then departed in the next over and VC duo O’Toole & Winfield put on a big 9th wicket stand of 70+, including numerous wides from the bowlers and many a walked 2. 277 posted, the largest total on this ground this season by some margin.

Buoyed by this mammoth total, the Saints had a spring in their step and were keen to end proceedings quickly. Church settled in after a few early wides, and was testing the edges of the Chipperfield batters as the ball sailed twice to the 3rd man boundary early on - past the 4 man cordon and gully.
Winfield was the first to strike, after he too chucked down a few customary wides, eventually snicking one through to James with the gloves 9 balls in to his opening over. Church kept the mood alive in the next, with James again doing the work behind the stumps.
A few chances then went begging in the cordon, Tooley palming one down in front of Murph off of Church the standout, but one stuck eventually with ROT taking the chance to leave Chipperfield reeling at 22-3. With Saints on a roll, Winfield kept adding to his tally claiming another bowled. The maiden 4-for was now on for all to see, and it was just a case of when…
With the ball then looping up into the air at point, Moksy stood underneath. Winfield held his breath, the cordon patiently waited to mob their beloved bowler, and all present in the surrounding area seemed to pause in appreciation of this moment. The sight of the ball then hitting the floor without a hand barely grazing it was followed by a period of profound prolonged silence, the like of which many in this team have surely never experienced. Two balls later and the very same batsman sent the ball into the nettles, leading to a long period of reflection in which Winfield’s mental state was surely tested. Nonetheless, the Saints ploughed on and West soon replaced Church at the other end, with Walker taking over from Winners.
West fired in 2 successful Yorkers before drinks to leave the opposition 89-6 at the interval. After pondering another over after his squash, he recalled the fear struck into his heart by Macca’s first and final warning for a head high full toss to a lidless batsman. Suitably scared off, he made way for Murph whilst Walks continued at his end and was promptly relieved of his duties after taking 2 wickets in one over, with Winfield granted the opportunity to claim his deserved 4th victim.

With the stage set, and two bunnies at the crease Winfield seemed to have his moment all but sealed as the ball yet again looped up to a Saints fielder. This time it was Rory underneath, and all in the Saints team would be lying if they said they didn’t start celebrating before the catch was taken. Amazingly, down it went again and for a moment West was unsure if it was safe to have Winfield on the field of play given the look in his eye. Rory appearing to be physically ill with guilt, looked lost. All the while, Tooley stood in the cordon laughing quietly to himself.
The next ball, all was forgiven as Winfield realised he couldn’t trust anyone but himself to see him over the line and bowled one round the batters legs. Refusing to celebrate, he trudged to get his lid for short leg duties and a front row seat to watch Murph steal his chance of a 5 wicket haul in the next over. Chipperfield swept aside, all out for 100.

Another great performance, this time with the bat especially as we posted a 250+ score for the first time this year. With the win streak continuing, and Bentley Heath faltering yet again we sit atop 8A for the first time this year, and look to cement our place there with a win over them next week.


St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 27w 4b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
37
277		        
Nauman Nisar ct J Yogaretham b S Mahmood 14 17 1 82.35
Moksudul Islam ct J Yogaretham b N Aftab 8 4 2 200
Zach West ct Unsure b S Mahmood 3 9 33.33
Rory Law ct J Yogaretham b S Mahmood 61 76 8 1 80.26
Nick Ralfe ct J Yogaretham b A Patel 27 47 4 57.45
James Lawrence b S Mahmood 50 35 6 142.86 2
Adam Murphy ct Unsure b S Mahmood 0 1 0 1
James Church b S Mahmood 22 11 3 1 200
Richard O'Toole Not Out  24 20 2 120.0 1
Jacob Winfield Not Out  31 24 3 129.17
Andrew Walker  

Chipperfield Clarendon II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ajmel Ahmed3.002500.008.33

Chipperfield Clarendon II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 8w 1b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
17
100 (24.1 overs)		     
Alex Moore b Z West 25
James Ross ct J Lawrence b J Winfield 0
Ajmel Ahmed ct J Lawrence b J Church 1
Iain McNicol b J Winfield 0
Naveed Aftab ct R O'Toole b J Winfield 4
Jenagan Yogaretham ct A Murphy b A Walker 47
Anup Patel b Z West 0
Haseeb Ahmed b J Winfield 5
Sajid Mahmood b A Walker 0
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Church6.0118118.003.00
Jacob Winfield7.012847.004.00
Zach West4.0022211.005.50
Andrew Walker5.0024212.004.80
Adam Murphy2.10313.001.38

  • Umpire :
    Macca
  • Scorer :
    Team