Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Aylesbury Town II on Sat 29 Aug 2020 at 1pm
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 2 wickets

Match report The “new-normal” struck again in 2020, as the III’s scheduled opponents for this August Saturday, Chipperfield Clarendon, cried off from the fixture, citing unavailability due to COVID “and other issues”. This season League rules are such that this circumstance is recorded as a cancellation rather than a concession; the League table suggested that twenty points went begging courtesy of this rule. The skipper was disappointed.

Nevertheless, a replacement friendly fixture was swiftly organised, with thanks to Hugo Thomas, and so the IIIs found themselves pitted against the unknown quantity of Aylesbury Town II, visiting from the Bucks League.

After a wet week and with a chill in the air more befitting of early May than late August, the skipper was scalded for losing the toss, so consigning his team to the cold of batting first. Surely it would warm up?

Sargen lasted all of one delivery, bamboozled by the first ball of the match, not the best way to begin. Neither Tarrant nor Parkinson could do much better, and Saints were 3/14 after 9 overs. Lawrence and Mistry looked more comfortable, the former latching onto a short ball to clear the long boundary on the pavilion side, however Lawrence (18) and then Davey fell in quick succession. The visitors were boisterous, and a recalibrated target score of 140 looked a long way off.

Mistry was astutely mixing defence with attack, and aided by Button’s cover drives, took the score to three figures. Walker thumped consecutive sixes in his 17 to add a bit of momentum, however the innings belonged to Mistry’s even half century, an excellent knock made in very challenging circumstances. The onlooking players from the firsts and seconds - their games both abandoned due to the weather - must have been impressed.

Saints had finished on 133, a little short of the goal, but something for the bowlers to work with. The weather had not improved, and there was a reluctance to resume after the tea break. A football had made its way onto the outfield and the participants kicking it around looked more willing to play football than cricket.

But under heavy skies, resume we did. As usual, Winfield (2/8) made early inroads while Brown began his first spell for the club tidily and nabbed a good wicket to edge Saints ahead on the day. The introduction of Davey pushed the Threes further into the ascendency with a wicket in his first over as he bowled with decent pace and good control. At the other end, McNab somehow maintained his own consistency despite employing the challenging art of legspin - close to impossible with a wet ball - and tied the batsmen down for a six over spell of 1/7.

When Davey (3/22) added a brace of wickets in his fifth over, Saints looked to have conquered both the opposition and the weather with the score at 8/61.

The rain had truly set in by now and the wind left everyone cold and eager to finish things off quickly. A very wet approach at the bottom end made bowling difficult and number nine batsman Rohan took advantage of both the bowler’s runup challenges and the short boundary. Sensing an unlikely chance of victory he continued to swing hard, riding his luck at times, with three chances put down (two by an embarrassed skipper) off the unfortunate Tarrant.

A little more luck might have seen Saints to victory, however Rohan’s impressive 69 not out - utterly dominating his team’s tally - proved the difference in an evenly matched contest, played out in testing conditions, by 22 willing participants, as Aylesbury Town won by two wickets.

There will be better days to play cricket, and better results, however the skipper could not help but be impressed by the willingness of his team: good work.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 7w 5b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
15
133		        
Alisdair Sargen b Hunt 0
Zachary Tarrant lbw b Parke, J 1
Charlie Parkinson b Hunt 7 1 1
James Lawrence ct - b Parke, R 18 1 1 1
Sam Mistry ct - b Hunt 50 5 1
Sam Davey b Parke 0
Alfie Button b Raj 18 1
Andrew Walker b Raj 17 2
Tim Winfield Not Out  2
Matt Brown lbw b Thamgarah 0
Fin McNab lbw b Thamgarah 2

Aylesbury Town II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
P. Hunt8.031234.001.50
J. Parke5.0018118.003.60
Dillie4.011300.003.25
R. Parke6.0021210.503.50
Raj4.001600.004.00
Pappa6.02919.001.50
Delb5.003200.006.40
Thamgarah1.40321.501.80

Aylesbury Town II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 2b  
for 8 wickets
7
136 (33.3 overs)		     
Justin K b Winfield 0
Seleskan b Winfield 9 1
Dileep b Davey 14 3
Joseph lbw b Brown 7 1
Justin T run out Parkinson/Lawrence 6 1
Vijay b Davey 10
James b McNab 2
Rani b Davey 0
Rohan Not Out  69 5 5
Jacob Not Out  10 1
Peter  

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tim Winfield6.02824.001.33
Matt Brown5.0028128.005.60
Fin McNab6.01717.001.17
Sam Davey6.002237.333.67
Zachary Tarrant5.003600.007.20
Alfie Button3.002500.008.33
Andrew Walker2.301300.005.20
 
Photos and video of St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Aylesbury Town II on Sat 29 Aug 2020 at 1pm

2020-08-29_St_Albans_III_v_Aylesbury_Town_II_(innings 1)

2020-08-29 St Albans III v Aylesbury Town II Innings of St Albans

2020-08-29_St_Albans_III_v_Aylesbury_Town_II_(innings 2)

2020-08-29 St Albans III v Aylesbury Town II Innings of Aylesbury Town