Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v 3s/4s Intraclub XI on Sat 11 Jul 2020 at 1pm
St Albans Cricket Club Lost (but who cares)

Match report July 11th, and at long last, cricket.

In this strangest of seasons, St Albans Cricket Club finally returned to the playing field, as two intra-club friendlies were organised to begin the season.

Before beginning we were reminded of the all important mitigation rules, the very reason why recreational cricket has been allowed to return. With new rules, and cricket skills left idle for 10 months, one might have expected some trepidation as the game began - but, no, there was a universally positive feeling.

Walker had won the toss and sent Rajani's XI in to bat. Batsmen Manny and Harvey quickly remembered how to use their bats, as the bowling threw up an early season assortment, entirely forgivable. Church took the honour of the season's opening wicket, as Manny edged to first slip. Pelham's athletic fielding ran out Parkinson before he could get going, and O'Grady's direct hit found Tarrant short of his ground. Harvey made his way to 31 before Umar's magic ball cleaned him up. Bowler rotation seemed to be the order of the day - this was a friendly after all - allowing Melling to take a brace of wickets, Sargen to nab a wicket (necessitating photographic evidence), and O'Grady to finish with a double wicket maiden. Throughout much of this, Siva had struck powerfully, but fell for 29, victim to a remarkable catch by Pelham. In another year, this would have been acknowledged with unanimous high fives, but not today.

114 was on the board, and Najib's first ball six suggested that the run chase would be a bit of a cakewalk. However Rajani, bowling up the hill, quickly dropped onto an immaculate line and length, at first containing, and then dismissing, the openers. Mukhtar and Sargen were left with the task of rebuilding, but a succession of bowlers - Winfield, Scott, Tarrant - made run scoring hard work. Walker's XI fell behind the required rate, and, try as they might, couldn't find the boundaries that they needed. Church and Webber looked solid, but the game concluded with Rajani's team running out comfortable victors.

By the time of the game's conclusion, a number of interested spectators had arrived, also basking in the glow of live sport. Among them was club president, Peter Mardle, who felt particularly pleased, having campaigned for the resumption of the recreational game. A word of the thanks, too, to Barry, offering his services as umpire, and for the efforts of our groundsman Craig, whose diligence has lead to a much improved Sandpit Lane pitch.

Really, on this day, everyone was a winner, with cricket's return. It was gratifying to see every player's willingness to adapt to the new normal, shake off a few cobwebs and play some cricket.

League cricket's start, recently confirmed for 18th July, means that there is the promise of more to come. In the depths of lockdown, that was difficult to imagine, but now - bring it on.

3s/4s Intraclub XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
13w  
for 10 wickets
13
114 (19.1 overs)		     
Manny Nisar ct  Melling b Church 12 1
Harvey Scott b  Umar 31 6
Charlie Parkinson run out  Pelham 2
Zach Tarrant run out  O'Grady 9 1
James Lawrence b  Melling 1
Siva Battula ct  Pelham b Walker 29 2 1
Peter Melling ct  - b Sargen 2
Toby Crisp b  O'Grady 9
Amit Rajani ct  Pelham b Walker 3
Tim Winfield b  O'Grady 0
Saud Fattah Not Out  0

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Amy Price2.001500.007.50
Glenn O'Grady3.01824.002.67
George Pelham2.001600.008.00
Umar Mukhtar2.001700.008.50
James Church3.0023123.007.67
Andrew Melling2.00723.503.50
Sam Mistry2.001700.008.50
Alisdair Sargen2.00818.004.00
Andrew Walker1.10321.502.57

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 2b  
for 4 wickets
9
86		        
Najib Khan b  Rajani 9 1
Sam Mistry b  Rajani 6 1
Alisdair Sargen ct  Parkinson b Tarrant 17 2
Umar Mukhtar b  Parkinson 15 2
James Church Not Out  7
John Webber Not Out  12 1
Amy Price  
George Pelham  
Glenn O'Grady  
Andrew Melling  
Andrew Walker  

3s/4s Intraclub XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Saud Fattah2.001800.009.00
Amit Rajani3.02221.000.67
Tim Winfield3.001500.005.00
Harvey Scott3.001000.003.33
Zach Tarrant4.001500.003.75
Charlie Parkinson3.001600.005.33
Siva Battula2.00500.002.50
 
Photos and video of St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v 3s/4s Intraclub XI on Sat 11 Jul 2020 at 1pm

2020-07-11_St_Albans_3s_intraclub_v_St_Albans_4s_intraclub_(innings 1)

2020-07-11 St Albans 3s intraclub v St Albans 4s intraclub Rajani XI scorecard

2020-07-11_St_Albans_3s_intraclub_v_St_Albans_4s_intraclub_(innings 2).jpg

2020-07-11 St Albans 3s intraclub v St Albans 4s intraclub Walker XI scorecard