Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI v Shenley Village IV on Sat 29 May 2021 at 12.00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 2 wickets

Match report The first sunny game of league cricket for 2021 saw the 4th XI playing Shenley Village at Sandpit Lane. Ridiculous as it seems being nearly June it was also the only the 2nd league game for the 4's.With the toss being lost, the home side were asked to bat first on a lush and verdant wicket.

The opening pair of Hugo Thomas and Peter Melling saw out the first 7 overs without too many problems although with very little pace off the wicket the batsmen struggled with their timing. This led to the first wicket falling with Thomas (14) through his shot too early and gifting an easy catch to midwicket, 23-1. Playing as a batsman following a return from injury Sammy Kumar came in at 3 and settled into a nice rhythm of taking easy singles. A change of bowling brought about an interesting 12 ball over first up from their gun player (more on that later) who was clearly a little rusty but eventually managed to find a length that started to ask questions. One such ball was the undoing of Melling, nicking one to the keeper and exiting for a patient 8, 52 –2.

With Sammy now starting to find the boundary and joined in middle by Najib Khan the run rate picked up and a stand of 48 was posted before Khan was bowled for 26, 100 - 3. Faizan Nisar joined Kumar and continued the tempo with some nicely struck boundaries until Nisar was caught for 15, 125 - 4. A tiring Kumar (37) tried to take advantage of some generous (very) slow bowling but failed to clear mid-on, 125 - 5.

With 10 overs to go the innings was in danger of petering out but Arif and Shadwick put on a rapid 30 run partnership and with George Newitt and debutant Miles Thompson playing tip and run St Albans scrambled to 174 off the allocated overs. Whist reasonably happy with the total there was feeling that this was a missed opportunity to capitalise on some pretty mediocre bowling.

Opening with Joey Curran and Prath Khatavkar Saints kept Shenley's response under the required rate for the opening 8 overs, 0 - 27. Both bowlers found a tidy length but neither were able to find a way through the batsmen's defences. A double change brought on Thompson and Nadeem Arif who instantly found some movement through the air and off the pitch - Arif's hooping inswingers proving particularly difficult to read and was unlucky not to get more than the solitary wicket, a 6 over spell returning 1 - 15. Thompson at the other end whilst more expensive had more success and came close to securing a hat-trick ending with figures of 3 - 34 off 6.

The flurry of wickets brought to the crease Shenley's gun player Tanoli - a stylish, hard hitting left hander who was able to clear the boundary with ease. Despite the best efforts of Newitt's leg spin (1 - 42 off 7) and Khan's medium pace (1 - 27 of 5), both on for the rested Arif and Thompson, the run rate was comfortably met and exceeded. With Tanoli seeming to be in a hurry to end the game, hitting 3 very large 6's, inexplicably went for one shot too many and was caught exiting on 71.

146 - 6 off 33 gave St Albans hope but as they say it’s the hope that kills you and despite the return of Curran and Khatavkar, each both snaring a wicket, the opposition saw out the chase in the 37th over 8 down.

A good all round performance with some excellent catches taken with St Albans ultimately regretting their failure to score more runs.


St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 11w 13b 7lb 
for 8 wickets
34
174		        
Hugo Thomas ct Raghaweer 14
Peter Melling ct Tanoli 8
Sammy Kumar ct Childs 37
Najib Khan b Gaglani 26
Faizan Nisar ct Davies 15
Prath Khatavkar ct Davies 2
Nadeem Arif Run out  15
Matt Shadwick ct Raghaweer 15
George Newitt Not Out  5
Miles Thompson Not Out  2
Joey Curran  

Shenley Village IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Raghanweer8.001226.001.50
Davies8.0040220.005.00
Tanoli8.0139139.004.88
Gaglani8.0025125.003.12
Ward2.001700.008.50
Childs6.0025125.004.17

Shenley Village IV Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
16w 1b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
19
177 (37.0 overs)		     
Collins lbw Arif 24
Manzi ct Thompson 13
J. Davies ct Thompson 0
Tanoli ct Newitt 71
Burr ct Thompson 5
Bhatatia ct Khan 17
Ward ct Khavatkhar 8
Childs Not Out  11
H. Davies b Khavatkhar 0
Ragwaneer Not Out  9
Bharat  

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joey Curran6.001300.002.17
Prath Khatavkar7.0022211.003.14
Miles Thompson6.002438.004.00
Nadeem Arif6.0015115.002.50
George Newitt7.0042142.006.00
Najib Khan5.0027127.005.40