Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Chipperfield Clarendon II on Sat 19 Jun 2021 at 12:00 midday
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 1 wicket

Match report On a damp, grey afternoon at Verulam School Sports Fields, the Threes played out a thriller with Chipperfield Clarendon.

The final over of the day arrived with the visitors requiring five runs, with the last pair at the crease, as rain strengthened. The opposing skippers faced off, Walker with the ball and Gurney with the bat. Having played and missed first ball, Gurney then stepped across to off and smashed one to the short leg side bounday to tie the scores. Not quite out of the game, two dot balls followed for Saints, before the fifth flew off the seam, beating the batsman, rising over the stumps and skipping past the keeper to run away for a bye and a hard fought victory to Chipperfield Clarendon.

Looking back, it is difficult to understand quite how it had come to this.

The day had begun with concerns about the state of the wicket after recent heavy rains. Fortunately the good efforts of groundsmen Craig and Luke - who had the roller on the wicket to flatten it out - meant those concerns were quickly allayed. The visitors, who had brought with them panel umpire Tim Caldicott, won the toss and unsurprisingly asked Saints to bat.

Sargen and Nisar got the hosts off to a comfortable start, before the former perished. Hussain sparkled briefly before he, too, fell in double figures. Nisar and Malik joined forces with the score on 53/3, and after a few disagreements in the running between wickets, lifted the rate and doubled the score before Nisar fell, just shy of another half century for the club. Malik had by this time found his feet, and when the loose ball arrived, it was hit powerfully and often to the boundary. Malik finished on 71, stumped as he continued to attack. Kumar played some fine shots in a brief cameo, but the tail rather failed to add much value.

Still, 171 was on the board, surpassing the target set at drinks, and with a good bowling lineup available, surely this would be enough.

After Broxton's early wicket, the experienced pair of Cousins and McNicol put together a half century partnership - left hander Cousins really struggling with Broxton's pace and the occasional short ball. Kumar, on the way back from injury, eventually sent Cousins back. However it was that man Malik (4/30) who turned the game in Saints' favour, swinging the ball both ways for wickets, and forcing Ahmed to retire hurt first ball with a painful injury. At seven wickets down with an injured man not expected to bat, and still 60 to get, the game was there for the taking. Instead credit goes to Woollet and Navid who took the game to Saints with some aggressive running and positive hitting. Late wickets to Winfield and Broxton left the last pair with 12 to get in the last three overs, the injured Ahmed having returned to the crease, before the scramble home in the 45th over.

Losing to an opposition team that, frankly, seemed less talented than Saints' lineup hurt. There wasn't a whole lot that was wrong here, but just not quite enough right against a team that fought hard. Every one of Saints' XI will see an opportunity to improve something in their game for the next fixture after this cracking game of League cricket.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 2w 1b  
for 10 wickets
5
171		        
Nauman Nisar lbw b Yoga 47 2
Alisdair Sargen ct Eastaugh b Javid 14
Humayune Hussain ct McK b Javid 12
Stuart Murray ct Moore b Kharias 3 1
Saqib Malik st Eastaugh b McNicol 71 7 2
Nick Ralfe ct Eastaugh b Gurney 2
Sammy Kumar ct Mahmood b McNicol 15 3 1
Thomas Rayden b Gurney 1
Thomas Broxton ct Moore b McNicol 2
Andrew Walker b Gurney 3 1
Tim Winfield Not Out  1

Chipperfield Clarendon II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Javid9.0021210.502.33
Kharias9.0038138.004.22
Cousins6.001700.002.83
Yoga9.0032132.003.56
Gurney8.3045315.005.29
McNicol3.001836.006.00

Chipperfield Clarendon II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 7b 4lb 
for 9 wickets
17
172 (44.5 overs)		     
Mahmood b Broxton 0
Cousins ct Murray b Kumar 33 5
McNicol ct Kumar b Malik 35 6
Moore lbw b Malik 0
Ahmed Not Out  6 1
Woolett b Broxton 48 4
Yoga lbw b Malik 0
Eastaugh b Malik 3
Gurney Not Out  7 1
Javid ct - b Winfield 22 4
Kharias ct & b Walker 2

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Thomas Broxton9.0135217.503.89
Tim Winfield9.0325125.002.78
Sammy Kumar9.0325125.002.78
Saqib Malik9.023047.503.33
Nick Ralfe4.002400.006.00
Andrew Walker4.5022122.004.55
 
Photos and video of St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Chipperfield Clarendon II on Sat 19 Jun 2021 at 12:00 midday

2021-06-19_St_Albans_III_v_Chipperfield_Clarendon_II.innings_1

2021-06-19 St Albans III v Chipperfield Clarendon II Innings of St Albans

2021-06-19_St_Albans_III_v_Chipperfield_Clarendon_II.innings_2

2021-06-19 St Albans III v Chipperfield Clarendon II Innings of St Albans