Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Old Cholmeleians II on Sat 31 Jul 2021 at 12:00 midday
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 3 wickets

Match report On the last Saturday in July, the threes endured a third successive defeat, this time at the hands of Old Cholmeleians, despite the best efforts of Saqib Malik.

The forecast offered only ominous threats as the skippers tossed. Needless to say, Walker lost the toss, and so Saints were sent in. Both XIs were strikingly different from those which met in their first fixture of 2021, a battle that St Albans Threes won resoundingly.

Disaster struck early, with both openers out in the second over. It was clear that Old Cholms were a different proposition this time. Two further wickets fell to leave Saints at 4/31 in the 16th over. This brought in Tarrant, who joined a determined looking Malik. This pair proceeded to compile a half century partnership to restore some pride, with Malik dominating - Tarrant’s contribution just 3, but not to be disregarded.

A cluster of wickets fell with the score in the 90s, Malik continuing to be almost the sole contributor, as he struck hard when the loose deliveries arrived. In attempting to farm the strike one more time, McNab was run out turning for a second, with Saints’ total on 142. Malik had offered 83 not out; the remaining ten batsmen just 29 runs between them. This was the season’s best knock from a threes batter.

Rain had intervened a few times, with a heavy shower threatening to bring the game to an early, and unsatisfactory, close. However the captains agreed to continue, without loss of overs.

Killner, making his debut in the 3s, took an early wicket, the ball flying through to keeper Rayden for the first of two good catches. Malik, inspired on the day, nabbed a wicket, before he had to dash off to deal with a family matter.

Tse, who had earlier bowled well, was now batting positively for Old Cholms. With a slippery ball and wet approaches to the wicket, the Saints bowlers had their work cut out. Still, when Mistry was called to the crease and took a wicket in his first over, St Albans had a lifeline. Indeed three wickets fell with the score on 81 - the third of these perhaps more a consequence of some distracting banter about the batsman's favourite meal than of the bowling served up. There must have been butterflies in the visitors’ stomachs given their poor season, as they crept towards their target.

Unfortunately the conclusion wasn’t what Saints had hoped, despite the efforts of Killer (2/26), Mistry (2/21) and Walker (2/25). In fact all the bowlers did well considering the conditions. Once again the story was of dropped catches at crucial times, well-placed fieldsmen failing to cling on when it counted.

So it was that Old Cholms reached their target in the second last over, with three wickets in hand.

Up next for Saints, a trip to Wheathampstead.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 19w 8b  
for 10 wickets
28
142		        
Nauman Nisar timed out Tse 2 1
Stuart Murray ct Halstead b Tse 0 2 0
Tom Wilton lbw b Tse 10 1
Sam Mistry b T. Blackshaw 7
Saqib Malik Not Out  83 12 1
Zachary Tarrant ct - b Masik 3
Thomas Rayden ct - b Bhattarajee 0 2
Tim Winfield b Bhattarajee 0
Finlay Killner lbw b Bhattarajee 0
Andrew Walker ct - b Willis 2
Fin McNab Run out  1

Old Cholmeleians II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R. Blackshaw9.012100.002.33
E. Tse9.012538.332.78
T. Blackshaw7.0315115.002.14
A. Bhattarajee8.0233311.004.13
A. Masik4.0020120.005.00
Willis3.3015115.004.29

Old Cholmeleians II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 2w 3b 1lb 
for 7 wickets
8
144 (43.2 overs)		     
Boyce ct Rayden b Killner 2
Halstead hit wicket b Mistry 17 1
Thomas ct Rayden b Malik 12 2
Tse ct Nisar b Walker 48 7
T. Blackshaw b Walker 0
P. Gilbert Not Out  18 2
Bhattacharya b Mistry 5 1
R. Blackshaw b Killner 15 3
A. Masih Not Out  19 2 1
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Finlay Killner9.0126213.002.89
Saqib Malik5.02515.001.00
Tim Winfield9.013400.003.78
Fin McNab4.202700.006.23
Andrew Walker9.0225212.502.78
Sam Mistry7.0121210.503.00
 
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