Scorecard

Abbots Langley I v St Albans Cricket Club 1XI on Sat 03 Jul 2021 at 12.00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report In a top of the table clash, skipper Capaldi won the toss and elected to bowl, with the pitch still being quite damp from Abbots’ sheet covers. St Albans were not at their absolute best, with May unable to keep up the latter half of his deadly two wides and a wicket combination that he has been perfectly. Nonetheless, May (7.2-0-35-3) struck with an LBW with the score on just 15, before delivering an actual send off rather than his normal expression of pure joy that looks like a send off. Having been described by the remaining opener as ‘just up and down’, Bayliss (10-0-36-2) proceeded to cause him all sorts of troubles before snicking him off to Coulman’s grateful gloves.

With the pitch being so conducive to seam bowling, Joe Regan campaigned passionately with Capaldi to be entrusted with the ball, even asserting to the slip cordon that he was going to get a 5-fer if given the opportunity. Unfortunately for Regan this could not have been further from the truth, as he bowled one of the worst overs in St Albans CC history with half trackers aplenty, before stropping on the boundary for the next 30 overs whilst trying to secure a move to Tring Park CC after his “hooping” spell was ended. At the other end, Sammy Kumar (10-0-29-1) bowled with excellent control, and so even whilst Abbots were building a solid third wicket partnership they were not getting away from St Albans as it looked like they once might do. Two quick wickets brought the score to 89-4, with Kumar getting a caught behind even despite Coulman’s questionable new nickname for him, and Hall taking a catch off Capaldi (8-0-25-2) at something like the fifth attempt.

Wickets fell fairly regularly after Mulvaney (9-2-25-1) struck with a genuine off-spinner’s dismissal through the gate, with both May and Bayliss returning to pick up wickets. Wickets fell so regularly that Abbots Langley crucially only used 45.2 overs in posting their score of 164-10, with debutant Steven ‘Steves’ Perrin gladly accepting a catch at long off of all places to end the innings.

The St Albans chase didn’t ideally, with Capaldi giving some catching practice to gully, prompting a quite frankly remarkable outpouring of profanities in the changing room. As later regaled in great detail to his new transatlantic love interest, Caswell dug in to ensure a steady start for St Albans, playing second fiddle to Regan who was driving with such style that Perrin was speculating whether watching Regan was worth his match fee alone. Regan continued with his driving form to receive the Abbey Aquatics shot of the day, and played elegantly for his vital 58 barring a couple of lifelines courtesy of Abbots Langley’s fielding and the square-leg umpire.

Perrin (36) played the other vital knock in the St Albans innings, digging in on a continually tricky wicket to carry St Albans most of the way home. As the run rate was rising and there were 6 wickets in hand, Coulman and Perrin turned to kwik cricket style hitting and running, leading to the fairly spectacular run out of Perrin after Coulman had driven the ball directly into the stumps at the bowling end. Despite acquiring another victim in Mulvaney who is still yet to learn the ever so crucial “no” call, Coulman (24*) batted nicely to see St Albans home with some pleasant strokes when previous 1st XI teams may have crumbled. Mulvaney’s run out did mean Richard O’Toodle was required, but unfortunately a leg side wide and a jogged single meant the finisher didn’t hit the winning runs.

Winning by 4 wickets, the 1st XI moved into pole position of the Division 2A table at the halfway point of the season. This inspired Capaldi’s Michael Owen esque analysis after the game: if the 1st XI continue to win they will be promoted. Welcoming bottom of the table Kings Langley next week and aided by the returning Jerome, Seagrave, and White, the 1st XI will hope to follow Capaldi’s advice next week.

Abbots Langley I Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 26w 3b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
31
164 (45.2 overs)		     
George Agius ct  O Coulam b D Baylis 9 21 2 42.86
Michael Burgess lbw  B May 10 10 1 100
Simon Hamilton ct  J Hall b M Capaldi 33 51 3 1 64.71
Matthew Parkins ct  O Coulam b S Kumar 11 35 1 31.43
Jack Read b  B May 33 56 2 58.93
Nick Gurney b  J Mulvaney 10 26 1 38.46
Hamish Graham ct  J Caswell b D Baylis 11 28 39.29
Brad Finch ct  S Perrin b B May 8 15 53.33
William Graves run out  (R O'Toodle) 3 16 18.75
James Allan b  M Capaldi 4 12 33.33
Simeon Cohen Not Out  1 3 33.33

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Billy May7.2035311.674.77
Max Capaldi8.0025212.503.12
Dan Baylis10.0036218.003.60
Sammy Kumar10.0029129.002.90
Joe Regan1.001000.0010.00
Joshua Mulvaney9.0225125.002.78

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 15w 2b 3lb 
for 6 wickets
22
165		        
Max Capaldi ct  G Agius b B Finch 0 5 0
James Caswell ct  M Parkins b S Cohen 16 50 1 32.00 1
Joe Regan b  M Parkins 58 92 8 63.04
Steven Perrin run out  (W Graves) 36 80 2 45.00 1
Jonny Hall b  M Parkins 9 15 1 60.0 1
Oliver Coulman Not Out  24 47 3 51.06 2
Joshua Mulvaney run out  (W Graves) 0 3 0
Richard O'Toole Not Out  0
Dan Baylis  
Sammy Kumar  
Billy May  

Abbots Langley I Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Brad Finch7.0137137.005.29
James Allan7.012700.003.86
Simeon Cohen10.03919.000.90
Nick Gurney8.023300.004.13
Matthew Parkins10.0221210.502.10
William Graves4.201900.004.38
Hamish Graham2.001400.007.00