Scorecard

Bentley Heath v St Albans Cricket Club 2XI on Sat 17 Jul 2021 at 12 noon
St Albans Cricket Club Won By 63 runs

Match report With Division 5A tightly poised at the top heading into this weekend’s fixtures, the 2s faced a trip to fellow top-halfers Bentley Heath who would have been undoubtedly buoyed following their close victory over the league leaders Old Camdenians a week previous.
Injuries, isolation and illness striking teams across the club had meant that the XI skipper Jimmy Rosson had originally settled upon amidst the many happenings of the club tour to Kings Lynn was somewhat different to the XI that took the field – including the absence of Jimmy himself, meaning HowesCaptain took the reins.

Howes won the toss and instructed openers Zach West and Hammer to kick off the 2s innings with the bat. West was left to rue his decision to claim the 1 spot, as 4 balls into the innings he inside edged a forward defence on to his pad which proceeded to dribble on and find the stumps.
Howes and Hammer proceeded to shore up the 2s innings in experienced fashion, amassing a partnership of 73 much to the enjoyment of visiting president Mardelli. Said partnership was ended upon Hammer’s removal to a ghost-snick in the 17th over – and despite the brief attempt to stand his ground to rightly protest his innocence, the constant presence of the umpire’s raised finger until Hammer’s departure from the crease indicated a steely determination to see their version of justice done following a snick-related stand off several overs prior.

Ash came in at 4 and added 7 runs prior to his dismissal, which triggered an all too familiar mini-collapse in the 2s middle order. Howeson was next to fall for 36, followed by the keen-as-mustard George Sims for 7 – both LBW, and with both having a right to feel somewhat aggrieved.
Murphy played around a ball he’d “practiced all week on the bowling machine” and was bowled for 0, bringing Cales and Winners together at the crease. With the scoreboard now reading 107-6 (29), and the loss of the last 4 wickets only coming at the expense of 20 runs to the opposition, the match seemed to be teetering, ready to fall into the hands of the team willing to grab it with both hands.
The seasoned St. Albans pair steadied the ship, rotating strike well prior to the partnership ending following Cales’ striking of a chest high full toss straight to extra cover. As he walked from the field, his holding of the pose for his shot highlighted the perplexing decision for it not being called a no-ball.
Tom Broxton entered the fray, and an inspired Winfield carried on his excellent work alongside him. It appears the presence of a certain “Rocky” on the sidelines had flicked a switch inside Winfield, allowing him to bat with the sensibility and maturity that only a new father would be able to demonstrate. Winfield and Broxton’s partnership of 60 was vital in the context of the game and propelled the 2s onto a final score of 203 with the help of some stylish late cameos from tail end specialists D Rosson and Chaz.

The 2s didn’t get off to the fastest of starts in the field, with a few too many wides creeping into the opening spells and the boundary being found with regularity by the Bentley Heath opening batsman. However, 1st changer Dan was able to remove their openers relatively early, halting the stem of runs – with Zach waiting what seemed like an eternity for a dolly to drop to him at mid-on, and Ash negotiating a high catch well. Tom Broxton fresh from his batting exploits was unlucky not to claim a scalp in his spell, going past the bat on many occasions with consistent probing lines.
A wicket arrived shortly after Murph’s introduction. Hammer followed soon after in order to take the pace off the ball, which worked a treat for St Albans, as the boundaries dried up and the required rate climbed and climbed forcing the pressure back on to Bentley Heath. Hammer’s spell of 10 overs for just 29 runs whilst working through the pain of a bad back for the good of the team deserves a special mention.

Fuelled by the kind supply of Lucozade and flapjacks courtesy of the Broxton family, the 2nd drinks break saw the 2s well in control of the game, with the only gripe amongst the group
being that of senior player Cales towards Howeskeeping’s inability to throw the ball in his direction after EVERY BALL.

With the 2s refueled and re-energized, Sims took the ball to continue his spell and proceeded to tear through the Bentley Heath line up. First, a high skyed swipe to extra cover was gobbled up by Cales – the field falling in deathly silence prior to the catch being taken, no one deeming the standard cry of “catch it!” appropriate. Next ball, their set batsman who had crossed during the previous ball’s flight path was cleaned up by Sims, with the gleeful Dan Rosson charging in from long-off loudly declaring his opinions on the quality of the batsman’s stroke.
Sims then forced the 3rd victim to find the ever-reliable Broxton at midwicket with his very next ball, claiming his hattrick and cuing the on-field celebrations for all. The man himself managed to remain very calm throughout this entire ordeal – clearly nothing phases this cool customer.
George finished with fantastic figures of 4-8 from his 6 overs and laid the platform for the rest of the 2s bowlers to clean up the Bentley Heath tail. Winfield claimed 2 in the dying stages, one off a outrageously good grab from West running from long on to deep extra cover to send their injured big hitter and his accompanying runner back to the shed.

In the time it took a rocket ship of a shot to return to earth, Ash eventually worked out where to stand to take the game sealing catch - leaving an undoubted Sunday morning welt on his sternum before gladly accepting the resulting pop up.
A great win for the team, and a much deserved 30 points. After battling through a difficult stage with the bat the 2s showed excellent standards in the field to bring the result home, and with news that Old Camdenians had lost once again as they reached the changing room, St Albans 2XI hit the summit of 5A for the first time this season and face none other than 2nd place Camdenians themselves next Saturday in a bid to stay there.

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
203		        
Zach West b T Qazi 0
Adam Hounslow ct S Janjua b S Mohammad 45
Matt Howeson lbw C Gallagher 36
Ashish Dean ct S Janjua b S Hussain 7
George Sims lbw C Gallagher 7
Adam Murphy b C Gallagher 0
Phil Caley ct S Alishah b I Ali 11
Jacob Winfield ct O Hubbard b S Mohammad 43
Thomas Broxton b S Mohammad 17
Charles Smith Not Out  6
Daniel Rosson b T Qazi 3

Bentley Heath Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tayyab Qazi8.221628.001.92
Imran Ali8.0021121.002.63
Chris Gallagher8.0055318.336.87
Mohsin Ahmed4.001800.004.50
Ollie Hubbard2.001800.009.00
Sannan Mohammad10.0035311.673.50
Shabaz Hussain9.0032132.003.56

Bentley Heath Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 19w 4lb 
for 10 wickets
25
140 (42.1 overs)		     
Shamus Raja ct Unsure b Rosson 19 44 3 43.18
Mohsin Ahmed ct Dean b Rosson 25 38 3 1 65.79
Shabaz Hussain b Sims 38 74 5 51.35
Sannan Mohammad lbw Murphy 1 8 12.50
Ollie Hubbard ct West b Sims 11 52 1 21.15
Shane Janjua ct Broxton b Sims 3 10 30.0
Chris Gallagher b Winfield 4 10 40.0
Shon Alishah ct Broxton b Sims 0 1 0
Khuram Butt ct Caley b Winfield 6 4 1 150.0
Tayyab Qazi ct Dean b Murphy 3 7 42.86
Imran Ali Not Out  5 7 71.43

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Daniel Rosson7.0127213.503.86
Jacob Winfield2.00723.503.50
Adam Murphy7.1121210.502.93
George Sims6.01842.001.33
Thomas Broxton7.012200.003.14
Charles Smith3.002200.007.33
Adam Hounslow10.012900.002.90

  • Umpire :
    Gordon Murray
  • Scorer :