Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Uxbridge CC on Sun 17 Jul 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 6 runs

Match report Despite the searing heat and clear blue skies that engulfed the now barren plain of Clarence Park, this was a dark day for the Sunday 1XI.

Yet again, Skipper West had the luxury of selection headaches to contend with for the latest Chess Valley fixture against fellow mid-tablers Uxbridge, resulting in a highly capable batting and bowling unit chock full of youthful exuberance, ability and the usual Sunday hangovers. West yet again lost the toss, and was told to have a bowl - with their young stand in skipper electing to twist the knife by cockily suggesting to West that he should “get his whites on”. Who knew that toss send offs were even a thing?

With the knowledge of the 2XIs low scoring game the previous day on the same wicket, batting was by no means going to be an easy task, and all signs pointed to the spinners (and Murph) at the Sunday 1s disposal having a field day when given the chance with the ball. Broxton and Curran took the new ball and after a few overs of short bowling, they found the right lengths and the pitch did the work for them. Broxton claiming one via a pea roller to remove their young opener, and JC finding the outside edge with a classy delivery that was gobbled up by Sunday 1s debutant Rayden behind the stumps. Despite his diving in front of 1st slip to take the grab, their batsman saw fit to wait for the finger to be raised in order to depart - a confusing moment.

This saw their cheeky young skipper to the fold, but his innings was short lived as he chipped one up to West at mid on, who then duly informed the opposition skipper it was now time for him to take his whites off. From then on, a small partnership brewed which prompted the introduction of Sims for a short spell, and Joshy to start his inevitable dismantling of the Uxbridge middle order. Sims beat the bat a good few times, but didn’t find a breakthrough resulting in Sunday specialist Stu’s introduction after the first drinks break.

Joshy and Stu in truth bowled excellently in tandom, with a special mention for Stu’s part time leggies claiming 1 for not many in his 5 overs, which could easily have been 2 had Rayden held on to a vicious top spinner that sailed past his gloves high to his right. At the other end, Josh struck twice in his 4th over. The first a raging turner that pitched outside off and hit leg stump through the gate, and the second sending their poor batsman back in the same manner first ball. Props have to go the sheer confidence of this man, who was so confident in the longevity of his innings that he came prepared with a water bottle. Despite Murph’s timely reminder for the batsman to not “bottle it”, moments later he was having to sheepishly collect it from behind the stumps. Not many of us in the field could contain our amusement, and perhaps this was the start of the Sunday 1s downfall, as this very individual had a certain point to prove with the ball in his hand in the 2nd innings, and boy did he prove it…

Uxbridge crawled their way up to 111 before Joshy finished the innings off to claim 5, a great spell by the young gun. From this moment onwards, it is with the benefit of hindsight that the skipper can now look back and identify the many small decisions made by his young side that in the end lead to the game, in no uncertain terms, being thrown away.

Did we think the game all but won at the interval? Yes.
Was the bar open too early? Perhaps.
Was the skipper derelict in his duties of policing his lower orders drinking? Slightly.
Would said policing have made the slightest of differences? Unlikely.
Was the ordering of Pizzas during our innings, leading to serious discussions about contingency plans for sending in a “pizza watchman” slightly disrespectful to the opposition? You could say so.

Speaking frankly, I could go on and on. The fact remains that with the depth in batting we had, and the time we had to reach the measly target - this was perhaps the worst display of batting application I have ever seen.
Nick was the shining light amongst all the chaos, amassing 42 runs with some imperious hitting. Whilst the pitch was not at all easy to bat on, some of the shots on display were frankly rage inducing - you know who you are.

The aforementioned off spinner with a point to prove would end up with 8 of the St Albans batsman in his locker. He who laughs last, laughs longest.

In the end, this was a harsh lesson for West and his team. Whilst there rightly is a toned down seriousness to Sunday cricket, there is something to be said for having a certain level of respect for the opposition. Next time, beers and pizza can wait until after the game is won.

We go again next week against Greenwood Park to put things right and get the jug streak back up and running.

Uxbridge CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w 5b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
10
111 (32.1 overs)		     
Afzal ct  T. Rayden b J. Curran 11
Adi b  T. Broxton 4
Murrdaj ct  Z. West b J. Curran 5
Tanveer b  J. Mulvaney 32
Abdi lbw  J. Mulvaney 32
Kamal b  J. Mulvaney 0
Arjun b  J. Mulvaney 19
Tom ct  A. Murphy b S. Murray 1
Veron lbw  J. Mulvaney 1
Omar ct  & b A. Murphy 0
Peter Not Out  0

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Thomas Broxton7.0126126.003.71
Joey Curran6.0021210.503.50
George Sims3.001700.005.67
Joshua Mulvaney9.122655.202.84
Stuart Murray5.0011111.002.20
Adam Murphy2.00414.002.00

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1w 4b  
for 10 wickets
5
105		        
Steven Perrin Caught  5 3 1 166.67
Nick Ralfe Lbw  42 31 8 135.48
Zach West Bowled  7 13 53.85 1
Stuart Murray Lbw  9 7 1 128.57
Adam Murphy Bowled  9 8 1 112.50 2
Thomas Rayden Stumped  6 12 50.0 1
George Sims Caught  12 13 3 92.31
Joey Curran Bowled  0 1 0
Joshua Mulvaney Bowled  5 17 29.41
Thomas Broxton Caught  0 7 0
Jacob Winfield Not Out  5 6 83.33

Uxbridge CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

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