Scorecard

Luton Caribbean CC v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 25 Jun 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 3 wickets

Match report St Albans 5XI travelled to Luton Caribbean on a sunny but windy afternoon in Bedfordshire. Arrival was slightly delayed for some of the team due to an ‘unexpected pit stop’.

On a very dry wicket St Albans won the toss and skipper Melling elected to bowl. Tom Townend and Sri Yendpally opening the batting and got St Albans off to a solid start. Townend advancing down the pitch to smash the opening over his head for 4 being the highlight. At 43-0 the decision to batt looked like a good one. Townend eventually departed for a very impressive 25 which sparked a very St Albans collapse which saw the score slip to 63-6 thanks to so interesting umpiring, questionable running and low bounce. Sud Suryavanashi looked to counter attack and began to dispatch the ball to all corners of the ground, an exquisite reverse sweep being a particular highlight before being trapped lbw. Fin McNab and Tom Coulling (with the help of extras) took St Albans past 100. Coulling a last-minute replacement batting valiantly after ‘feeling unwell’ after a tough week celebrating finishing his a-levels. St Albans finished on very competitive 118 on a slow, dry pitch with variable bounce.

With pitch conditions in mind. Melling opted to go for a spin-seam opening bowling partnership of Naz Islam and Matt Brown. Brown defied the strong wind to keep the pressure on Luton while Islam plugged away at the other end. St Albans were live in the field with Tom Cocks behind the stumps and livewire Frank O’lealry the main sources of encouragement. Brown eventually got the break through trapping the opening batsman lbw. A batting mix up and some sharp fielding from Sri and Tom Cocks brought about the second wicket by run out. Brown continued to probe and eventually got a well earned second wicket thanks to a good catch from Townend, finishing a tight opening spell with 2 for 9. Sud and Fin McNab came on the replace the opening bowlers and Sud soon had the 4th wicket sending the off-stump cartwheeling with a searing inswinger. Fin made the most of a wicket that can only be described as a ‘dust bowl’ with a fantastic spell of bowling picking (2 for 14) up two wickets thanks to two great catches from the impressive Cocks behind the stumps. With Luton 60 for 6 St Albans looked like they were in with a good chance of pulling off an impressive victory. Shortly after drinks pandemonium in the field ensued after Frank O’Leary pulled off a catch that could only be described as a blinder. A good delivery from Sud was well struck on the drive, Frank at short cover sprawled across to his right to pull off a sublime one-handed reaction catch, the likes of which the 5XI have surely never seen.

Unfortunately, the 8th wicket partnership dug in and was able to see off a tight spells from Frank, Sri and Tom, seeing Luton home to a three wicket win. A very enjoyable day all the same. Big thanks to Tom Coulling and Matt Brown for stepping in as later replacements.

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 22w 11b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
38
118
        
Tom Townend ct Gooding 25 4 1
Sri Harshith Yendapally ct Majid 7 1 1
Oliver Brown ct Majid 6
Tom Cocks b Majid 6 1 2 1
md nazmul islam Run out  6 1
Andrew Melling b Ali 4
Frank O'Leary lbw Ali 0 1
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi lbw Ali 17 4
Fin McNab ct Tangin 7
Thomas Coulling Not Out  3
Matt Brown b S Khan 0

Luton Caribbean CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
S. Khan5.001700.003.40
SD. Khan5.4019119.003.35
Majid8.041033.331.25
Gooding5.02515.001.00
Ali5.001944.753.80
Awad4.012500.006.25
Tangin2.00919.004.50

Luton Caribbean CC Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 21w 2b  
for 7 wickets
24
119 (33.0 overs)
     
Baily lbw Brown 6
Reid run out Yendapally/Cocks 16
Robert ct Brown 1
SD. Khan b Suryavanshi 8
Lavengine ct McNab 7
Hassan ct Suryavanshi 8
Ali Not Out  24
Gooding ct McNab 3
S. Khan Not Out  21
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Matt Brown6.01924.501.50
md nazmul islam4.002100.005.25
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi6.0023211.503.83
Fin McNab6.011427.002.33
Frank O'Leary6.023000.005.00
Sri Harshith Yendapally3.001100.003.67
Thomas Coulling2.001300.006.50