Scorecard

Baldock 2XI v St Albans Cricket Club 4XI on Sat 20 May 2023 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 101 runs

Match report St Albans 4s travelled to Baldock in fine spirits after their opening win of the season the previous week.

With the first signs of summer finally appearing, it looked to be a great day for cricket; the pitch looked very green, with a very large outfield, and therefore there was much debate about whether batting or bowling first would be the right option. Captain Saunders promptly lost the toss though and all debating went out of the window - St Albans had been invited to bat.

It wasn’t the opening that St Albans would have wanted, and much like the England team of two years ago they found themselves 10-3. Dean, Deshpande and Khan all falling in the first few overs to a very young, left armer, who to be fair, was the pick of the Baldock bowlers on the day.

Thomas and Glazier were charged with the rebuild, and to their credit they dug in and saw off the openers, Thomas adding some lovely boundaries in the process. However, it wouldn’t last long, with Thomas being caught in the 12th over.

In walked Davey, with the clear instruction being “rebuild, you’ve got time” and Glazier and Davey set about that task. Over the next 10 overs they batted patiently, picking off the bad ball but overall displaying solid defence. Glazier would hit one huge six, and Davey multiple fours, before Glazier was finally dismissed. The introduction of spin finally did for Davey in the 22nd over, by which time he had made 31 and the score had moved to over 100.

Arif continued where his predecessors had left off, picking off the bad ball and accumulating runs well- he would finish as the 4s top scorer with 39.

The tail was also able to pick up some runs, with Suryavanshi adding a quick fire 19 and Saunders driving one impeccably (through the slips) for a score of 4 not out. The innings had been ably assisted by E. Xtras who second top scored with 38. A score of 176 looked impossible after 5 overs, but a brilliant rebuild from the middle order meant a competitive score had been posted.

St Albans took to the field in a very positive mood, they looked to be a bowling heavy line-up, so confidence was high that they’d take the wickets required.

Dean and Suryavanshi were tasked with taking the new ball, and it didn’t take long for Dean to find the breakthrough, bowling the Baldock opener in the first over of the innings. Wickets two and three weren’t far behind for Dean, one bowled and one caught, as the Baldock batsmen looked to swing at the ball. In truth Dean bowled very well, with a good full length and strong lines he fully deserved his wickets. Suryavanshi also looked good, and was unlucky to end without a wicket, he bowled with very good pace, and a challenging length for the batsmen.

The first change saw Winfield and Davey introduced, with the former able to produce his trademark swing from the start. This would yield another two wickets for the bowler, one bowled and one caught. Davey was unable to find a wicket in the innings but bowled well with some good swing and challenging lines. Arif and Saunders were then brought on to finish off the game, and Arif duly obliged, bowling very well to take four wickets in just over 5 overs, a great all round display from Nadeem! The game was over with 30 overs gone, with two Baldock batsmen picking up injuries in the game and not batting.

A great win for the 4s, who move to the top of the table and look good for their double promotion the previous year. This was a very different game from any last season, where the middle order had to step up and score runs and they were able to, a great sign for the rest of the season. The bowlers showed their usual strong lines and lengths and all wickets were fully deserved.

Fineable Moments:

• Andy Saunders, somehow losing two overs whilst scoring

• Tim Winfield, appealing for a wicket when he’d bowled the batsman

• Ben Glazier, saying “Keep going, all’s fair in love and war” at a wicket break.

• Sud Suryavanshi, trying to reverse sweep when we needed safe runs.


St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
20w 15b 3lb 
for 9 wickets
38
176		        
Ashish Dean b Flynn 0
Prathamesh Deshpande lbw Flynn 1
Najib Khan b Fylnn 0
Hugo Thomas ct Craig 21 3 1
B Glazier b Mc Caul 10 1 1
Sam Davey ct French 31 4
Nadeem Arif Not Out  39 4
Jack Benjamin b French 3 1
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi b Craig 19 1 1 1
Tim Winfield b French 0
Andy Saunders Not Out  4 1

Baldock 2XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Flynn8.012036.672.50
Monsur8.012800.003.50
Craig8.0043221.505.37
Mc Caul8.0030130.003.75
French8.0136312.004.50

Baldock 2XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 1b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
10
76 (30.3 overs)		     
Kelly b Dean 3
Monsur b Dean 1
Rayat ct Dean 8
Flynn b Winfield 10
Muir ct Winfield 1
French ct Arif 28
Fylnn W ct Arif 4
Mc Caul b Arif 9
Priestley b Arif 1
Brett Retired Out  0
Singh Retired Out  0

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ashish Dean6.01933.001.50
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi4.001200.003.00
Tim Winfield5.031025.002.00
Sam Davey7.002500.003.57
Nadeem Arif5.311543.752.73
Andy Saunders2.00200.001.00