Scorecard

Broxbourne 3XI v St Albans Cricket Club 4XI on Sat 26 Aug 2023 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 2 runs (Brox rain target 180 in 30 overs)

Match report The penultimate weekend of the 2023 Cricket Season saw the St Albans 4th XI travel to their fiercest league rivals Broxbourne, hoping to avenge their loss from earlier in the season.
A well prepared, hard track presented itself to the 4s, with short boundaries on either side and the prospect of a high run scoring day. Duly, captain Saunders won the toss and decided to have a bat, a very important call from the skipper on a day where rain was forecast.

Opening the innings for the mighty 4s were A. Dean Sr and M. Nisar, both of whom had scored runs on this pitch before. The pair got the team off to a flying start, utilising the short boundaries on either side of the wicket to hit boundaries off the first overs. The batsman looked fluid, able to rotate the strike well by employing easy pushes out to the boundary riders on each fence.

Soon the St Albans team brought up the 50 partnership. The first wicket to fall would be Dean Sr, playing back to the Broxbourne first change spinner, an LBW decision that looked fairly simple for the umpire. He had however made his way to 33, and therefore laid a strong foundation for the following batsman to follow. Replacing him was A. Dean Jr.

At the other end M. Nisar had looked fluent, adding multiple boundaries in an innings that looked every bit as assured as the Manny we know and love, by drinks he had made his way into the 40s and the score had raced towards 100. With the prospect of a league 50 in sight, Manny was unfortunately dismissed on 48, again LBW. The Broxbourne first change bowlers proving much harder to get after.

At the other end of the pitch throughout this time A. Dean Jr had been accruing runs well on a pitch that really looked to suit his style of play. He was able to rotate the strike efficiently, picking up singles often to get the set batsmen in, but also picked up multiple boundaries whilst in partnership with Nisar. This play only got more fluent throughout the innings, with the young man racing through the 10s, 20s and 30s. As he got more settled attacking shots became easier to play, and we saw multiple 4s come off the bat of the teenager. The pick of these a lofted cover drive for 4. This innings would continue throughout the remainder of the St Albans spell, and end on a league high score of 86 Not Out. This young man is incredibly good, a huge prospect for the club.

Meanwhile the middle order of St Albans were in belligerent fashion as they were given the instruction of getting the score as close to 250 as possible. Rayden was first to come and go, playing his usual style of attacking cricket, he would smack 14 off not many balls. Following him was Davey, who smashed two fours to the boundary before being caught. Next came Maroof on his 4th XI debut, and what was to come was pure entertainment. Bang, 6, whipped into the trees. Smash, 4, another slash off the legs. Bang, 6, Maroof clears the canal on the leg side. Smack, 4, another boundary. 20 off about 6 balls for the young man, pure entertainment. Next came Vijender, who farmed the strike to the set Dean, and finally Pelham, who smacked a 4 off only his second ball faced.

A score of 241 had been set by the 4s, a good score but one that would require some strong bowling. What followed was what can only be described as a biblical storm, with the heavens opening and thunder and lightning ensuing. Credit to the Broxbourne team, the covers came out quickly and the super sopper was used prodigiously to allow the game to get back underway. A revised target of 180 from 30 overs was set.

Opening the bowling were the partnership of Davey and Winfield, with the instruction of restricting the run rate and building pressure. The first few overs complied with this, save a few loose balls as a result of the wet ball. The first wicket would fall to a trademark Winfield away swinger, bowling the opener as the partnership looked to settle down. Winfield overall bowled very well, able to restrict the run rate to below the required rate, there was a couple of boundaries off loose balls but overall, the opposition were kept quiet. Davey had performed similarly but was unable to take a wicket.

Replacing Davey was Dean Sr, who looked to remove the second opener and continue to rattle through the wickets of the opposition. He had a very similar luck to Davey, continually missing the bat but unable to find a wicket until midway through his spell, bowling the set opener with a swinging ball that took leg stump. Replacing Winfield at the other end was the pick of the St Albans bowlers on the day, Raj Surendranath. He bowled his spin with such consistency and guile that it was able to not only restrict the run rate but also pick up wickets when needed. The first of which bowling the Broxbourne 3 and the second a smart catch by Maroofkhal. Surendranath ending with figures of 6-0-22-2, a brilliant spell when called upon by his team.

At the same time as this we saw one of the more calamitous run outs of the season, the Broxbourne skipper tripping when taking a simple single. Pelham kept his cool, returned the ball from the boundary accurately and the bails were whipped off by Rayden.

Whilst St Albans had been taking wickets the Broxbourne batsman had been able to accrue runs consistently, utilising their home pitches’ small boundary and halfway through the innings the oppo were up with the run rate. A tight finish was sure to ensue.

Replacing Dean was Saunders, who was hoping to utilise his left arm over to restrict the batsman and provide some variation. It would work almost instantly, picking up a wicket in his first over, removing one of the dangerous looking Broxbourne youngsters. However, the replacement Broxbourne batsman took a liking to Saunders, and was able to hit him for a six and multiple fours. Another see-saw in momentum. With 10 overs to go the opposition needed around 50 runs, and the 4s needed 4 wickets.

At this point Pelham was introduced into the attack and bowled very well from up the hill. He had one of the tail caught and was able to restrict runs below the required rate. 3 wickets needed. Davey was then reintroduced to bowl his final over, a wicket and 1 run coming off it. 2 wickets needed. Finally, Vijender was introduced, taking a wicket in his first over and an important one of the more set Broxbourne batter, plum LBW. 1 wicket needed. Re-introduced into the attack was Dean Sr, who unfortunately came under attack from the remaining batsman, 12 runs from the over. The remaining required was less than 10.

It would be Vijender’s final over that proved decisive, with only 3 runs needed the bowler steamed in and the ball went up. “Catch It” the call from 10 members of the team. Underneath it was Dean Sr, he dived forward, took the catch and the rest is history. 11 St Albans players ran with no care in the world across the pitch, celebrating in style. Victory by 2 runs.

It would be remiss to write this match report without mentioning the fielding display, with the whole of the St Albans team fielding to the height of their ability. Of particular mention were Maroof and Pelham, who saved multiple boundaries on the short sides of the pitch. Maroof , Nisar, Vijender and Dean also took exceptional catches under pressure which contributed heavily to the win.

What can we say about this game? Possibly that this defines the reason we all play cricket, there were ups and downs throughout the day but the victory tasted so sweet. Everyone contributed and the heads of the team never dropped. Particular stand outs were Dean Jr and Surendranath, but every player contributed. What a day.


St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 10b 2lb 
for 6 wickets
16
241		        
Nauman Nisar Lbw  48 6 1 1
Ashish Dean Lbw  33 6 1
Ahaan Dean Not Out  86 12
Thomas Rayden Caught  14 1 1
Sam Davey Caught  8 2
nasibullah Maroofkhel Bowled  20 2 2 1
Uttam Vijender Bowled  11 1
George Pelham Not Out  5 1 1
Tim Winfield  
Andy Saunders  
Rajiv Surendranath  

Broxbourne 3XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Broxbourne 3XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 11w 11b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
27
178 (28.5 overs)		     
Fryer b Dean 29
Preston T b Winfield 18
Urwin b Surendarath 22
Smith run out Pelham 3
Stark lbw Saunders 12
Harrington ct ct Vijender b Surendarath 6
Glassberg lbw Vijender 30
Smith ct ct Manny b Davey 2
Holland ct ct Dean b Vijender 21
Gupla ct ct Maroof b Pelham 4
Preston j Not Out  4

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sam Davey6.0029129.004.83
Tim Winfield5.0028128.005.60
Ashish Dean5.0035135.007.00
Rajiv Surendranath6.0022211.003.67
Andy Saunders2.0025125.0012.50
George Pelham2.0011111.005.50
Uttam Vijender2.501125.503.88