Scorecard

Shenley Village III v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 03 Aug 2024 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 5 wickets

Match report Sometimes a match winning performance isn’t enough to win a match - and so it was for Zach West and St Albans 3s as they travelled to take on Shenley Village 3s.

After a slew of warm weather, the ground looked in good order with the pitch suggesting little for the bowlers to work with. Skipper West deserved plaudits for winning the toss, enabling Saints to bat first.

A new pair of opening batters took to the field: West and Berry. The two had clearly bonded well on the journey to Shenley - Berry, in his inimitable style, sharing a little too much information about his pre-game preparation.

Whatever it was, it worked. The early exchanges were dominated by some wayward - wide - bowling, one steepling delivery surprising the umpire, who had forgotten that wides can be called for deliveries over head height. West was the quickest to settle, driving forcefully to the onside. Aggressive running between wickets kept the hosts on their toes and the scoreboard ticking over. At times it looked like Berry’s youthful impatience might get the better of him, but he always looked solid in defence.

West raised a vital half-century and the century partnership beckoned, the junior partner pressing his skipper to stay focused for the milestone. That target was duly achieved, before Berry chipped one back to the bowler, out for a well made 41, in an excellent partnership of 114. Rarely has a St Albans #3 batter arrived at the wicket with the luxury of such a score on the board - quite the platform to work with.

With the freedom of that total, Dean very quickly got into his stride, crushing the ball to and over the boundary in a quick fire 39 off just 30 deliveries. Unfortunately, a remarkable one-handed catch brought about his dismissal.

West was still going, though tiring a little after his efforts. Could the skipper reach a personal milestone amid the push for final over runs? Indeed he could, a single through the legside - where else? - bringing up his century. After crushing a few more boundaries, West was run out by a direct hit from the boundary, finishing on a magnificent 115 at almost a run a ball - in an innings that nearly lasted the full 40 overs.

Having tonned up, West made it clear at the tea break that his knock would only mean something if it was backed up by victory. Dean meanwhile, had suggested a total of 240 would be needed, but Saints had fallen a little shy of that in tallying 224 off their 40 overs.

Telkman and Button were charged with the opening overs. The former, coming up the hill, had the early honours, his good lengths yielding a pair of catches in front of the wicket, Dean doing particularly well to get back for his catch. Saints held the early advantage at 27/2. Talkman bowled straight through for the excellent figures of 2/28. Shenley were not done though, and fought back with a threatening partnership, as Naqvi and Ward took advantage of anything loose, the former reaching a half century. Having reached that milestone, he then mishit Walker to West, running in from long-on - 99/3.

Ward was joined by Snow and the pair swiftly turned the game to the host’s advantage. The short legside boundary was now coming into play, bowling up the hill proving a challenge to all who attempted it after Telkman. With runs flowing too easily, the asking rate was coming down and the game slipping from Saints’ grasp.

But cricket is more complex than that. With the score on 171, non-striker Ward called for a single as the ball went to backward point, where Walker swept in, picked up cleanly and threw down the stumps - Ward gone for 68, and St Albans alive to opportunity again.

In the next over, Murphy - into a fine spell, and perhaps buoyed by the run out - sent back the other set batter. 177/5; 48 runs required from 39 deliveries, the game could go either way. Saints were ready to give all, to keep their hopes of promotion alive.

Nothing personified that more than Hicks in the 37th over. On the mid-wicket boundary, he stood tall as Chuah flicked a delivery into the air, stretched skyward as far as possible to clutch the ball in his hands, before falling safely to the turf, just inside the roped boundary line. A tremendous catch and a vital wicket.

However, the square leg umpire quickly noted that he had seen Hicksy’s elbow touch down on the wrong side of the rope. With nothing else to go on, the standing umpire could do nothing more than signal six. A vital sixth wicket was thus replaced by six runs, quite a change in fortunes in a crucial decision.

Deflated by such a turn around, Saints conceded defeat at the back end of the 39th over, a frustrating and devastating loss that just about signals the end of promotion hopes for 2024.

West’s superb knock, one deserving description as a match-winner, was thus not rewarded with victory, a bitter pill for the captain. He can hold his head high regardless. And on we move, to the next round of matches.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 8w  
for 5 wickets
10
224		        
Zach West run out  (Unsure) 115 117 14 1 98.29 1
Lucas Berry ct C Woodcock b C Woodcock 41 69 4 59.42
Ashish Dean ct M Saleemudeen Sharfudeen Noordeen b A Naqvi 39 30 5 1 130.0 1
Tom Wilton ct Unsure b K Wood 4 9 44.44
Ben Hicks ct Unsure b A Naqvi 10 12 83.33 1
Sarang Nair Not Out  3 2 150.0
Adam Murphy Not Out  2 3 66.67
Jamie Telkman  
Andrew Walker   1
Prathamesh Deshpande  
Joe Button  

Shenley Village III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mohamed Saleemudeen Sharfudeen Noordeen7.002200.003.14
Matthew Evans4.001600.004.00
Ciaran Woodcock8.0055155.006.87
Kevin Wood5.0028128.005.60
Ben Werter8.015200.006.50
Ali Naqvi8.0051225.506.38

Shenley Village III Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w 4b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
9
227 (38.5 overs)		     
William Poynton ct Hicks b J Telkman 11 18 2 61.11
Ali Naqvi ct Z West b A Walker 51 65 6 1 78.46
Ben Werter ct Dean b J Telkman 5 12 1 41.67
Dominic Ward run out Walker 68 69 8 2 98.55
Nathan Snow lbw A Murphy 30 32 3 93.75
Aidan Chuah Not Out  38 23 1 2 165.22
Maboob Hussain Not Out  15 14 2 107.14
Matthew Evans  
Kevin Wood  
Ciaran Woodcock  
Mohamed Saleemudeen Sharfudeen Noordeen  

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jamie Telkman8.0128214.003.50
Joe Button8.014000.005.00
Andrew Walker8.0048148.006.00
Ashish Dean4.003100.007.75
Adam Murphy8.0038138.004.75
Zach West2.503700.0013.06

  • Umpire :
    Team
  • Scorer :
    Team