Scorecard

Bedford CC Women's 1XI v St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI on Sun 08 Jun 2025 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 40 runs

Match report Sunday brought with it the next Women’s 1XI match: the venue was Bedford CC and the weather was overall perky with the odd spot of light rain. The Brewpoint signage carried with it sweet memories of home, and undoubtedly was what inspired stalwart skipper India Newman to win the toss with her usual panache. Our beloved Saints opted to bat first, opening with the biblical might of Newman and Annie O’Gorman.

Both batters saw themselves in safely to begin with, Newman showing her trademark aggression whenever the bowlers felt brave enough to test her with a bad ball. She found the boundary, but was unfortunate to see the bowler find the stumps not long after, departing on 8. O’Gorman remained more circumspect, nurdling the ball between the gaps in the field, facilitating a number of swift ones and twos to see her score steadily rise across the innings. She would be joined by a recently arrived Amy Price, who echoed her skipper’s approach. She wasted little time, her first two scoring shots being 4s (the first of several), later booming a massive shot over the rope for a maximum. All this while O’Gorman continued batting with her trademark skill and composure, continuing to pick the gaps with ease and peppering in the odd boundary to keep the fielders appropriately intimidated.

Price would eventually fall on 43 thanks to an annoyingly good hold on a boundary shot, ushering in our next gun: Anum Ahmad. Something had clearly been put in the St Albans water supply, as Ahmad replicated the aggression of her predecessors, finding the rope with something approaching contempt and seeing sharp running between the wickets take her to a respectable 23. The death rattle of the stumps behind her signalled the end of a brief but sensational innings and heralded the arrival of the mighty Caitlin Monteith.

While O’Gorman continued steadily and surely building up a fearsome total, Monteith rotated the strike excellently and showcased a lovely level of skill. She, too, would pick the gaps excellently and facilitate a number of sharp singles and doubles, accruing a contextually-crucial 13 before being run out trying to turn a single into a triple. To be fair, if I had India Newman looming over the boundary rope and bellowing “RUN HARDER THAT’S A TWO THAT’S A THREE GET MOVING YOU LITTLE-“, I’d probably get scared and try running more too, if not least of all to escape.

O’Gorman would see out the rest of the innings with club legend Nicki Bloor, the former reaching her 50 to raucous applause from her teammates in the final over. She clearly achieved what she came to achieve, utilising the final several balls of the over to slap a further two boundaries and run even harder, completing her innings on an unbeaten 63*. Bloor would stand by in amazement and observe her partner with admiration in her eyes, ending her innings on perhaps the most well-made 0* Bedfordshire has seen.

Tea proceeded with little drama before the Saints set about defending their impressive total of 188. An excellent score for a 35 over game, and one we felt very comfortable defending given the sheer amount of bowling in our shed.

Ahmad and Darcey Dalwood opened the bowling, their wheels unplayable, seeing the choke put on the run rate immediately, Ahmad conceding only 2 runs in her first 3 overs and Dalwood conceding only 4 in the same time. The batters got desperate early and attempted a double, forgetting that we’re absolutely gun in the field. Newman gleefully whipped the bails off from a feisty throw in from Molly to dismiss an opener for nought, and our openers had a rest, making way for Monteith and Molly ‘Yes I’m Bowling with a Cap and AirPods, What’re You Gonna Do About it?’ Green.

The pair sank their teeth into the task with joyful abandon, Green bowling delightfully probing lines and Monteith maintaining mighty movement on her deliveries. Monteith drew first blood, dismissing the Bedford number three for 6. Green toiled away from her end, keeping the run rate to a minimum and finally taking a much-earned wicket in her reintroduced spell.

At this stage, the oppo’s number four had entered the fray: a destructive bat who garnered a much-needed acceleration for Bedford, we were keen to send her for an early shower as soon as possible. So it only made sense: send in our two gun bowlers like the hitwomen they are. Thus, Dharmista ‘Cooks’ Nagar and Price marked out their run ups with steel in their eyes and malice in their hearts.

Cooks did an exemplary job of keeping the batters honest and ensuring runs were hard to come by; she was unfortunate to go wicketless, some drops in the field and certain decisions not going her way. Price struggled from her end: she hadn’t played in a while and was doing her best to shake the dust off her bowling arm. She bowled what was honestly a promising over, her better deliveries troubling the batters on more than one occasion. However, she conceded a few too many extras, and subsequently asked to be taken off after one over. Laura Hall took over, bowling a tight three overs, helping to facilitate the run out of Bedford’s intimidating number 4, who managed to run close enough to tap her non-striker partner on the shoulder, who apparently decided she wasn’t in the mood to take even a step towards the other end. Newman claimed her second victim of the day after a gun throw in from Ahmad, and the Saints breathed a sigh of relief.

The rest of the game would proceed with little fuss and with the bowling order being shaken up several times, reintroducing past bowlers, swapping them out and then swapping them back in. Monteith would claim an impressive 3fer with her formidable line and length and the duo Ahmad and Newman would claim ANOTHER run out, very much rattling through the next chunk of the Bedford batting lineup. With two caught behinds (but only one given in what stunned all the Saints bewilderingly), a tidy catch from Dalwood off Green, with Dalwood finally getting the wicket she deserves in the last over, Bedford fell short by 40 runs and so the game came to a close decisively in favour of the Saints.

A great win with a huge number of positives. O’Gorman building a whopping 63*, Monteith chopping through the Bedford bats like a hot knife through butter and Newman assisting three excellent run outs to put paid to any hopes of a sudden run chase. As always, our youth contingent fielded like professionals and kept level heads during a tricky game. Roll on next game when we contest Broxbourne for second place in the league!

Fineable Moments:

Newman for deafening half of Bedfordshire while roaring at her players to run more from the sidelines.

The scorers for patting themselves on the back, thinking they’d done an excellent job having the same total, then realising later that evening that the total is essentially the only place they agreed.

Price for only turning up after kickoff and then having the gall to bat disgustingly well.

O’Gorman for refusing to do a soul-stirring rendition of ‘Broken Strings’ with a certain, devilishly handsome young scorer next week at the SACC karaoke.


St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 28w 6b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
39
188		        
India Newman b D Agalakanda Thanthrige 8 1 1
Annie O'Gorman Not Out  62 5
Amy Price ct D Agalakanda Thanthrige b C Hall 43 3 1 1
Anum Ahmad b C Hall 23 4
Caitlin Monteith run out  (D Agalakanda Thanthrige) 13
Nicki Bloor Not Out  0
Darcey Dalwood   1
Molly Green  
Lucy Davis  
Laura Hall  
Dharmista Nagar  

Bedford CC Women's 1XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Deepashika Agalakanda Thanthrige7.0120120.002.86
Lucy Sellers7.003500.005.00
Charlotte Hall7.0039219.505.57
Mayah Lalani7.012500.003.57
Abida Bano5.004000.008.00
Leanne George2.002200.0011.00

Bedford CC Women's 1XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 21w 2lb 
for 8 wickets
30
148 (35.0 overs)		     
Gemma Lloyd ct A Price b C Monteith 18 1
Sa'adia Khan run out  (M Green) 0
Alex Wyper b C Monteith 6
Lucy Sellers run out  (A Ahmad) 60 10
Deepashika Agalakanda Thanthrige run out  (A Ahmad) 15
Charlotte Hall ct I Newman b C Monteith 6 4
Abida Bano ct D Dalwood b M Green 4 1
Nicola Wisson-Hill Not Out  1
Mayah Lalani b D Dalwood 8 2
Hayley Mills Not Out  0
Leanne George  

St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Darcey Dalwood7.0016116.002.29
Anum Ahmad6.021300.002.17
Molly Green6.0039139.006.50
Caitlin Monteith7.002939.674.14
Dharmista Nagar5.001900.003.80
Amy Price1.001700.0017.00
Laura Hall3.001300.004.33

  • Umpire :
    P Barnes, P Mistry
  • Scorer :
    Ciaran Walsh