Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI v Hemel Hempstead Town CC 2nd XI on Sat 24 May 2025 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report
Saturday morning started rockier than expected for the 2s, after JC's under 9s had left a massive gap in the covers that took some heavy damage by the Saturday evening rain. Why they were given the responsibility, we will never know, given more than half of the 2nd XI were at the clubhouse the night before. One big wet patch and one slightly smaller wet patch, both on a length, caught the eye of the skipper and the seam bowlers, only solidifying the decision to bowl first (previously advised by groundsman Caley).

Toss won, bowling first. Opposition captain thrilled he got to bat first. He probably was still thrilled with Hemel 40/0 after the first 10, despite Winfield hooping it and some good pace from DH, good enough that keeper Coulman had to stand back after two balls (maybe disoriented from his drive down to the ground, causing him to arrive 10 minutes before the start of the game. One shudders to think how he'd have reacted if this happened during his captaincy...). A dropped catch at square leg only served to make Winners grumpier.

Eventually, the skipper turned to Adam "golden arm" Murphy, immediately accounting for the more defensive of the two openers, with the batter inexplicably playing to the turn. In came veteran Hodgins, who came and went in the same fashion. 2 in 2 for Murphy, surely, he couldn't get the hat trick home? Sadly, he couldn't, but soon later snicked their number 4 off. 3 catches at this point for Coulman. Winners, who had persuaded the captain to keep him on on account of the swing he was getting, accounted for their more solid opener.

This brought Finch to the crease, who had been scoring runs for fun in this league so far. He batted long, but once Murph's very potent spell was over, Ahaan Dean was introduced. He immediately found his lengths, bowling with genuine turn and bounce, and ripped through the lower-middle order, catches from Coulman, Winfield and Cawood (who had fielded excellently all day). It was a really impressive spell from Dean in his first spell bowling for the 2nd XI.

Harvey came back and bowled with control, but the skipper claimed he'd deliberately done the maths to give one specialist death over to Jimmy "Dwayne Bravo" Rosson. 1/0/5/1. Inspired captaincy. All in all, it was the best bowling performance seen by the skipper during his tenure at the club. The fielding was mostly very good. The plans were good. The bowling was top drawer. 186 to win.

Instructions from onlooking coach McKinlay were to be 3 or fewer wickets down at drinks, and Cawood and Perrin strode out with the knowledge that, with the batting in the shed, the only way we lost is if we collapse. Perrin started watchfully, continuing the legacy of Rudlins and Howesons of old, taking 31 balls to get off the mark. Cawood was scoring from the start, looking fluent despite the amount he was being yobbed by his parents on the sidelines (stories about last week's efforts coming at regular intervals from his mother).

We made it to drinks none down, and without really giving a chance. Perrin had started scoring and Cawood had reached 50. Some serious pad rash for the skipper. Perrin finally fell, but with the game feeling somewhat won with only 50 needed.

Then, calypso collapso in session. Law fell trying to gub (?) the spinner over mid-on. Hemel, who had been silent for most of the innings, came to life on sight of the bright blue helmet, and proceeded to hurl abuse at the captain. Difficult to argue that it was relatively effective. 1-0. Coulman came to the crease, grumpy as he was yet to bat this season. Not our fault you aren't available every week, Ol...

Cawood brought up his Hundred, a second in just three games. This may have been even better than the first, finding it far easier to score on the CP surface than any other bat in the game. Some knock, and some well-deserved beers afterwards. He fell soon after, followed by Dean and Balan. Could Hemel somehow resurrect a result from the dead?

Rosson and Coulman saw us home, Murphy and Winfield grumpy that they had to bother putting their pads on. The collapse was a shame and gifted Hemel some points that could end up crucial, but not to take away from a fine 2nd XI performance. Onto Chipperfield to keep marching on.

MOTM - Cawood (obviously)
DOTD - Law (also obviously)
Shot of the day - Cawood four through mid-wicket


(Match Report by Roy Law)


St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 1b 6lb 
for 5 wickets
10
187		        
Steven Perrin lbw N Hodgins 42 87 6 48.28
Ben Cawood lbw L Bertin 111 117 16 94.87 1
Rory Law ct T Waterton b N Hodgins 2 13 15.38
Oliver Coulman Not Out  15 26 2 57.69 4
Ahaan Dean ct T Willetts b L Bertin 0 1 0
Jithin Balan b L Bertin 4 8 1 50.0
James Rosson Not Out  3 5 60.0
Adam Murphy  
Jacob Winfield   1
Daniel Harvey  
Daniel Rosson  

Hemel Hempstead Town CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Lucas Bertin8.032538.333.12
Ajay Savania6.011900.003.17
Stanley Hayden10.023500.003.50
Charlie Hoskins4.011600.004.00
Jacob Hodgins6.304500.006.92
Brad Finch4.002800.007.00
Nick Hodgins4.011226.003.00

Hemel Hempstead Town CC 2nd XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 18w 6b  
for 9 wickets
25
185 (50.0 overs)		     
Aaron Wilson ct O Coulman b A Murphy 13 36 1 36.11
Tom Waterton b J Winfield 38 61 5 62.30
Nick Hodgins ct O Coulman b A Murphy 0 1 0
Charlie Hoskins ct O Coulman b A Murphy 18 23 3 78.26
Brad Finch run out  (J Balan) 51 85 4 60.0
Adam Moulster ct O Coulman b A Dean 20 38 2 52.63
Lucas Bertin ct J Winfield b A Dean 5 23 1 21.74
Jacob Hodgins ct B Cawood b A Dean 1 8 12.50
Tom Willetts Not Out  11 21 52.38
Stanley Hayden b J Rosson 3 3 100
Ajay Savania Not Out  0 1 0

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Daniel Harvey10.004000.004.00
Jacob Winfield10.0232132.003.20
Adam Murphy10.0048316.004.80
Daniel Rosson10.023200.003.20
Ahaan Dean9.012237.332.44
James Rosson1.00515.005.00

  • Umpire :
    Tim
  • Scorer :
    Chris