Scorecard

Tewin CC 2nd XI v St Albans Cricket Club 4XI on Sat 24 May 2025 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 85 runs

Match report
The 4s arrived at Tewin looking to bounce back from last week's defeat with a much-changed team thanks to returning players and last-minute illnesses. Nisar would be the stand in captain for the day on a pitch that the 4s were reliably informed provided a 500-run game the week before. The toss was therefore a hard call to make, but it was taken out of Nisar’s hands as he called wrong and the 4s were invited to bat.

From the outset the prospect of a 500-run game looked unlikely, with the Tewin openers providing a wily attack focused on consistent line and length. After a couple of looseners which went for boundaries in the first two over scoring proved difficult. Nisar and Thomas had opened the batting with the later playing several nicely timed shots which unfortunately picked out the fielder. The first wicket would fall in the 6th over, with the score only on 20, Nisar being caught on 14. Unfortunately, the second wicket wouldn’t take long to follow, Wright out the very next ball pushing for a second run and being run out by the finest of margins. The tight bowling continued, and Khan and Thomas would both be dismissed with the score in the 30s, leaving the 4s 39-4 with a rebuild needed.

That rebuild was provided by Deshpande and Crisp, who quickly rose to their task of seeing out several overs and providing a total that the 4s could defend. They batted nicely, rotating the strike where possible and putting away the bad balls which in truth were few and far between as the Tewin first change bowlers bowled very well. The pair would make it through drink before Crisp was dismissed on 14, a smart catch taken with the score now on 82. This brought the two Praths together, with Khatavkar looking to continue the job of rebuilding, but he was unfortunately dismissed on just 1. This brought Davey and Deshpande together with 8 overs to go and looking to take the score to towards 150. Deshpande began to accelerate and hit some lovely shots on his way to bringing up his 50, a brilliant innings that not only saw off the best bowlers but accelerated when necessary. At the other end Davey was in a belligerent mood and felt he could get after the 2nd change bowlers, hitting a quick fire 35 to take the score into the 160s. Both would be out in the last overs, looking to push the score further. 157 would be the final total for the 4s.
At the halfway stage 158 felt like a defendable score if the 4s bowled with consistent lines and lengths and attacked the stumps. The pitch clearly providing little signs that 500 runs could have been scored the week before. After a short conference within the senior players, it was decided that the two Praths would open the bowling, combining the pace of Khatavkar with the accuracy of Deshpande. This decision wouldn’t take long to be proved right, Deshpande providing the breakthrough in just the second over, his inswingers proving too hard to handle for the Tewin opener. His 2nd and 3rd wickets would follow soon, one bowled and one caught, in just the 3rd over of the game and the 4s were jubilant leaving their opponents 17-3. The onslaught from Deshpande would continue picking up his 4th soon after. At the other end Khatavkar bowled very well, with good pace and strong lines and was unlucky not to take any wickets in his six over spell. The spell included a great battle with the pick of the Tewin batters, with both bat and ball being equally matched.

The first change saw Davey and Vijender enter the fray, looking to continue the form of the openers. Wickets soon started to tumble, with Davey dismissing the set batsman in the 9th over, the instruction of bowling on the stumps proving wise. Wickets 6 and 7 soon followed for Davey in the 13th, having the first caught after several fielding changes and the second bowled for a golden duck. At the same time Vijender bowled well, utilising his normal guile and tight lines to pick up the 8th wicket. The final two were soon to follow both falling to Davey to complete his five-wicket haul, the 4s winning by 85 runs before drinks.

A great recovery by the 4s after a shaky start with the bat, with everyone playing their part in a commanding win. They will likely come up against better batting line ups, but they should be proud of how they put away an opposition who have proved hard to beat in previous years.


(Match report by Sam Davey)


St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 11w 2b  
for 9 wickets
19
158		        
Nauman Nisar ct J Conlon b M Cullen 14 18 1 77.78
Hugo Thomas ct J Botha b M Cullen 10 28 2 35.71 1
Andy Wright run out  (A Fortune) 1 1 100
Najib Khan lbw M Bathia 9 25 2 36.00
Prathamesh Deshpande st R Stannard b E Cullen 51 98 4 52.04
Toby Crisp ct J Conlon b E Cullen 14 34 2 41.18 1
Prath Khatavkar run out  (A Reeves) 1 7 14.29
Sam Davey ct J Conlon b E Cullen 35 23 5 1 152.17
John Shaw b M Cullen 3 9 33.33
Uttam Vijender Not Out  0 1 0
Niraj Aswani Not Out  1 2 50.0

Tewin CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Cullen8.0138312.674.75
Mitulkumar Bathia8.0315115.001.88
James Hughes8.002100.002.63
Jenna-May Botha5.01900.001.80
Eva Cullen7.0034311.334.86
Pugh Laurie4.003900.009.75

Tewin CC 2nd XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 9w  
for 10 wickets
11
73 (18.0 overs)		     
Aidan Fortune b P Deshpande 1 2 50.0
Andy Reeves ct H Thomas b P Deshpande 8 9 1 88.89
Eva Cullen ct N. Nisar b S Davey 23 35 3 65.71
Glenn O'Brien b P Deshpande 0 3 0
James Hughes ct N.Nisar b P Deshpande 3 6 50.0
James Conlon b S Davey 20 13 5 153.85
Mitulkumar Bathia b U Vijender 0 14 0
Jenna-May Botha b S Davey 0 1 0
Ryan Stannard ct T Crisp b S Davey 0 9 0
Mark Cullen b S Davey 7 15 46.67
Pugh Laurie Not Out  0 3 0

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Prath Khatavkar6.012700.004.50
Prathamesh Deshpande4.003248.008.00
Sam Davey5.021052.002.00
Uttam Vijender3.00414.001.33