Scorecard

Hemel Hempstead Town CC 1st XI v St Albans Cricket Club 1XI on Sat 18 Apr 2026 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 2 wickets

Match report A new dawn for the club, day 1 of the process and captain Baylis reportedly waking his better half up at 7am. If this doesn’t show genuine excitement for the process then what does? The skipper reportedly still feeling the effects of last night’s extra spicy masala, meaning despite a 3 hour interval, he left it up to Jason Tindall to collect the warmup bag from CP.

A trio of Adshead, Baylis and Mulvaney continued onto Leverstock Green Simmons, the first of many for this season. Met by our new 1XI member Andy Wright, confidence was high.

Hemel’s side consisted of a split of 1s/2s players, St Albans maybe slightly weaker but by no means without any optimism that a positive performance was achievable. Oli Coulman the final man to walk into the changing room was particularly buoyant, his dash away from the plasterer working on his house bought him his plaudits from many on the day. I can quite personally say I’ve never seen someone so upbeat for a pre season fixture.

Baylis won the toss following his first briefing from Tim Harvey and the Hemel umpire. His typical averted gaze clearly the perfect mind games to get the Hemel skipper to land the coin the wrong way down. Without hesitancy he elected to bowl first.

Onto the slightly less interesting part of the day, or so it seemed, the cricket. Baylis leading his new look Saints out in his Gloucestershire Cricket trousers (£3.50 from the cricket plug) threw the new ball to Adshead who marked out his short run. After firing them through in the warm up it became apparent this wasn’t going to translate to the middle, the Hemel batsmen probably being able to play 3 shots before most deliveries actually reached him. However it only took one ball for the Hemel left hander to open his account for the season, a big booming swing down the ground landing just short of the canal. He sat on 6 off 1 at the end of the first over. It could be a long season.

Or so it seemed. After a few more hefty blows he was dropped at square leg despite Coulman’s best efforts to scream the catch in his direction, and then had his off peg removed by a beauty from Banks. The blend of Banks’ pace and Adshead’s control was proving tricky to score off and the first 20 overs on the whole were incredibly positive for the Saints. Plenty of loose shots drawn from Hemel but they just didn’t quite fall to hand. The Skipper introduced himself following the end of Banks’ first spell and took no time to find his areas. The Hemel umpire reportedly believing Baylis should have had 3 wickets in his opening 7, shame he like Adshead had none. At drinks Hemel sat on 89-1 off 25 which had them firmly in the driving seat, but Saints could count themselves unlucky not to have claimed more wickets from a really disciplined bowling and fielding performance.

Mulvaney replaced Adshead from the top end and after bowling a full net of half trackers a week ago found his areas straight away, drawing an edge. Sadly in none of the 4 attempts Coulman had to catch the ball did one stick. However shortly later Mulvaney had his man LBW plumb in front. Harvey’s finger shot up and despite the Hemel batsman adamant he hit it, he was told to pack them. To be honest it was for the greater good, he absolutely doored it.

Sadly after this came a very poor 10 over stint where Hemel amassed 80 odd runs for no loss. A blend of wides, loose deliveries and poor fielding the main contributors including the first Sydney Harbour Bridges of the season from Adshead and Baylis. Are you not entertained?

One man who certainly hadn’t let his standards drop was Andy ‘The Magnet’ Wright, a genuinely faultless first 49 overs from our resident gun fielder. In particular one over where there were a fair few leg side wides Andy had anticipated the track of the ball so early on that he found himself wrong footed from a leg glance after already starting to run to the backstop, knowing it would evade Coulman’s gloves. Visionary. Stay tuned for how this transpires in Over 50.

To keep things in control Baylis reintroduced Banks from the road end, where if you’ve ever played at Hemel before you’ll know you be beeped from a million times over the course of the game. Banks once again with great pace and areas claimed a vital wicket of the number 4 who had accelerated the scoring hugely. The full toss a clever change up, always the wicket taking ball.

There was also another wicket for Mulvaney. A left hander who had tried to mow him over cow twice decided to try again, this time castled without troubling the scorers. Hemel’s number 3 eventually moved to 50, facing 109 balls, terrible for the neutral. To put an end to this anti social cricket Baylis introduced the master for once promising fast bowlers, James Rosson. Showing us the pathway to excellence once again, JR finally broke through his defences at the 110th time of asking. A relief for all around the ground. At the other end Priyesh bowled, I’m not really sure what to call it but it was quite effective. Hemel trying to get underneath it and struggling to do so. He claimed his first wicket courtesy of the ever reliable hands of Baylis at cover.

With the innings coming to an end the skipper got himself on the board with 2 well executed yorkers, until we trickled into the 50th over. The first ball went straight up towards square leg, or at least that’s what Ben Adshead thought so he didn’t bother moving. Fair to say when he did decide to move the ball had travelled too far over his head to let them scamper through for 2. The next ball an inside edge towards fine leg where Andy had been grazing since his action packed over in the middle. Andy set off, the ball started to slow down. Once he’d made it to the ball Andy decided to run past it a little bit more, attempt to pat an almost static ball back away from the rope. Somehow he only managed to run past it and miss it, the ball stopping on the boundary line for a truly gold moment. Nick Mulvaney on the bench next door particularly amused by what he’d just seen.

And if you thought the theatre ended there, you’re very much wrong. Banks despite not wearing a cap refused a catch because the sun was in his eyes, and then became the third member of the team to bridge one for 4. Despite a very strong day all round, no one is safe from a perfect day in the process. Hemel finished 237-8, a respectable showing for us given the standard of opposition but it could have been so much better had we not thrown it away for 10 overs in the middle.

We set out to chase following a tea which mainly involved Oli divulging into his love of plastering and everyone’s football hate-watching for the weekend. Spurs and Arsenal seemingly very unpopular, I wonder why. Jimmy and Priyesh opened up against Hemel’s 1s opening bowlers. Jimmy keen to start the season in style was in his own words “stone dead” and decided the umpire would have felt bad to give him out first ball. In response he tried to bag a single 2 balls later and would have been run out by half the length of the strip had the ball hit the stumps. After getting back up the other end he then planted again and felt “even more out” and clearly the umpires patience had run out. Tough start, but things can only get better.

Priyesh and Jithin combined well to see out the remainder of the powerplay. Priyesh much more measured with some lovely shots off the legs, looking in no bother from the bowling on offer, and Jithin showing great intent which the process seemed to really enjoy. Jithin with some crunching strokes looking very much in good touch, fell foul of a tight LBW call, and Priyesh was gone shortly after by his own admission throwing it away with an unusually rash stroke. Encouraging performances from both though.

This is where the fireworks in particular began. Coulman ramping a free hit for 6, Hemel’s first change bowler spraying it everywhere (shame he was quite sharp) and Moksy’s first ball in 2 years flying off the outside edge of his bat and almost going for 6 over third man. Don’t say we don’t spoil you. Unfortunately following this wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Moksy bowled, Coulman caught and Mulvaney perishing soon after. Mixed stories on Mulvaney’s dismissal. First person story was “sometimes you get a good one”, the skipper saying “I think that’s the worst shot I’ve ever seen.” And my word must it have been bad to beat some of Oli’s earlier on. Fortunately we had one man holding the innings together at the other end.

The show started just after 5pm, the crowd had drawn in and Andy Wright strode to the middle. The first ball bowled by Hemel’s rapid but erratic change bowler flew past his chest without bouncing. I think it’s fair to say Andy didn’t see it. The next one crashed into leg stump, fortunately a free hit. In his 29 ball cameo Wright scored 3 runs, bad news for boot betters across the world. A particular highlight his guide to third man which rolled back down the hill instead of reaching the boundary. Once he was removed, St Albans sat at a fairly embarrassing 89-7.

Someone had to rescue us to get us closer to this target. If you wanted to see a young man given an opportunity, this was it for Dan Baylis. He strode to the middle and with PD began to put on a bit of a partnership. The typical flat bat approach showing all the intent needed to get his team back into the game. My Captain. The stark reality settled in that he was approaching top scorer, a huge sigh across the balcony as he went onto 25 runs to confirm this. Sadly once he’d done this he was caught trying to bop a short wide one over cow, 123-8, still over 100 runs short.

When Adshead joined PD at the middle he encouraged with the words “just bat.” Bat we did, rotating the strike well. PD at one point deciding to charge Hemel’s 1XI opening bowler, all of a sudden the mindset had begun to change into a very positive one. At the other end Adshead responded by blitzing one of the Hemel seamers for 15 runs in an over and all of a sudden the target was under 100 away. Sadly PD was bowled by the returning left armer, who bowled particularly well, but 19 runs a valiant effort on his first game for the 1XI. With the target now just 63 runs away though, Hemel were growing in concern. What had gone from a game where they were asking Baylis how much a tennis ball swings, had turned into a test where they had to think about restricting and getting Adshead off strike who was absolutely peppering the extra cover boundary.

Banks batted with great maturity and shaped up very well, whilst Adshead continued to hit the cones from the other end. A couple of tight overs meant the game eventually became out of our reach but there were other scenarios to consider. 16 years after joining the club Adshead stood with a genuine opportunity of reaching 50 for the first time ever. With Hemel bringing back their opening bowlers on to stem the flow of runs, he was having to deal mainly in singles, with the boundary fairly well covered. As we trickled on into the final over Banks hit a glorious straight drive down the ground to increasingly frustrate Hemel, and then was dropped by the keeper with Adshead on 47 at the other end. At 7pm the final over began with Adshead on the brink of glory. 2 dots, followed by another one just to the side of cover, however after already setting off for the first the ball bounded off cover’s foot and they were able to scamper back for 2. Banks’ call of hit and run on 49 certainly a risky one, but Adshead dropped it into the off side and ran like his life depended on it, somehow making it back to the non-strikers end to huge celebrations. He raised the bat for his first ever 50 for St Albans coming off 47 deliveries. A pretty much chanceless knock, and one that will be remembered for a long time to come.

We eventually fell only 25 runs short, a great effort considering the gulf in quality between the 2 teams. As a matter of fact without the 10 sloppy overs in the field, we may even have won. Everyone can consider that this was a good run out ahead of what will hopefully be a successful season for the whole club.

MOTM: Ben Adshead
DOTD: Oli Coulman
SOTD: Oli Coulman ramp for 6
HMOTD: Andy Wright running past an almost static ball at fine leg

Hemel Hempstead Town CC 1st XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 28w 3b 7lb 
for 8 wickets
40
237 (50.0 overs)		     
Hemish Ilangaratne lbw  J Mulvaney 42 79 5 53.16
Emran Ahmadzai b  T Banks 18 11 2 1 163.64
Maxwell Clark b  J Rosson 51 110 5 46.36
Brett Penny ct  J Rosson b T Banks 41 32 6 1 128.12
Tyler James b  J Mulvaney 1 10 10.0
Mark Brazier b  D Baylis 13 19 1 68.42
Carter Botha ct  D Baylis b P Patel 14 25 2 56.00
Charlie Hoskins b  D Baylis 5 4 1 125.00
Lucas Bertin Not Out  9 6 1 150.0
Jacob Hodgins Not Out  3 6 50.0
Darren James  

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben Adshead10.013400.003.40
Thomas Banks10.0045222.504.50
Dan Baylis10.0035217.503.50
Joshua Mulvaney10.0141220.504.10
Prathamesh Deshpande3.003600.0012.00
Priyesh Patel5.0028128.005.60
James Rosson2.00818.004.00

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 13w 11b 5lb 
for 9 wickets
32
212		        
James Rosson lbw  D James 1 5 20.0 1
Priyesh Patel ct  B Penny b L Bertin 19 45 3 42.22
Jithin Balan lbw  C Botha 24 34 2 70.59
Oliver Coulman ct  E Ahmadzai b C Botha 14 34 1 1 41.18
Moksudul Islam b  E Ahmadzai 8 11 1 72.73
Andy Wright b  M Brazier 3 29 10.34
Joshua Mulvaney lbw  J Hodgins 1 3 33.33
Prathamesh Deshpande b  C Botha 19 41 2 46.34
Dan Baylis ct  C Botha b T James 26 27 4 96.30 1
Ben Adshead Not Out  50 47 7 106.38
Thomas Banks Not Out  15 27 2 55.56

Hemel Hempstead Town CC 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Darren James5.0021121.004.20
Lucas Bertin10.0036136.003.60
Emran Ahmadzai6.0120120.003.33
Carter Botha10.0243314.334.30
Mark Brazier6.0211111.001.83
Jacob Hodgins4.0021121.005.25
Charlie Hoskins5.011700.003.40
Tyler James4.0127127.006.75

  • Umpire :
    Tim Harvey
  • Scorer :