Scorecard

Markyate CC 1st XI v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 30 May 2026 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 5 wickets

Match report With the availability gods conspiring against us – and with the Champions League final kicking off rather earlier than usual on the same afternoon, which may or may not have had something to do with it – we made the long haul out to Markyate's ground at Harlington (because that makes sense…) with a side drawn from across the club. Ash, Altaf and Ben were the only 3s regulars, with Sam, Olly, PD, Wrighty, Hugo, Walks all making the step up, whilst Immy selflessly relinquished the reigns of his 5s, and Daiwik came to the rescue at short notice. Any Arsenal fans among the missing will have found little comfort in their decision-making, given how that particular evening ended (enjoy your trip home Murph). Andy Wright was the skipper on paper, making a bold early call when he won the toss and elected to field in the heat, whilst Ash ran the show in practice, doing so with real composure on his maiden outing leading the 3rd XI.

Getting to Harlington is itself something of an achievement. Sat in the far reaches of South Bedfordshire, the drive was long enough to prompt several contemplative silences. The ground itself, though, was fine once you arrived – save for the pitch, which on first inspection looked like it had been prepared by someone with a grudge. A sloping strip, brown-flecked and somewhat apologetic in appearance, it prompted one or two raised eyebrows during the pre-match walkabout. As it happened, it played fairly reasonably. We've had worse.

The captains agreed to play leg-side wides, a local convention that raised a gentle murmur among those of us encountering it for the first time, but one that, in the event, probably worked out broadly in our favour – though Sam, on the receiving end of a rather harsh off-side wide call from the Markyate umpire, might argue that the officiating was somewhat questionable.

Markyate batted first on what turned out to be a quick outfield under bright, punishing sunshine. Altaf and Sam took the new ball, both bowling with admirable tidiness on an unfamiliar surface – 0 for 33 off 5 overs and 0 for 43 off 7 respectively. Walker weighed in with 1 for 40 off 6, his wicket coming when 3s debutant gloveman Olly dutifully whipped the bails off to account for the Markyate opener, stumped neatly for 29. Ash bowled a controlled 6 overs for 32, and PD managed the rate through a steady 5-over spell.

The afternoon's bowling centrepiece was Immy, who was the pick of the Saints attack. Returning 3 for 46 off 8 overs, he removed the Markyate innings' main source of resistance (with the aid of what can only be described as a rather generously proportioned bat, the dimensions of which prompted some light-hearted muttering in the field about whether it had been measured recently), along with two others in a disciplined, purposeful spell.

Daiwik bowled a very tidy few overs and also chipped in with a wicket, before he and Sam unfortunately found themselves on the wrong end of the late innings fireworks following the arrival at the crease of a Markyate big-hitter who seemed to take personal offence at the idea of dot balls. Five sixes and a four from his 15 deliveries – a cameo that nudged Markyate to 250 for 5, and what felt at the innings break like probably 20-odd too many.

Chasing 251, Olly got things underway at the top of the order, his defence looking solid in the early overs before he was caught for 3. Daiwik came in and played a crisp and purposeful 11 before being bowled, and from there the innings settled around Ash and Andy.

There was some on-field regulation to attend to early doors. One of Markyate's bowlers was removed from the attack after a second dangerous no-ball having already been warned, and what followed was a genuinely good chase, with the establishment of something quite novel for the 3s in recent memory: a partnership. Andy produced a number of his textbook bludgeoned cover drives, racking up a blistering 57 off 45 balls with nine fours and giving the chase real momentum. At the other end, Ash was enjoying some time in the middle, and produced a real captain’s knock, a classy and chanceless 74 off 87 balls with eight boundaries.

The pressure being applied by Ash and Andy led to some questionable Markyate tactics when a boundary fielder attempted to deceive the St Albans batters with a fake throw without the ball. Walks – wearing the umpire's hat with his characteristic brand of studied diplomacy – opted to issue a warning rather than an immediate five run penalty. In the context of a game decided by 12 runs, a generous call.

Eventually though, the 128-run stand came to an end when Andy unluckily let one through gate, bringing Ben to the crease. Ben took sometime to settle in. And then hit some powerful shots clearing the boundary many times, keeping the run rate approachable. He hit the only six by Saints.
Ash, meanwhile, kept the scoreboard ticking over before his excellent innings ended when the ball was unfortunately popped straight back to the bowler, looping gently into grateful hands. His 74 was the knock that had kept the game alive, and it was desperately unlucky to end that way.

Hugo came in looking assured and solid before being dismissed, and from there we needed to find something extra with the required rate climbing. Ben steadily built his innings (a long overdue 3s batting contribution) and was accompanied at the crease by the lower order: PD and Sam had brief stays trying to accelerate, and Immy was desperately unlucky – middling one which looked to have cleared the rope until a fielder plucked it from the sky on the boundary after seemingly misjudging it initially.

With 20-odd needed off the last 2 overs, Ben was bowled for 44 off 39 balls when he went after a straight one that had other ideas. Altaf and Walks saw out the final balls with 8 not out and 2 not out respectively, but the equation had slipped just beyond reach.

We closed on 239 for 9 – an agonising 12 runs short, with a sense that a strong middle-innings period had brought the game back to an achievable target only for a cluster of wickets and some tidy Markyate death bowling to put paid to it. There's a version of the day where we restrict Markyate to 230, or where Ash's dismissal doesn't happen, or where Immy's big hit clears the rope. On a day where availability had stretched the club, the 3rd XI acquitted themselves with real credit led by stand-in captain Ash.

Onwards to Ickleford at the home of cricket, with the 3s needing a run of to resurrect the promotion push.


Markyate CC 1st XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 21w 4lb 
for 5 wickets
26
250 (40.0 overs)		     
Shaukat Sheikh st  O Roberts b A Walker 29 49 5 59.18
Lovejeet Gill ct  I Ahmed b I Ahmed 90 90 11 3 100
Nasir Khan lbw  I Ahmed 6 23 1 26.09
Fezan Bukhari b  I Ahmed 29 32 4 90.62
Saqib Waheed ct  O Roberts b D Khedekar 20 23 1 86.96
Nasir Shah Not Out  40 15 1 5 266.67
Adeel Raja Anjum Not Out  10 8 1 125.00
Syed waqar Bukhari  
Rashid Latif  
Aurang Zaib Babar  
Swarnjit Shergill  

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Md Altaf Husain5.013300.006.60
Sam Davey7.004300.006.14
Andrew Walker6.0140140.006.67
Ashish Dean6.003200.005.33
Imran Ahmed8.0046315.335.75
Prathamesh Deshpande5.003000.006.00
Daiwik Khedekar3.0022122.007.33

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 20w 1b 2lb 
for 9 wickets
25
239		        
Olly Roberts ct  Unsure b A Zaib Babar 3 18 16.67 1 1
Ashish Dean ct  N Shah b N Shah 74 87 8 85.06
Daiwik Khedekar b  S waqar Bukhari 11 15 1 73.33
Andy Wright b  S waqar Bukhari 57 45 9 126.67
Ben Hingston b  S Shergill 44 39 5 1 112.82
Hugo Thomas ct  Unsure b N Shah 5 10 50.0
Prathamesh Deshpande b  S Shergill 7 7 1 100
Imran Ahmed ct  Unsure b S Shergill 0 4 0 1
Sam Davey ct  Unsure b S Shergill 3 4 75.00
Md Altaf Husain Not Out  8 10 80.0
Andrew Walker Not Out  2 3 66.67

Markyate CC 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Syed waqar Bukhari8.0127213.503.38
Aurang Zaib Babar3.0014114.004.67
Nasir Khan6.004600.007.67
Fezan Bukhari4.003100.007.75
Swarnjit Shergill6.003348.255.50
Adeel Raja Anjum5.003900.007.80
Nasir Shah8.0046223.005.75

  • Umpire :
    Team
  • Scorer :
    Team