Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI v Welwyn Garden City CC 2nd XI on Sat 25 Jul 2026 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 183 runs

Match report Spain winning the world cup, Tom Law making himself available, Welwyn picking a 3rd XI, all things that made us feel like we should have a win against a struggling Welwyn side, bottom of the table and their 4 top players playing for the 1s.

Early morning panic at nets as Jimmy Rosson's migraine caused yet another 2s debut this season, meaning Tom Wilton, Sarang Nair, Andy Wright and Ben Hicks appeared in a new-look top 7. Andy Wright's promptness at turning up for a morning net aiding a tough Saturday morning selection decision. Macca did some 1-to-1s, we were ready to take on the most annoying wicket keeper in the league.

Toss lost, Welwyn considered long and hard, nearly choosing to bowl first because "at least that means we can get some points before we lose", pretty excellent mind games from the skipper. T Law and Magee opened up, the tone set with a wide first ball (the first of 40 across the innings). Welwyn raced to 40 (one opener on 15, the other on 5, extras racing), before we really made any chances, skipper chipping one straight to Wilton at mid off. 1 and 3 saw off the seamers and started making hay with Alexis and John initially trying to find some rhythm. 100 mark was passed one down, St Albans were flagging. Drops from Jithin, Sarang and John Shaw (x2) didn't really help much at this point, but we continued to toil hard. Shaw got the breakthrough, Crawford falling for T Law's chat at short extra, before Alexis removed the opener, also getting the number 4 with a LBW that appeared to be hitting the mystical stump that's on the other side of leg stump. We'll take it.

Welwyn had built a platform, but what came next was relatively comical. The Ben Hicks show started as he decided to pull the pin out of some superior crowns and watch all the Welwyn players struggle to hit them, bringing Sandpit Lane tactics to Clarence. One wicket caught by Law (R), then a bowled, a stumping and a caught and bowled, a 4fer to bring us back into the game, Hicksy finished off his flair spell with a direct hit (taking a single to the bowler always quite an interesting decision), then T Law finished us off with a full straight one. 255 never a small total, but it did feel a good deck (the MCC game had millions of runs on it).

Sadly, there was a little bit of movement in the second dig, and we had proved the week previously that we weren't very good at that. A new top 3 of Wilton, Nair and Wright were undone pretty early, Nair going first ball, Wilton third, then Wright soon after. T Law went LBW second ball and the Saints were reeling. Law R and Balan did some work, Law with an on drive that would have given Macca some hope that he can coach after a barren season, and Balan with a glorious cover drive, holding the pose. Law castled on 13, I promise it was a good one. Balan stuck around as the change bowlers did their work with the tail and the procession began. 72 all out. Two bats getting double figures. The bowling was fine but an effort that lacked much integrity and resolve under any pressure. Jithin's 26 looked good, eventually outdone by sharp turn from the off spinner. Very little else positive to say. I can really understand why no one wanted to stick around at the crease, Welwyn's WK chat was absolutely chronic, he was rotating between Harry Kane songs and doing 67 over and over again. Pretty tough listening.

A resounding loss that puts us in the relegation zone and a big fightback needed. Rickmansworth (H) on Saturday. They're top of the league and Billy May is absolutely cleaning up. Time to change that.

MOTM - Ben Hicks (4fer)
DOTD - John Shaw (duck, dismissal, drops, first 2 overs)
SOTD - Jithin cover drive
HMOTD - Getting the oppo keeper out.



Welwyn Garden City CC 2nd XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 40w 8lb 
for 10 wickets
51
255 (49.3 overs)		     
Aayan Kureshi lbw  A Awonuga 72 80 15 90.0
Tommy Howgego ct  T Wilton b R Magee 9 42 21.43
Roman Crawford ct  T Law b J Shaw 25 27 3 1 92.59
George Ing lbw  A Awonuga 43 51 4 84.31
Harry Cox ct  R Law b B Hicks 17 45 2 37.78
Lucas Spong b  B Hicks 5 7 71.43
Kane Andrews st  J Balan b B Hicks 1 5 20.0
Thomas Whitton ct  B Hicks b B Hicks 4 3 1 133.33
Tom Cox b  T Law 20 25 4 80.0
Andrew Fennell run out  (B Hicks) 7 12 58.33
Tom Edwards Not Out  1 1 100

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Law8.3231131.003.65
Ryan Magee8.0037137.004.62
Abhishek Roy-Choudhury7.013300.004.71
Alexis Awonuga10.0055227.505.50
John Shaw8.0046146.005.75
Ben Hicks8.0045411.255.63

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
7w 6lb 
for 10 wickets
13
72		        
Tom Wilton b  A Fennell 4 3 1 133.33 1
Sarang Nair b  T Whitton 0 1 0
Andy Wright b  A Fennell 4 8 1 50.0
Rory Law b  T Whitton 13 29 3 44.83 1
Tom Law lbw  A Fennell 0 2 0 1
Jithin Balan b  T Edwards 26 37 4 70.27 1
Ben Hicks lbw  T Howgego 8 27 1 29.63 1
John Shaw b  T Edwards 0 2 0
Alexis Awonuga Not Out  4 6 1 66.67
Ryan Magee b  T Edwards 0 2 0
Abhishek Roy-Choudhury ct  G Ing b T Edwards 0 1 0

Welwyn Garden City CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Andrew Fennell6.012036.673.33
Thomas Whitton7.0223211.503.29
Tommy Howgego4.0110110.002.50
Tom Edwards2.401343.254.88

  • Umpire :
    TBC
  • Scorer :
    Us