Scorecard

Cockfosters CC 1st XI v St Albans Cricket Club 2XI on Sat 22 Aug 2026 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 29 runs

Match report A strong 2nd XI visited Cockfosters hoping for a win to lift us out of the drop zone in Div 3A. Close up, the square (and pitch) was green. Rory won the toss and decided to bowl.

The first ball pitched on a length, scuttled along the floor. Three balls later one pitched same place flew through shoulder height. This pattern continued through the game, albeit more subdued as the ball got softer. How you bat on this I dont know but there is of course a reward for bowling straight.

Chennels was the pick of the SACC bowlers (4 for 30), Tom Banks bagged 3 wickets and Badsy bowled a mean spell of 7 overs 1 for 13. The others shared the wickets, CF were bowled out for 176 in 39.4 overs. This might have been higher but for the twin gingers Andy Rudlin and Chennels who probably saved 20 runs between them in the field.

There were only two 50s, a very hard earned 55 by their skipper Chris Holmes and the other, Extras (52, including a rediculous 30 wides).

The second dig continued in a similar vein with batting difficult against a wily and disciplined bowling attack. Against decent bowling crap pitches induce crap shots as you know one has your name on, and so it was. James Caswell (35) was the pick, playing late, batting carefully and cleverly. Whilst Caz was in there was still a sniff, but wickets kept falling.

CF's secret weapon (Alex Carter) came on after the 30th over and bowled straight and genuinely quickly for this level of cricket, blew away the tail, 4 overs 3 for 11. If he'd opened and bowled a length there would have been broken fingers on this apology of a pitch.

To sum up, the difference between the sides can be evidenced by extras (wides 30 vs 16), and directness of bowling (we had three wickets from bowled/lbw, they bagged six). The lesson - bowl straight and at the stumps, not the channels either side.

Other results went againt us leaving the 2nds at the foot of Div 3A, in real jeopardy of relegation. Mind you seven points split the bottom four teams, so all to play for.

Champagne moment: Matt Howeson's excellent one handed slip catch, you could almost hear his vertebrae cracking as he dived low to his left to pouch a very fine catch.

Lemonade moment: Westy's run out from a direct hit, who called the run.....?

Mardelli Rascal moment: the great man himself arriving with the Last of the Summer Winos tour, in excellent spirits and declaring his lunch at the nearby Cock & Dragon pub to have served the 'finest fish and chips I've ever tasted'. Chapeau Sir!

Cockfosters CC 1st XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
30w 11b 11lb 
for 10 wickets
52
176 (39.4 overs)		     
Joe Atkinson b  A Chennells 6 14 1 42.86
Daniel Stead ct  M Howeson b A Awonuga 17 41 2 41.46
Alex Carter ct  A Rudlin b A Chennells 2 12 16.67
Sam Barker b  T Banks 22 25 4 88.00
Chris Holmes ct  A Chennells b B Adshead 55 68 9 80.88
Matthew Stead ct  R Law b T Banks 4 10 1 40.0
Yasir Iqbal ct  M Howeson b T Banks 6 10 1 60.0
James Stead ct  J Caswell b J Winfield 2 7 28.57
Kieran Wetherill ct  A Rudlin b A Chennells 5 42 11.90
Bhargav Limbachiya b  A Chennells 1 4 25.00
Sagar Kachwala Not Out  4 5 1 80.0

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Aidan Chennells8.413047.503.46
Jacob Winfield10.0146146.004.60
Alexis Awonuga8.0236136.004.50
Thomas Banks6.002939.674.83
Ben Adshead7.0113113.001.86

St Albans Cricket Club 2XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
18w 15b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
35
147		        
Zach West run out  (Unsure) 14 34 3 41.18
Andy Rudlin ct  K Wetherill b S Kachwala 1 16 6.25 2
Matt Howeson lbw  B Limbachiya 19 46 3 41.30 2
Rory Law b  J Atkinson 17 20 3 85.00 1
James Caswell ct  K Wetherill b A Carter 35 59 4 59.32 1
Thomas Banks ct  S Barker b J Stead 0 14 0
Jithin Balan b  S Barker 15 15 3 100
Alexis Awonuga b  A Carter 7 15 46.67
Jacob Winfield b  A Carter 4 14 28.57
Aidan Chennells b  S Barker 0 2 0 1
Ben Adshead Not Out  0 1 0

Cockfosters CC 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Matthew Stead4.001500.003.75
Sagar Kachwala6.0112112.002.00
Joe Atkinson7.0127127.003.86
Sam Barker8.1136218.004.41
Bhargav Limbachiya5.0015115.003.00
James Stead5.0014114.002.80
Alex Carter4.021133.672.75

  • Umpire :
    Swapnil
  • Scorer :
    Mountain