Scorecard

Bentley Heath CC 2nd XI v St Albans Cricket Club 4XI on Sat 20 Jun 2026 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 7 wickets

Match report If you keep things simple in cricket, you win a lot of matches. Bowl straight, catch the ball, make the batsmen work for
every run, and when it's your turn to bat, don't give your wicket away. St Albans 4th XI did all those things at Bentley
Heath and deserved their seven-wicket victory.

Choosing to field first, St Albans never allowed Bentley Heath to get away from them. Too often in club cricket sides
let an opposition innings drift, but there was none of that here. Andy Saunders led the way with 3 for 29, bowling with
good control and taking wickets when they mattered. Prathamesh Deshpande was as economical as ever, giving very
little away in his eight opening overs, Andrew Walker was very economical for his overs partnership with Saunders.
Tim Winfield and John Shaw chipped in with two wickets apiece to close the innings out. The fielding backed up the
bowlers well, despite a few sharp drops and Bentley Heath were restricted to 134 for 9, a score that always looked a bit
light on a decent batting surface.

The home side had one or two batsmen who got starts, but nobody went on and made the sort of innings that wins
matches. That's what happens when bowlers keep putting the ball in the right areas. There is no mystery to it. St Albans
were disciplined throughout and earned the right to be favourites at the interval. Captain Sam Davey watched
proceedings unfold but was not required to bat or bowl during the afternoon (a captain thinking of his team).

Now, chasing 135, the important thing is not to panic if you lose an early wicket or two. You don't win the game in the
first five overs, but you can certainly lose it. St Albans briefly found themselves 14 for 2, but after that there was no fuss
and no drama. Ben Hingston played exactly the sort of innings you want from a top-order batsman, making 59 and giving
the chase some structure. He built the platform, kept the scoreboard moving and made sure there was no collapse.
Then came Moksudul Islam. Once he got himself in, he played some outstanding attacking cricket. His unbeaten 60 from
only 32 balls took the game away from Bentley Heath completely. There is a time to be careful and a time to cash in,
and he judged it perfectly. Seven fours and four sixes later, the result was beyond doubt.

St Albans reached 138 for 3 with plenty of overs to spare. It was a proper team performance. The bowlers did the hard
work, the fielders supported them, Hingston laid the foundations and Islam finished the job.

Nothing fancy, just good cricket. And when you play good cricket, more often than not, you win

Bentley Heath CC 2nd XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 9b  
for 9 wickets
16
134 (40.0 overs)		     
Chetan Bakrania b  A Husain 26 31 3 1 83.87
Sam Ahangama ct  B Hingston b P Deshpande 2 19 10.53
Tahir Malik b  A Saunders 9 47 19.15
Shabaz Hussain ct  Unsure b A Saunders 29 57 5 50.88
Anura Rajapaksa b  A Saunders 12 14 2 85.71
Lahiru Weerasinghe ct  D Khedekar b J Shaw 22 38 3 57.89
Ali Raza ct  Unsure b T Winfield 5 16 31.25
Babar Ali b  T Winfield 12 11 2 109.09
Subhaan Omran Not Out  0 1 0
Ismail Khan st  B Hingston b J Shaw 1 2 50.0
Imran Ali Not Out  0 5 0

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Md Altaf Husain8.0030130.003.75
Prathamesh Deshpande8.0117117.002.13
Andrew Walker7.011900.002.71
Andy Saunders8.032939.673.63
Tim Winfield5.0120210.004.00
John Shaw4.011025.002.50

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
6w 1b  
for 3 wickets
7
138		        
Olly Roberts ct  Unsure b S Ahangama 8 25 1 32.00
Ben Hingston b  I Khan 59 61 8 1 96.72 1 1
Daiwik Khedekar ct  Unsure b S Ahangama 1 10 10.0 1
Moksudul Islam Not Out  60 32 7 4 187.50
Prathamesh Deshpande Not Out  3 9 33.33
Andrew Walker  
Andy Saunders  
John Shaw  
Tim Winfield  
Md Altaf Husain  
Sam Davey  

Bentley Heath CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Imran Ali3.00800.002.67
Lahiru Weerasinghe6.012300.003.83
Sam Ahangama5.0128214.005.60
Babar Ali3.002500.008.33
Ismail Khan3.5029129.007.57
Anura Rajapaksa2.002400.0012.00