Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Graces CC Graces XI on Sun 02 Aug 2026 at 12:30
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 54

Match report The Sunday 1st XI arrived at Clarence Park looking to extend their excellent start to the Chess Valley Division One season, having won their opening three matches. The only blemish on the record remains the nine points deducted after two concessions and failing to provide an umpire in any of their games so far, meaning St Albans somehow started the day in the relegation zone despite not having lost a match.

Winning the toss, skipper Lawrence had no hesitation in batting first. The familiar opening partnership of Murph and Stu strode out to the middle. Clearly aware of Murph's well-documented vulnerability to spin, Graces opened with an off-spinner. Murphy kindly saw out (played-and-missed) a maiden while the rest of the team were still attempting to persuade the scoreboard to work.

Once operational, Murph soon got going with several trademark booming cover drives, while Stu made it look trickier from the other end. The pair added 53 for the first wicket before Murph attempted one drive too many and holed out for an entertaining 34.

Fresh from four consecutive half-centuries, Ahaan (Ashish Dean) arrived full of confidence... and promptly nicked off for a duck. Thankfully, Moksudul Islam had other ideas. Taking on the aggressor's role while Stu continued to rotate, Moksy played superbly, racing to 72 from just 58 balls, including five fours and three sixes. Stu eventually decided 32 was enough entertainment for one afternoon and departed, allowing Banksy his long-awaited opportunity at No.5.

Banksy briefly justified his campaign by dispatching the spin attack before missing a straight one for 16, Andy Wright skied one shorlt after and when Moksy eventually fell with the score 185-6 thoughts briefly turned to another classic St Albans collapse. Fortunately, Sunday gun Nick Ralfe was in at 7 for his season debut. Blasting 65 from just 45 balls, including four huge sixes, Lawrence (20) and Sandipan Chanda (10*) ensured the innings finished strongly. With the ever-reliable 30 extras also chipping in, St Albans closed on an imposing 285-8.

Perhaps slightly too confident in his bowling attack and seeing how spin friendly the wicket was Lawrence handed the gloves to Murph for the start of the innings. Four overs later, with Graces cruising to 39 without loss, everyone grew a little worried.
Banksy eventually made the breakthrough, "rushing" the opener into chopping on before Charlie Chennells' opening spell came to an end. Charlie Knight, making his Clarence Park Chess Valley debut, immediately tightened things up with an excellent spell of 3-38, while Ahaan began to exploit the increasingly unpredictable surface.

In the field, Andy Wright did his best to ensure every single became a comfortable two, while a combination of overthrows, extras (18) and the occasional generous piece of fielding kept the visitors interested. Despite regular wickets falling, they still only required around 115 from the final 15 overs with two established batters at the crease.

Sensing the game needed tightening, Lawrence reclaimed the wicketkeeping gloves from Murph. The immediate reward? Murph not spinnig one and catching the outside edge for Lawrence to shell. Luckily, Ahaan returned and put the game to bed, claiming 5-29 from 8.5 overs, to record his first five-wicket haul for the club, resulting in a relatively comfortable 54-run victory, making it four wins from four (two conceded) and still in the relegation zone despite having won the same number of games as 1st placed Chingford.


St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 20w 7b 1lb 
for 8 wickets
30
285		        
Adam Murphy ct M Earl b J Halai 34 33 7 103.03
Stuart Murray ct M Tweddle b K Sachdeva 32 76 2 42.11
Ahaan Dean ct A Leydon b J Halai 0 6 0 1
Moksudul Islam ct J Halai b M Tweddle 72 58 5 3 124.14
Thomas Banks b K Sachdeva 16 16 2 100
Andy Wright ct D Page b J Halai 5 6 1 83.33
Nick Ralfe b K Sachdeva 65 45 3 4 144.44
James Lawrence lbw J Halai 20 20 2 100 1
Sandipan Chanda Not Out  10 10 1 100
Charlie Knight Not Out  1 2 50.0
Aidan Chennells  

Graces CC Graces XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jesant Halai10.023448.503.40
Simon Lycett5.003300.006.60
Krishan Sachdeva10.0056318.675.60
Damon Page8.004900.006.12
Vik Rajendran7.005300.007.57
Mark Tweddle3.0031131.0010.33
Ambikesh Sharma2.001700.008.50

Graces CC Graces XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 18b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
34
231 (38.5 overs)		     
Prathamesh Jagtap ct Unsure b C Knight 25 40 3 62.50
Krishan Sachdeva b T Banks 25 16 6 156.25
Jesant Halai ct Unsure b A Dean 92 101 10 91.09
Matt Earl ct Unsure b A Dean 6 11 1 54.55
Arijit Sen ct J Lawrence b C Knight 4 6 1 66.67
Adam Leydon ct Unsure b C Knight 13 21 1 61.90
Simon Lycett b A Dean 30 32 2 93.75
Ambikesh Sharma ct A Dean b A Dean 0 2 0
Damon Page b A Dean 2 4 50.0
Mark Tweddle run out  (Unsure) 0 1 0
Vik Rajendran Not Out  0

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Aidan Chennells4.003300.008.25
Thomas Banks6.0031131.005.17
Ahaan Dean8.512955.803.28
Charlie Knight9.0048316.005.33
Nick Ralfe7.003800.005.43
Adam Murphy4.003100.007.75

  • Umpire :
    All
  • Scorer :
    All