Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Boys U12B v West Herts CC U12 Red on Thu 07 May 2026 at 17:30
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 2 runs

Match report Wickets proved to be the difference in a very tight contest between two evenly matched teams at a chilly Sandpit Lane on an early May evening.
St Albans won the toss and elected to bowl. Atticus and Sam took the new ball, with Atticus' left arm over proving difficult for the West Herts openers to navigate - a wicket (clean bowled) with the second ball of the match setting the tone nicely for a very mature bowling and fielding performance from St Albans. Atticus' two over spell ended with figures of two for nine, with a lovely caught and bowled to add to his early breakthrough. Only 11 net runs added by the first pair. It got even better for the Saints as over five brought three wickets - two for William and a run-out. Jay got in on the act too and extracted Kai in the 8th over. After two pairs, West Herts were in trouble at 210. Neerav bowled with good speed, bowling one of only two maidens that were delivered in match. Henry bowled straight, following the old adage of 'you miss I hit' to pick up another wicket. After 12 overs West Herts had only 208 on the board. The runs began to flow in the final 8 overs of the innings - 2 more wickets fell, but there were some extras and some lovely batting; this took West Herts final tally to 261. A competitive total on a pitch not offering a lot of help to the batsmen. St Albans's fielding was superb, the highlight being a fantastic one handed pick-up and throw at the stumps by Alex which resulted in a run-out; the concentration from all on a cold evening was brilliant.

St Albans were reminded during the break that not getting out would likely to be the key to success in the match ('block the straight ones'). Jay and William opened the batting, and combined for a net 15 runs - the highlight being a cleanly struck four to the midwicket boundary by Jay. Neerav and Henry accumulated slowly, adding a further 8 to the total. James and Alex were St Albans' third pair, at times defending well, but struggling to find gaps as West Herts' bowling tightened up. 12 overs done, and 47 still required. Sam and Atticus strode to the crease, and combined for 33 runs without a dismissal. The cricket was relatively risk-free, and showed what can be achieved when respecting good bowling, but taking runs when the opportunity arose. Harry and Joshua were St Albans' final pair, with 14 needed from their 4 overs. A lovely boundary for Harry was followed by a running mix-up (one of only a handful throughout the innings), meaning the first over added a net 1 to the score. 13 needed from 18 balls. Overs 18 and 19 passed without much incident, Harry timing the ball beautifully to the boundary another couple of times, and Joshua defending stoically. Going into the final over, the scores were tied. West Herts needed a wicket, and St Albans needed 1 to win - jeopardy still prevailed. The over started with three dots - all results still possible! Harry nurdled a single on ball four, and the pair stole a bye on ball five. A wicket for victory on the final ball and Yusuf would go down in West Herts folklore...it was not to be as he beat the bat but could not find the edge.

A jubilant St Albans team streaked onto the pitch whooping and hollering over their first victory of the season. The boys should all be proud of their performance - everyone contributed to the success - let's hope it's the first of many more to come this year.

West Herts CC U12 Red Batting
Player nameRunsOutB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
51
111 (20.0 overs)		     
Zayd Abdulrahuman6 0 18 33.33
Senula Weerabahu7 2 6 1 116.67
Kai Ngo8 3 12 1 66.67
Roman Afridi5 1 12 41.67
Aarav Patel3 1 12 25.00
Shiva V4 1 12 33.33
Zayn Sifan7 1 16 1 43.75
Viraj Sarna5 1 8 62.50
Yusuf Raja3 0 9 33.33
Jayan Tanna12 0 15 2 80.0

St Albans Cricket Club Boys U12B Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Atticus Walters-Gow2.00924.504.50
Samuel Hetherington2.001100.005.50
William Gosling2.001025.005.00
Jay Moody2.00919.004.50
Henry Luckhurst2.00616.003.00
Neerav Kulkarni2.01111.000.50
James Sharpe2.0010110.005.00
Alex Thompson2.002200.0011.00
Harry Newman2.001100.005.50
Joshua Dickinson2.001700.008.50

St Albans Cricket Club Boys U12B Batting
Player NameROutB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
46
103
(20.0 overs)		       
William Gosling4 1 14 28.57
Jay Moody12 1 10 1 120.0
Neerav Kulkarni1 1 12 8.33
Henry Luckhurst6 1 12 1 50.0
James Sharpe5 2 13 1 38.46
Alex Thompson2 1 11 18.18
Samuel Hetherington0 0 14 0
Atticus Walters-Gow9 0 10 1 90.0
Harry Newman17 0 17 3 100
Joshua Dickinson1 1 7 14.29

West Herts CC U12 Red Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Zayd Abdulrahuman3.01600.002.00
Zayn Sifan2.00832.674.00
Jayan Tanna2.00616.003.00
Shiva V2.002000.0010.00
Aarav Patel2.001600.008.00
Senula Weerabahu2.001000.005.00
Viraj Sarna2.0010110.005.00
Yusuf Raja3.00800.002.67
Roman Afridi2.001200.006.00