Scorecard

Luton Town & Indians IV v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 18 May 2019 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 2 runs

Match report St Albans IIIs traveled north to Luton for this, their second fixture of the league season, looking to improve on their first round defeat.

After the usual mid-week round of drop outs from the other teams, a quite different XI gathered at Lancaster Avenue. With Pring admitting that he was an opening batsman by trade, the discovery that first gamer Wilton was a keeper, and the arrival of six foot ten bowler Sutton the skipper could see a team taking shape. There was further good news as the toss was won, affording the opportunity to bowl first on a damp wicket, a curiously concave shape.

Beanpole Sutton, returning to cricket this year after a long break, and Moksy Islam opened the bowling, each gathering a wicket in tidy opening spells. Introduced early on a pitch that suggested it would provide assistance, Mulvaney quickly dropped onto a good line and length and found some good turn. With his two wickets, Luton Town and Indians were in some trouble at 4/53, and the youngster completed his overs in a single spell 9/2/38/2, an excellent return. Winfield had provided a great foil at the other end with his usual miserly spell, unfortunate to see the ball pass the outside edge on numerous occasions.

As often happens, the momentum changed with a good partnership that carried the home side beyond 100. However, Walker’s entry to the bowling lineup precipitated a steady flow of wickets, infrequently interspersing poor deliveries with those targeting the stumps (even if occasionally via long hops). Against an inexperienced lineup, Walker took the final six wickets in fewer than eight overs, a rare feat. Luton Town had finished on 140, to set a target that looked very achievable. The fielding unit had down a good job, with Wilton’s St Albans debut behind the stumps laudable.

An excellent tea preceded the new opening pair of Ferguson and Pring, who went about their business nicely, in control of the target run rate of just more than three an over. However both would have wished to push on after their partnership of 42, and very quickly three wickets fell. Naqvi, looking more fluid this week for his 39, and Mulvaney then teamed up well to take the score on to 96. But again a cluster of wickets fell: four for just five runs as the brothers Islam both failed to trouble the scorers.

During this period the runs had been put on snooze, too, so Saints were in trouble. Walker took it upon himself to play aggressively, putting the pressure back on Luton, however his luck ran out after 16 runs - 21 now needed off 23 deliveries. Sutton had not recommended himself to the captain in an appraisal of his own batting, yet arrived at the wicket and struck the ball hard. The runs were accruing just quickly enough to keep those watching from the sidelines hopeful. With the last over upon us, five runs were required. Could Saints get over the line? Two runs of those were acquired, before Sutton departed: now three off two needed, but that proved too many for the crestfallen Ashton, who wished that his day had required nothing more than managing the scorebook. After all, this should really have been a total achieved by the batsmen.

So, a two run defeat, almost a reverse of Saints’ one run win over these opponents in 2018, and a bitter disappointment. Though the difference seems insignificant, the reduction to 45 over cricket necessitates just a little more urgency when at the crease, while losing wickets in groups never helps. Let’s hope that lessons will be learned as the season develops.

Luton Town & Indians IV Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 8w 4b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
14
140 (42.3 overs)		     
Qamar b  Sutton 2
Patel b  Walker 52
Zameer b  Islam 14
Patel lbw  b Mulvaney 1
Dalvi ct  Islam b Mulvaney 7
Raj b  Walker 21
Rana lbw  b Walker 3
Rana Not Out  20
Rafiq b  Walker 4
A. Singh ct  Wilton b Walker 1
H. singh b  Walker 0

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Sutton5.0016116.003.20
Moksudul Islam7.001500.002.14
Joshua Mulvaney9.0238219.004.22
Tim Winfield9.022100.002.33
Andrew Walker7.213065.004.09
Mo Naqvi5.011100.002.20

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 8w 6b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
16
138		        
Ryan Pring lbw  b Rafiq 15 3
Steve Ferguson b  Singh 13 1
Mo Naqvi st  - b Qamar 39 7
Tom Wilton lbw  b Rafiq 1 1
Joshua Mulvaney ct  & b Viren 17 2
Moksudul Islam ct  - b Viren 0 1
Khayrul Islam b  Qamar 0
Tim Winfield Not Out  7
Andrew Walker ct  - b Qamar 16 1
James Sutton ct  - b Rafiq 11 2
David Ashton b  Rafiq 0

Luton Town & Indians IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A. Singh9.0227127.003.00
Dalvi5.03700.001.40
Rafiq5.501944.753.26
Khan4.001600.004.00
Rana3.001700.005.67
Qamar9.002438.002.67
Viren9.0221210.502.33

  • Umpire :
    From the XI
  • Scorer :
    From the XI
 
Photos and video of Luton Town & Indians IV v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 18 May 2019 at 13:00

18/05/2019 - Luton Town & Indians IV v St Albans III - St Albans innings

18/05/2019 - Luton Town & Indians IV v St Albans III - Luton Town and Indians innings