Scorecard

Old Albanian IV v St Albans Cricket Club 4XI on Sat 03 Jul 2021 at 12.00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 7 wickets

Match report After last week’s disappointing last over loss against Berkhamsted hopes were high for a good response against Old Albanians who haven’t enjoyed the best start to the season so far.

It was terrible toss to lose and skipper Andy Saunders duly did so with St Albans put into bat on a damp but drying wicket that from the off made it hard for the opening batsmen, Michael ‘Eammo’ Eames and Naveed Ahmed. Both worked hard in the opening stages against balls leaping and spitting all over the place but Ahmed was caught and bowled for just 1 after getting frustrated with the situation. Sam Mistry came and went for a duck at 3, Dave Hancock hit a boundary before departing on 8 and wicketkeeper James Lawrence managed just 5 runs before he too went.

At 66-4 things were looking grim but Eames was keeping the scoreboard ticking along hitting the occasional boundary (not easy on a damp outfield) and running sensibly between the wickets. A series of decent partnerships between Eames and Ben Adshead (18), Sam Davey (18) and Glenn O’Grady (18) helped the push the score up to a respectable 152-9 at tea, with Eames’ admirable 53 the foundation on which the innings was built.

With the pitch and outfield drying fast and becoming more benign by the minute Saunders opted to open the bowling with his slow left armers at one end and Glenn O’Grady’s quicker left armers at the other. Both were effective with Saunders having one of the openers dropped in his second over and clearly stumped shortly after (though not given by the square leg umpire to the bemusement of the Saints players), and O’Grady bowling tight lines and snaring the other opener with a sharp caught and bowled for 10.

Debutante Prathamesh Despande (PD) came on to bowl his medium pace and at drinks the opposition were 58-1 having been pegged back to less than 3 an over.

In contrast the second half of the innings was somewhat forgettable with some very loose bowling, and if leg side wides were being strictly enforced it would have been a much quicker game. Whereas last week the bowling and fielding was very good, on this occasion it was well below par with poor line and length too evident throughout overs 20 to 40.

Credit to the batsmen, particularly T. Dawood whose 65* was a match winning innings, but too many easy runs were conceded, not helped by 27 extras even with some generous umpiring.

When Dawoud was dropped on the boundary and an audible snick behind wasn’t heard by the umpire the game was up. An overall failure to respond in key moments particularly in the field, was the reason this game was lost, albeit in the final over.

A run of three losses on the bounce is concerning, even though two of those matches should have been won, but there is enough talent and character in the 4XI squad to mount a strong challenge in the second half of the season.


St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
152		        
Michael Eames b Niel 53
Naveed Ahmed ct Iqbal 1
Sam Mistry ct Iqbal 0
David Hancock b Le Fleming 8
James Lawrence ct Hassan 5
Ben Adshead ct Baker-Madoc 18
Sam Davey lbw Baker-Madoc 18
Prathamesh Deshpande ct Niel 6
Glenn O'Grady b Le Fleming 18
Andy Saunders Not Out  3
Saud Fattah Not Out  4

Old Albanian IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
M. Niel 8.031829.002.25
A. Iqbal5.001025.002.00
B. Le Fleming7.0125212.503.57
S. Ba3.001800.006.00
T. Hassan5.0018118.003.60
H. Dawood5.002600.005.20
S. Baker-Madoc6.0031215.505.17

Old Albanian IV Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
10w 14b 3lb 
for 3 wickets
27
155 (39.1 overs)		     
T.Smith ct O'Grady 10
M. NIel b Davey 44
T. Dawood Not Out  65
K. Dawood Run out  9
A. Hassan Not Out  0
   
   
   
   
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Glenn O'Grady8.0422122.002.75
Andy Saunders8.002000.002.50
Prathamesh Deshpande4.001500.003.75
Saud Fattah8.032000.002.50
Ben Adshead8.004600.005.75
Sam Davey3.1015115.004.74