Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Harpenden IV on Sat 28 Aug 2021 at 12:00 midday
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 26 runs

Match report In their last match at home quarters for 2021, the Threes secured a comfortable victory over rivals Harpenden.

After a shower delayed the commencement, Walker managed a rare victory at the toss, allowing his team to bat first. Earlier in the season, the visitors had rolled Saints for 68 and clung on to win in a tight tussle at St George's School, but had since sunk into the relegation zone. With a bit of luck, or simply better application, Saints hoped to do better this time around.

Murray and Nisar looked assured early on, circumspect against the ageless Dearman. Murray was the first to go, well held in slip. Hussain entered, as always keen to see the run rate lift, and a further 40 runs were added before he fell for 23. Nisar continued on, somewhat frustrated by his ability to find the fieldsmen rather than the gaps between.

Grant joined Nisar, with a sense of urgency sought by the skipper in order to mount a defendable total and the score rose to 114 after 38 overs, whereupon a cluster of wickets fell. However, with renewed vigour, Nisar raised yet another half century, which included one hefty strike over the infield to the mid-on boundary, as his teammates, munching on their tea break Tavah wraps, applauded. Now pushing hard for risky singles, Nisar was out for a fine 68, an innings around which the team’s total could be built. With some final hustle, Winfield and Smith knocked up more runs with 36 added in the final four overs.

157 looked a reasonable total. However after an aggressive opening, an early bowling change was forced, with the skipper bringing on Rajani. Immediately the game changed, with the 2s stalwart claiming wickets in his first three overs, and another shortly after. Tight bowling to the new batsmen put a clamp on scoring, too. In a period of 18 overs, just 18 runs were scored, with Walker providing a good foil for Rajani. Rajani completed a superb spell with the outstanding figures of 9/6/3/4 - that’s right, just three singles conceded in nine overs of bowling.

Nevertheless, a partnership was building, with Hughes - a thorn in the side in that fixture back in June - holding up an end comfortably. After the drinks break, Harpenden needed to lift the run rate to keep themselves in the game, and were able to do this, while keeping wickets intact. The required rate kept getting steeper, before Saunders (3/31) weaved some magic in his 8th over, nabbing three wickets - two courtesy of Lawrence, in a strong performance behind the stumps for the keeper. With the two set batters out of the way, Saints were in better shape, but games have still been lost from this point.

However, Winfield, returning from the top end and sliding the ball past the outside edge maintained his composure, while Smith resumed and completed another economical spell. The final stanza of the game was completed by Murray, contributing his third fielding victim of the day, by nailing a direct hit run out from the extra cover boundary. Saints were home by 26 runs.

This wasn’t a perfect performance, but there was a pleasing discipline in the way everyone went about their game, and commitment to the cause that has sometimes been missing in 2021. That attitude is something to look out for in future.


St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 7b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
16
157		        
Nauman Nisar ct & b Hussain 68 8
Stuart Murray ct Hughes b Dearman 14 2 2 1
Humayune Hussain st McNeil b Callandine 23 2
Nick Ralfe b Hussain 8 2 1
James Grant ct & b Robinson 12 1 1
Amit Rajani ct Voigt b Hughes 0
James Lawrence ct - b Robinson 0 1 1 1
Tim Winfield Not Out  10
Charles Smith Not Out  6 1
Andrew Walker  
Andy Saunders  

Harpenden IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bisset9.004400.004.89
Dearman9.0312112.001.33
Callandine9.0231131.003.44
Hussain9.0131131.003.44
Hughes5.0013113.002.60
Robinson4.001125.502.75

Harpenden IV Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 5b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
9
131 (44.4 overs)		     
Robinson ct Murray b Rajani 9 1
McNeil b Rajani 18 4
Newton ct Murray b Rajani 0
Hughes st Lawrence b Saunders 21
Hussain lbw b Rajani 1
Parkinson ct Lawrence b Saunders 37 4
Voigt Not Out  20 3
Randhwana b Saunders 0
Bissett b Smith 9 1
Callandine run out Grant/Lawrence 2
Dearman run out Murray 1

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charles Smith9.0413113.001.44
Tim Winfield8.405500.006.35
Amit Rajani9.06340.750.33
Andrew Walker9.012400.002.67
Andy Saunders9.0031310.333.44

  • Umpire :
    Barry!
  • Scorer :
 
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