Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI v Gully Boys XI - The Rematch on Sat 22 May 2021 at 12 noon
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 1 wicket

Match report For the third week in a row all of St Albans’ league games were called off due to the incessant rain and waterlogged grass pitches all over Hertfordshire.

The Astro strip at Verulam School Playing Fields (SLCG) however, is impervious to the vaguaries of the weather and so it was that the hearty men of the St Albans Club XI, unlike their 44 fellow members in league sides , were able to get a game on.

Bowling first against the same team they defeated by 6 wickets last weekend, new members Tom Cocks and Roop Roy took the new ball. Facing good line and length for the most part the Gully Boys found scoring runs tough initially with only extras keeping the scoreboard ticking along with any great regularity.

Both opening bowlers snagged wickets with each claiming a caught behind into the gloves of skipper Tommy Hutchinson in their opening spells.

Promising youngster Lucas Berry came on first change to bowl a nagging line and length and acquitted himself well, and was partnered by Fin McNab, whose bamboozling deliveries were a fantastic example of controlled leg spin. Both were unfortunate not to claim wickets.

Jamie Speller’s left arm medium pace was next before the veterans Andy Saunders and Vikash Narula were brought on as the batsmen, particularly the belligerent opener Sarang (81), were looking to free their arms and accelerate. Saunders was quickly into the action with a sharp caught and bowled before adding another wicket, while Vikash also added a pair of scalps and bowled with real consistency for his excellent figures of 7-0-2-20.

Roy and Cocks came back to bowl the death overs and Roy finally clean-bowled Sarang, whose innings came courtesy of an almost comical 5 dropped catches. If one had been held it would have been a significantly shortened match.

A target of 162 to win then and two young stars of the future, Lucas Berry and Alex Garcia-Ghuran were sent out to open the St Albans innings.

Though still somewhat diminutive in stature both batsman set about the bowling with gusto and were ahead of the run rate from the start . Their impressive partnership of 30 came to an end when Berry was run out in a close decision and shortly after Garcia-Ghuran was bowled.

Co-Chairman John Webber, playing his first match of the season, came to the crease and started to build what was an important inning of 23 in the context of the game, partnered first by Sam Davey, who smashed a quick dozen runs in his usual swashbuckling manner, and then Ben Geytenbeek who played the key St Albans innings, intelligently accumulating a classy score of 33. Between them Webber and Geytenbeek built a solid half century partnership and took the total past 100 before Webber was unfortunate to fall to a wild full toss which probably on reflection should have been called a dead ball due to the bowlers scream of ‘sorry!’ as he released it ….4 wickets then quickly fell for an alarming 10 runs as batters came and went in support of Geytenbeek before he too succumbed to a straight one while trying to accelerate the rate.

With just 6 balls left 10 runs were required for victory with only 2 wickets remaining. Tom Cocks and Roop Roy (11*) employed the ‘dab and run’ technique to good effect and into the final over 5 runs were needed. With just 2 runs required from the final 2 balls Cocks was bowled having contributed an invaluable 14 runs, which meant a nervous walk to the middle for last man Fin McNab. He took guard , the bowler ran in ……. And bowled 2 wides.

Game over and a deserved if somewhat anti-climactic end to a very enjoyable game against friendly opposition.



Gully Boys XI - The Rematch Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
24w 2b  
for 8 wickets
26
161 (40.0 overs)		     
Sarang b  Roy 81
Chintak ct  Roy 4
Pratik ct  Cocks 0
Vishal ct  Saunders 21
Dani ct  Nurala 6
Dhaval ct  Saunders 5
Hemal ct  Nurala 1
Praful Run out  6
Prianque b  Cocks 3
Krish Not Out  1
Chehal Not Out  1

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Cocks6.0028214.004.67
Roop Roy6.0023211.503.83
Lucas Berry5.001700.003.40
Fin McNab5.011300.002.60
Jamie Speller4.003400.008.50
Andy Saunders7.0024212.003.43
Vikas Narula7.0020210.002.86

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 18w 4b 3lb 
for 9 wickets
28
162		        
Alex Garcia-Ghuran b  Hemal 21
Lucas Berry Run out  9
John Webber b  Praful 23
Sam Davey b  Hemal 12
Ben Geytenbeek b  Pratik 33
Thomas Coulling b  Dani 6
Jamie Speller ct  Pratik 3
Roop Roy Not Out  11
Tommy Hutchinson b  Vishal 1
Tom Cocks b  Praful 14
Fin McNab Not Out  0

Gully Boys XI - The Rematch Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Pratik8.0122122.002.75
Vishal6.0022122.003.67
Praful8.0029214.503.63
Dhaval5.002300.004.60
Hemal6.0029129.004.83
Sarang1.00000.000.00
Dani6.0022122.003.67