Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI v Welwyn Garden City 4XI on Sat 20 Aug 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 119 runs

Match report Saturday 20th July saw SACC 4XI welcome Welwyn to the Sandpit Lane Cricket Ground in their continued promotion push, still buoyant after the win against Broxbourne last weekend.

Upon inspection the wicket posed an interesting conundrum for the captains; a green top presented opportunity for the bowlers but the recent weather implied batting would be best. Unfortunately, the opposition captain called correctly, and the above decision was taken out of Skipper Saunders’ hands. The 4XI would bat first.

Death, taxes, Ash and Manny scoring runs, these are life’s inevitabilities. On the back of a stellar performance the week before our openers took to the crease in positive mood, and rightly so. The batsman looked on the front foot from the off, scoring fluently and punishing the bad ball. It was from over one that the openers looked in imperious form, with the run rate well above 4 in the first 10. They rotated the strike well in the opening overs, with one Welwyn opener bowling well while the other was liable to deliver a boundary ball or two an over.

St Albans arrived at the first drinks break wicketless (A break taken at 17 overs much to the annoyance of one of the Welwyn slip fielders), and to be honest it had been a chanceless period.

After drinks the batsman looked to further accelerate, with Ash bringing up his 50 shortly after. Both scored boundaries often and ran well. Ash would race into the 70s with Manny following him to 50, having batted sensibly, while providing some entertainment to the watching fans courtesy of a large six (some might say a top edge).

During this period the Welwyn team’s heads had dropped; they had worked through seven bowlers, with changes coming almost every couple of overs. This lack of consistency meant that Ash and Manny were able to continue the onslaught; Ash bringing up consecutive centuries around the 30 over mark. The opening stand was worth 204 when Ash was eventually out for 101, with Manny following shortly after having scored 86. A magnificent opening partnership that was a pleasure to watch.

Moksy was the next man in, having watched in excess of 30 overs with his pads on he pushed the run rate immediately, scoring boundaries from his second ball. He would make 20 off not many and drive St Albans’ total into the mid-200s. A mention also for Sam Street and James Grant who had waited patiently for their turn and were able to continue the scoring when needed. St Albans finished their innings on 243, Ash and Manny simply imperious.

After tea, the St Albans players returned to the pitch feeling confident, with Saints players hoping for a swift return to Clarence Park. Chaz Smith and Sam Davey were trusted with the new ball and both bowled a very tight line and length , making quick scoring almost impossible for the Welwyn openers, with Davey finding significant swing up the hill and Smith bowling with good pace from the top end.

The breakthrough would come around the 10th over, with Davey claiming a much deserved first wicket. It would be the only wicket to fall to the openers, Smith finishing with figures of 7-0-24-0 and Davey 8-2-13-1.

With the required rate already around 10 an over Saunders introduced himself and Winfield into the attack. Wickets came immediately for Saunders, whose left-arm-over off-spinners(?!) seemingly foxing the Welwyn batsmen, with catches going to Nisar, Davey and Rayden in the first few overs of his spell.

There was some counter attacking cricket from Welwyn - batsman Hudson hit an aggressive 40 odd in this period, with Winfield copping the brunt of the damage. It was in Saunders’ last two overs that the 4th and 5th wickets would come, one of which was a fabulous slip catch from Nadeem Arif, whose one handed effort was very impressive. Saunders’ finishing with figures of 8-4-23-5 and promising to buy the team a jug of Becks Blue at Clarence.

Winfield also picked up a wicket, another catch from Davey, and bowled very well – he was unlucky to be hit for multiple boundaries during the counterattack.

The cleaning up of the tail was left to Arif, who replaced Saunders and bowled his trademark probing line and length; he would take a wicket in his 3 overs.

There was also an introduction of Grant for his first league bowl of the season, and he struck immediately, taking the last Welwyn wicket with his first and only ball. League figures of 0.1-0-1-0 for Grant so far in 2022, not a bad effort at all!

In the end St Albans wrapped up a comfortable 119 run win, in large thanks to the efforts of Dean, Nisar and Saunders. However, the whole team played well, fielding well with catches taken throughout. Tom Rayden’s keeping also deserves a mention, it was very good on the day.

The 4s promotion push continues onwards!



St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 11w 13b 8lb 
for 3 wickets
33
243		        
Nauman Nisar Bowled  86
Ashish Dean Run out  101
Moksudul Islam Bowled  20
Samuel Street Not Out  3
James Grant Not Out  0
Nadeem Arif  
Sam Davey  
Thomas Rayden  
Tim Winfield  
Charles Smith  
Andy Saunders  

Welwyn Garden City 4XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R. Dolan8.0132132.004.00
L. Wells5.004000.008.00
P.Howes8.002200.002.75
N. Bruton7.003800.005.43
M.Wells4.003000.007.50
G. Hudson7.005100.007.29
D.Pirolo1.001200.0012.00

Welwyn Garden City 4XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 7b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
11
124 (34.1 overs)		     
T.Edwards ct Davey 20
J. Pholla ct Saunders 11
M. Priolo ct Saunders 0
M.Wells ct Saunders 0
G. Hudson ct Saunders 38
D.Priolo ct Saunders 5
M Sanders Run out  0
L. Wells ct Winfield 9
R.Dolan ct Grant 17
P.Howes ct Arif 2
N. Bruton Not Out  2

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charles Smith7.002400.003.43
Sam Davey8.0213113.001.62
Andy Saunders8.042354.602.88
Tim Winfield8.0035135.004.38
Nadeem Arif3.0011111.003.67
Ashish Dean1.00800.008.00
James Grant0.10010.000.00