Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Wheathampstead II on Sat 23 Jul 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 7 runs

Match report Disappointing doesn't cover it by half.

The 3s faced Wheathampstead 2s at Sandpit Lane seeking to reverse defeat in their away fixture but miserably undersold themselves in a defeat that is likely to consign them to another season in Division 8A.

In a week where the club's strength yielded not just six teams, but six strong teams, the 3s fielded their best XI in years against an opponent who sat in the bottom half of the table.

Losing the toss was not ideal but batting second would play into the team's strengths.

A litany of failures began with three no balls to start the day, Winfield the erring bowler. Rosson, up the hill, did better. Wheato were circumspect in response with Murray claiming a 2nd slip catch off Winfield to get Saints under way.

Murphy, introduced early, further stifled the opposition in an eight over spell that yielded 2/11. Soon enough Wheato were 85/5 and Saints felt comfortable.

But across the final 13 overs the visitors added nearly 100. There was a catalogue of errors: wickets from no balls, numerous wides, catching chances refused, chances dropped, overthrows and too many four balls. The team was probably a bowler short, a situation further exacerbated by the skipper’s injury struggles, but this could not justify how Wheato was let off the hook.

Still, Rosson (J) picked up three wickets in an over - his first in four years - and Murray added one, and so Wheato finished on 183. They might have managed 50 less, but still 4.5 an over, given this batting lineup, was more than achievable.

West and Nisar started well, punishing the loose deliveries to advance the score to 51 before West miscued to be out for 27 at the end of the 10th over. Law and Nisar settled in and started to find the boundaries, Nisar striking a clean powerful six through square leg to outline his dominance. In the 25th over the score was on 118 with just the one wicket down; surely Saints had this in the bag? In the field, Wheato felt like the game was gone.

Perhaps that confidence was the cause of some complacency that now saw the match quickly turn. Law’s 39 run knock was ended when he just failed to clear the long on boundary and Nisar nicked off after yet another half century. Three down. Wilton, Murphy and Rosson were then all dismissed with the total on 139. Six down. The run rate was still under control, though there were only four wickets in hand. Still, those remaining batsmen included Murray, Caley and Winfield. One of those would get us over the line - wouldn’t they?

Well, Winfield tried hard, with 16 before a misjudged second run lead to his departure. The last pair - not incapable, but not a combination to whom the responsibility for scoring runs was assigned - were left with 13 runs to get in the final 17 balls. The miracle didn’t happen for Saints, as Wheato completed a remarkable come from behind victory.

The Threes had twice fallen apart in this game, losing their way in the field, and then playing some brainless cricket when batting. Almost everyone in the team should feel culpable in some way: those who scored runs should have pushed on for more; those who played poor shots early will have wished for a second chance. For an experienced lineup it was all very hard to explain.

Defeat here leaves the Threes in fifth with chances for promotion almost gone.

With this bitter result, the team reluctantly returned to Clarence Park, not especially keen to face the inevitable interrogations from clubmates about what had transpired. Regret is a difficult pill to swallow, but fortunately there will always be another game of cricket to offer an opportunity to turn things around.

St Albans player of the match: Adam Murphy.

Wheathampstead II Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
11nb 9w 10b  
for 9 wickets
30
183 (40.0 overs)		     
T. Gilham ct  Murray b Winfield 0
J. Danbury-Nolan ct  J. Rosson b West 17 1
A. Robbins ct  Law b Murphy 25 5
T. Li ct  Law b Murphy 11 1
N. Lloyd b  Winfield 9 1
A. Jayamaha b  J. Rosson 32 4 1
H. Smith b  J. Rosson 46 5 1
T. Birkwood ct  - b J. Rosson 0
H. Brandt ct  West b Murray 0
D. Dabare Not Out  14 1
T. Lloyd Not Out  2

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jacob Winfield8.0053226.506.63
Daniel Rosson8.022400.003.00
Andrew Walker5.004000.008.00
Adam Murphy8.021125.501.38
Zach West8.0028128.003.50
James Rosson2.001234.006.00
Stuart Murray1.00616.006.00

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 2b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
10
176		        
Nauman Nisar ct  Li b Dabare 52 8 1
Zach West ct  Danbury-Nolan b Birkwood 27 4
Rory Law ct  Danbury-Nolan b T. Lloyd 39 7 2
James Rosson ct  Li b T. Lloyd 14 2 1
Tom Wilton ct  Dabare b T. Lloyd 2
Stuart Murray ct  Smith b Birkwood 7 1
Adam Murphy run out  Birkwood 0
Jacob Winfield run out  Smith 16 2
Phil Caley ct  - b T. Lloyd 2
Andrew Walker Not Out  5
Daniel Rosson b  Smith 2

Wheathampstead II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
H. Brandt3.001500.005.00
J. Danbury-Nolan5.003300.006.60
H. Smith6.3034134.005.23
T. Birkwood8.0229214.503.63
D. Dabare8.0117117.002.13
T. Lloyd8.0144411.005.50

  • Umpire :
    Us
  • Scorer :
    Us
 
Photos and video of St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Wheathampstead II on Sat 23 Jul 2022 at 13:00

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