Scorecard

Aldenham v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 30 Jul 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 62 runs

Match report The Threes travelled to Aldenham, with a 100% League record against their ladder-leading opponents. A win would see them cling to faint promotion hopes.

For those unfamiliar with Aldenham’s home ground, it is positioned on a sloping field, with short boundaries uphill and at the farmyard end. Previous visits have seen tight finishes with totals well in excess of 200 tallied by both sides. With a dry outfield and a hard wicket, this is not a place for faint hearted bowlers.

Of course, Walker duly lost the toss and it was to be a bowl first day. The hosts had named a strong side, no doubt mindful of Saints' record against them.

Winfield began the day with a trademark no ball, providing direction to his opening partner Smith who added a pair of similar extras in his first over. It was something of a surprise when Smith got one to stay a bit low to sneak past the bat of the home team’s skipper and talisman, Chris Munroe. A crucial early wicket.

Letts, in at three, played a confident game, punishing the loose ball, which inevitably raced to the boundary. At the other end, Khaliq was subdued by Smith’s accurate bowling and perhaps this led to Letts’s attempt to carry the deep long off man, only to find Law. With Pich out next ball, Saints were buzzing at 70/3 in the 14th over. Smith, powering up the hill, finished with 3/36 from his eight over spell.

From there, wickets fell regularly, with partnerships never really established. Murphy, Walker, Button and Islam (2/9) all chimed in with wickets, while two run outs added to an excellent fielding effort from the Threes.

The first of those run outs was a that’s-so-village moment that really should have been caught on camera. The batsman swiped meekly at Murphy, sending the ball into the air, but without a great deal of forward momentum, an easy catch for someone. However bowler Murphy and keeper Lawrence decided to participate in a kind of Mexican standoff, each expecting the other to complete the simple take. So of course the ball fell to earth safely. Nevertheless, the fielding uncertainty had fed into the batters, who navigated out of the crease foolishly. Only now did some common sense return to proceedings as Lawrence retrieved the ball and threw down the stumps.

Aldenham out for 145 on a pitch that forecaster Law proposed was a par 240 - this was good business done.

So, to batting. All out in 20.4 overs. It would be kind to stop there. With a pacy start from Chudasama, Murray’s defences were breached, giving Aldenham the opening they needed. Nisar and Islam both perished against unnecessarily positive strokes; Murphy and Button continued the procession of batters back to the pavilion. In 40 deliveries, Saints had lost five wickets.

Law had toiled hard, bantering with the opposition even as he watched the sequence of wickets, and in conjunction with Lawrence there was a brief recovery, before Law was bowled by impressive first change Bazeley. Inexplicably, O’Toole was out first ball. Winfield and Lawrence showed that runs could be scored, with numerous boundaries and the score reached 74. Umpire AB then adjudged Winfeld LBW, despite a double sound and Walker became the fourth duck of the innings. Perhaps sensing the game was up, AB felt the need to raise the finger to end Lawrence’s fighting knock of 33.

Much credit has to go to Aldenham’s effort in the field. They held on to some difficult catches, chances created by excellent bowling that continually tested the batters by bowling an excellent line. In short, they looked a class above any opposition bowling unit from the division this year, and would deserve promotion in 2022.

Saints however will rue their lack of application with the bat, and the return to Clarence Park was once again with tails between legs.

St Albans player of the match: James Lawrence.

Aldenham Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 2w 1b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
14
145 (32.1 overs)		     
Chris Munroe b  Smith 5 1
U. Khaliq run out  Lawrence 29 6
B. Letts ct  Law b Smith 42 9
S. Pich ct  Lawrence b Smith 0
D. Knight run out  Murray/Lawrence 13 3
A. Tyrer ct  Islam b Walker 1
T. Hale ct  & b Islam 29 5
J. Bazeley ct  O'Toole b Murphy 5 1
I. Haque ct  Murray b Button 0
V. Chudasama lbw  b Islam 7 1
M. Ward Not Out  0

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jacob Winfield6.003300.005.50
Charles Smith8.0336312.004.50
Adam Murphy8.0126126.003.25
Andrew Walker4.0021121.005.25
Alfie Button4.0016116.004.00
Moksudul Islam2.10924.504.15

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 4b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
11
83		        
Nauman Nisar ct  - b Hale 1
Stuart Murray b  Chudasama 4 1 1 1
Rory Law b  Bazeley 9 2 1
Moksudul Islam ct  Munroe b Hale 0 2
Adam Murphy lbw  b Chudasama 5 1
James Lawrence lbw  b Bazeley 33 6 1 1
Richard O'Toole ct  - b Bazeley 0 1
Jacob Winfield lbw  b Bazeley 25 6
Andrew Walker ct  - b Bazeley 0
Charles Smith Not Out  0
Charles Smith  

Aldenham Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
V. Chudasama5.011936.333.80
T. Hale6.031527.502.50
J. Bazeley5.422555.004.41
B. Letts3.011700.005.67
M. Ward1.00500.005.00

  • Umpire :
    Us!
  • Scorer :
    Us!
 
Photos and video of Aldenham v St Albans Cricket Club 3XI on Sat 30 Jul 2022 at 13:00

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