Scorecard

Bharat Olympians v St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI on Sun 07 Aug 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report The home stretch of the Chess Valley League season commenced with a trip away to the Met Police ground to face undefeated league leaders Bharat Olympians, the first of three consecutive games which, on paper, appeared likely to be the sternest test of the Sunday 1st XI’s season. With the dropping out of Greenwood Park CC from this years league, and the subsequent deduction of all points related to their fixtures, the Saints somehow found themselves in the bottom three, albeit with a game in hand. 3/3 wins were still likely required to secure a promotion that many of the youthful side are yet to fully embrace as an ideal outcome, a theme the skipper has wrestled with for the duration of his tenure, and no punches were pulled in the selection of his team in this season defining game. West has adopted the dark arts of spotting vulnerable cricketers with pints in their hands, and duly roped in past skipper Hall to accompany a band of frankly gun SACC youth (and Sunday stalwart Stu) which completed an XI with an average age of 21.7 years. A glowing endorsement for the good things in store for years to come on both a cricketing and beering front.

On to the cricket, and West yet again failed his batting heavy side at the toss - tails was the call, but heads it would fall with the Sunday 1XI unsurprisingly requested to get their whites on to field.
Openers Church and Sims took the new ball, and impressed from the off, repeatedly beating the bat with their probing lines. Both were unlucky not to gain just rewards for their opening spells, with Sims earning the early breakthrough via a smart catch at square leg from Street. Perhaps if West could have deciphered the miming actions of Hall at slip then Church could have had a wicket aswell, with his suggestion of a fielding change for a catcher being placed at short 3rd man not being understood and actioned, and the inevitable next ball dolly dropping into that exact spot.
Winfield was introduced just before drinks, and Mulvaney replaced Sims at the other end just after. Past skipper Winners was instantly hitting his mark and testing the batters regularly, bowling a crucial ten over spell that was deserving of more. Joshy (aka Paul Bailey in the ears of the scorer) at the other end however, was struggling with finger issues and could only manage 5 overs in which he managed to turn one around the batsman’s legs to cries of “bowling Shane!”. The pitch appeared to be somewhat conducive to spin, so experienced campaigner Hall replaced him and frankly, after a chance went down in his first set, the less said about his spell the better.

By this stage, the score was poised at 161-3 with 11 overs remaining. With their #4 going nicely, the Saints were in need of a breakthrough to back up their good work in the first half. Ralfe and Murray were the two men selected for the task, with Nick delivering a wicket in each of his first 3 overs, including the stumping of their dangerous #4. After watching a straight lofted drive sail just over the rope for 6 no more seven yards away from him, Sims was awake for the next opportunity and gobbled one up in the deep, but shortly after West dropped a goober to deny Nick a 4-fer with a loopy catch to cover that failed to leave the sun, leading to a lengthy discussion about the appropriate tactics to deploy in such a scenario. The new batsman then took a liking to Ralfe and Murray’s offerings, so openers Church and Sims were brought back on for the death. Church was throughly impressive - his last 3 overs going for 1-12, including an outrageous caught and bowled to send a weighty looking hitter packing. Sims also claimed another a few balls after a snick sailed through the Winfield cordon, Lawrence’s gloves safely pouching the skied top edge.

The work in the field was done, and 233 was the target. Bharat’s scorer waxed lyrical about the quality of our bowling attack, declaring it the best they’d faced all season - high praise considering the undoubted lean towards batting strength in the XI. West and his side were optimistic of their chances, especially considering the aforementioned calibre of the batting line up - the 9, 10, 11 trio of Sims, Church and Winfield saying all you need to know.

In form Steve Perrin opened up with Street, and got us off to a rocket start - Pez especially dispatching the bowling to good effect. Streety was going nicely on 15 prior to his frankly awful luck continuing with regard to low bouncing LBWs, bringing the skipper to the crease.
His stay would not last long, as for the second Sunday running and for the 3rd time in 7 days he was hung out to dry by his partner. Pez seeming to have a look of half asleep confusion as following his glance to the man at short fine leg, West called him through for a run. The skipper got 3/4s down the track before abandoning the easy run and got a yard short of his ground before a direct hit sent him packing at the non-strikers.
The infuriated leader declared that the culprit had better get to 100 to make amends, and as if he had heard the words himself, Pez continued to knuckle down and amass runs in relatively chanceless fashion with partnerships alongside Nick, Stu and Josh - the latter being particularly unlucky to fall victim to an LBW call which hit his thigh pad.

Perrin went to his second Saints hundred with a single to long on following a flurry of boundaries, a moose over cow for 6 being the highlight. A top knock and one that anchored the chase in fine fashion. Bharat were ecstatic to remove him a few balls later, surely thinking the key breakthrough was made in pursuit of victory, but little did they know of the vastly over qualified tail in store, as Hall and Lawrence were now partnered with 53 required off the last 8 overs. They both ran between the wickets excellently and managed the remainder of the chase in assured fashion, despite contending with the ever lengthening Bharat Olympians board meeting between every over. Even after Hall’s polite reminder of it being a Sunday evening, the Bharat leadership still meticulously tinkered with the field and bowling at every opportunity, but to no reward. In the last over, Lawrence sent the ball to the boundary with the scores tied, and that was that. A fantastic win for the Sunday 1XI against the top of the league side which moves us up to joint 2nd in the standings.

Winners was finally allowed his Shandy, as the jug streak was back up and running once again. Chingford beckon next week for the final home game of the season at CP, where the ROT academy graduates will take to the field in a continued show of faith in youth. Who said you couldn’t win anything with kids?

Bharat Olympians Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 13w 5b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
21
232 (45.0 overs)		     
  ct  S. Street b G. Sims 22
  ct  S. Murray b J. Winfield 55
  b  J. Mulvaney 10
  st  J. Lawrence b N. Ralfe 60
  ct  G. Sims b N. Ralfe 12
  b  N. Ralfe 5
  ct  & b J. Church 16
  ct  J. Lawrence b G. Sims 23
  Not Out  4
  Not Out  2
   

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Church10.0134134.003.40
George Sims8.0326213.003.25
Jacob Winfield10.0240140.004.00
Joshua Mulvaney5.0026126.005.20
Jonny Hall5.003600.007.20
Stuart Murray3.002800.009.33
Nick Ralfe4.0034311.338.50

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
4w 8b 8lb 
for 6 wickets
20
236		        
Steven Perrin Caught  100
Samuel Street Lbw  15 1
Zach West run out  (S. Perrin) 0
Nick Ralfe Bowled  28
Stuart Murray Caught  11 1
Joshua Mulvaney Lbw  14
James Lawrence Not Out  31 1 1
Jonny Hall Not Out  19
George Sims   1
James Church   1
Jacob Winfield  

Bharat Olympians Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

  • Umpire :
    All of us
  • Scorer :
    ;)