Scorecard

Pinner 2XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 13 Aug 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost By 4 wickets

Match report
Saturday 13th August saw a strong St Albans 5th XI narrowly lose to Pinner in an entertaining game of cricket played in good spirit.
A very well-kept wicket welcomed the 5th XI to their Division 9B promotion chasing opposition, who had multiple regulars in the team after a league cancellation. St Albans won the toss with captain for the day P. Melling calling correct and duly inviting the home team to take to the field in sweltering conditions.

The St Albans innings started at a blistering pace, with openers J. Grant and P. Khatavkar (The latter having requested to open in the small hours of Saturday Morning during Karaoke at the Jolly Sailor) adding runs at a rapid rate, with the score racing along to 40-0 within the first 7 overs. Both found the boundary multiple times with ease and looked set. Unfortunately, both were out in quick succession, Grant bowled by one of the best balls of the day and Khatavkar out caught trying to clear the infield. Deshpande and Mistry arrived at the crease looking to rebuild after the 2 quick wickets, and both looked solid but found scoring tough initially. There was some very controlled bowling from Pinner in this time period, the two first change bowlers finding a probing length that made scoring hard.

After the run rate had slowed slightly both began to find more consistent scoring shots, with Mistry adding multiple boundaries and one big 6, before being bowled trying to hit another maximum. Deshpande was also able to accumulate well, eventually being caught on 16. P. Melling and J Kleiner-Mann (JKM) then took to the crease and looked to take the score onwards towards 150+. Melling added an eye catching 47, finding the boundary regularly with a combination of classy cover drives and lusty blows down the ground (Not bad for a man who felt “Not too clever” merely hours before the game started). JKM also looked good, adding 18 runs in partnership with Melling. St Albans middle to lower order was left with 5 overs to look to push the score towards 200, and unfortunately some good bowling meant wickets began to fall at a regular rate. The St Albans total of 185 was good but in truth probably looked 20 runs short on a good pitch.
After a lengthy tea break the St Albans team took to the field looking for a strong start to contain the Pinner batting line up. Openers S. Suryavanshi and Nathan Kleiner-Mann (NKM) bowled very well, with good pace and probing lines. The first wicket fell in the 7th over, with NKM getting the deserved breakthrough with the wickets of both the opener and number 3 falling in the same over. NKM finished with figures of 5-1-18-2 and Suryavanshi finished his opening spell with 4-1-15-0. The first change saw F. Killner and S. Davey introduced into the attack, with the aim of taking wickets. However, the change would also see an increase in the run rate, with the second opening bat finding the boundary in regular succession. He would eventually be caught off the bowling of Killner, having added 34 runs to the board. Killner finished his spell with figures of 6-0-48-2, Davey also picked up a wicket in a spell of 5-0-19-1.

These two wickets would bring the eventual game winning partnership together, with J. Carter (Son of the Pinner Opener, as oppose to the 39th US president) coming to the crease. From then on, he found the boundary regularly with relative ease and would end the game on 78 not out, St Albans having dropped him multiple times along the way! New bowlers were at this point introduced, with JKM bowling his leg spin and J. Button bowling down the hill. Both bowlers acquitted themselves well but were victims of some fairly brutal hitting with the left handed Panchal taking a liking to the leg spinner and Carter seeing it well off Button. St Albans would eventually get Panchal out, but by this time the game was firmly in the grasp of Pinner, needing only 20 to win. Despite the introduction of Khatavkar and reintroduction of Suryavanshi, St Albans failed to take another wicket, Pinner eventually chasing down the 185 total with 4 wickets to spare.

Despite falling short, this was a great run out for the 5th XI, who looked very evenly matched with a strong league team. It stands the team in good stead next year, a message echoed by the Pinner players at the end of the game. The team will probably feel that they left themselves 20-30 runs short while batting, and could have taken their chances in the field, but a good game of cricket all round.

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 9w 4b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
19
185		        
Prath Khatavkar ct Wanders 20 4
James Grant b Latihia 18 2
Prathamesh Deshpande ct Panchal 16 3
Sam Mistry b Vernerkar 36 3 1 1
Peter Melling ct Patel 47 6 1
Joshua Kleiner-Mann ct Patel 18 1 1
Joe Button b Dixit 0
Sam Davey b Patel 1
Nathan Kleiner-Mann ct Patel 3 1
Finlay Killner Not Out  2
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi st Dixit 9 2

Pinner 2XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Wanders6.0026126.004.33
Latihia5.0021121.004.20
Panchal8.0018118.002.25
Khan1.00400.004.00
Dixit8.0137218.504.62
Patel7.003248.004.57
Vernekar2.0023123.0011.50
Carter3.001200.004.00

Pinner 2XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 7w 3b  
for 6 wickets
16
192 (35.2 overs)		     
Carter ct Killner 34 6
Vernekar ct N.Kleiner-Mann 8 1
Choksi ct N.Kleiner-Mann 4 1
Dixit b Killner 15 3
Carter Not Out  78 11 2
Patel b Davey 4
Panchal ct Suryavanshi 27 5
Kakhia Not Out  6 1
   
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nathan Kleiner-Mann5.011829.003.60
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi7.2229129.003.95
Finlay Killner6.0048224.008.00
Sam Davey5.0019119.003.80
Joshua Kleiner-Mann4.002100.005.25
Joe Button4.003400.008.50
Prath Khatavkar4.002100.005.25