Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI v Flamstead CC on Sat 27 Aug 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 71 runs

Match report A youthful 5s side entertained a strong Flamstead outfit on a sunny Sandpit Lane surface, following Kings Langley crying off last minute due to a number of a drop outs. Flamstead themselves had become available at short notice following their league match cancellation.
Flamstead were put into bat, with the enthusiastic duo of Bentley and Bavister handed the new ball, and they wasted no time in making inroads to the top order. Bavister managing to nip the bowl sharply into the batsman effectively on the astro track, which doesn't very often offer much assistance to bowlers. Whilst the aggression and consistent off-stump probing from Bentley made for a cagey, uncomfortable start for the Flamstead opening bats. And it wasn't long before both pacemen got their rewards, the stumps cartwheeling and the ball being sprayed aerially into the grateful hands of the Saints' fielders. Before we knew it, Flamstead were 30-4 and it looked like we might have been in for an early finish. Bavister finishing on figures of 3-17 off his 6.

But in come Rodri and Don - whether these were their actual names or ego boosting nicknames replicating Premier League footballers we may never know, but either way they were freshly available from the 1st team, so they could play, and play they did. Despite the best efforts of the Saints bowlers, who stuck at their task admirably and continued to bowl into good channels, these 2 had really had their eye in and started bludgeoning the ball to all corners of the Sandpit Lane arena. They were played excellently and put on 140 together to take the game away from Saints - prompting a retirement from Don, not before he'd hit an explosive ton. Rodri voluntarily trotted off shortly after to give his teammates some time in the middle, much to the relief of the St Albans fieldsmen. There was a breakthrough finally after this though from Melling junior though, after an excellent catch from O'Leary, covering lots of ground and demonstrating super athleticism in the take, this had been evident from the young man all innings - throwing himself around in the covers. So a welcomed wicket of Chandira, another very capable and destructive batter, who had made a rapid 33.
Flamstead finished on an impressive 272-5. It was hard work for the Saints fielders and bowlers alike, but everyone did well to keep sticking at it.

So a daunting run chase presented itself to the youthful line up St Albans, but that didn't phase opening pair Harris and O'Leary. Harris taking the attack to the Flamstead bowlers from the off, with some impressive hitting and a healthy strike rate to give Saints some early impetus in their run chase. O'Leary was a great support, before he departed for a dogged 14. Harris followed shortly after for 36, leaving Saints 55-2 after 12 overs, a good platform, but a reset was needed. Banks was soon back in the pavilion/marquee after some sharp work behind the stumps from Sagit - Banks had confessed to having a long coaching session with Pies immediately prior to the match and was carrying an injury too! Khan and skipper P.Melling were next at the crease with the rebuilding task whilst not letting the run rate slip away - Khan displayed good maturity in attack and defense of the Flamstead attack, including some good patience to negotiate some awkward well flighted spin. He sadly though did depart for a well constructed 20, and then Melling followed shortly after for 16, run out after some positive running between the wickets with Saints needing to up the ante to get anywhere close to this unlikely 273 target.
A super partnership of 50+ followed by the Berry and Melling juniors - Berry in particular, elated from Derby County's dramatic stoppage time turnaround, displayed an innings of immense maturity, and some really accomplished stroke play. He was growing in confidence and kicked the St Albans innings into life again. Melling at the other end was seeing the ball very well and helped to push the run rate along, including an effortless lofted 6 down the ground, before he departed the crease for 22. 152-6, and Berry changed nothing and persued his fluid run accumulation - knocking the ball around for sharp singles and playing confidently on both off and legside in finding the rope. He did then depart 7 shy of his maiden adult 50, thanks to a stunning catch in the slips by Rodri. The result had realistically gone from St Albans, but they kept at it and some impressive boundaries at the end from McNab, Bavister and Bentley at least saw Saints get over the 200 line.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable match, played in very good spirit by both sides, well done to all St Albans players for keeping at it and displaying a positive attitude throughout against a very strong league opposition.

Player of the match: Jude Berry - a superbly crafted 43. And also bowled with discipline and accuracy without reward against 2 very accomplished and well set batsmen. The future is very bright for Jude, as we hope that's the start of many successes in adult cricket.

Flamstead CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 5b  
for 5 wickets
9
272 (40.0 overs)		     
Ross ct  Bavister 1
Chami b  Bentley 7
Hassan ct  Bavister 4 1
Sour b  Bavister 16 3
Rodri Retired Not Out  83 12
Don Retired Not Out  100 16 3
Keshan Not Out  21 4
Chandira ct  A.Melling 33 5 2
Supal Not Out  12 2
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Bentley8.0037137.004.62
Charles (Charlie) Bavister6.001735.672.83
Frank O'Leary6.004000.006.67
Sri Harshith Yendapally6.004800.008.00
Fin McNab5.004200.008.40
Jude Berry4.002800.007.00
Andrew Melling4.0033133.008.25
Jonathan Harris2.001200.006.00

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 14w 4b 6lb 
for 9 wickets
25
201		        
Jonathan Harris Run out  36 4
Frank O'Leary ct  B.Awis 14 1 1
Thomas Banks st  Ross 0
Qasim Khan ct  Ross 20 2 1
Peter Melling Run out  16 1 1
Jude Berry ct  Hassan 43 4
Andrew Melling ct  Rodrigo 22 3 1
Fin McNab b  Hassan 13 2
Sri Harshith Yendapally ct  Chandira 0
Charles (Charlie) Bavister Not Out  4 1
Tom Bentley Not Out  8 2

Flamstead CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A. Leed5.002700.005.40
Chami5.002100.004.20
Ross8.0030215.003.75
B. Awis5.0125125.005.00
S. Rodrigo5.0126126.005.20
Sagit5.002400.004.80
Hassan5.001427.002.80
Chandira2.0011111.005.50