Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI v Hatfield Hyde 2XI on Sat 10 Jun 2023 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 6 Wickets

Match report A hot day, a seemingly flat pitch, a successful toss, and a decision to bat – what could possibly go wrong?

Well........from the moment Ashish Dean and Prathamesh Deshpande strode out to open the batting for Saints with the skippers’ instructions of “bat long” ringing in their ears, things felt a bit off.

The opening pair of Hatfield Hyde bowlers hit their straps from the start, with hostile pace, good lines and lengths and a confidence that had the two Saints batsmen blocking and leaving from ball one. After chewing up the first few overs with few runs to show for it Prath was the first to go -trapped LBW- followed by Najib Khan and Matt Shadwick who both fell in quick succession leaving the home side floundering on not many for three wickets. Ash was battling hard, showing his usual grit and focus on a pitch that was admittedly “doing a bit” before an ill-advised second run and a direct throw saw him dragging his bat disconsolately back to the boundary.

What followed was a succession of poor shots and bad decisions that saw Saints batsman exiting stage left with worrying regularity and when Tim Winfield became the 10th wicket to fall the score had barely staggered to 98.

After the break and with a rousing “come on lads, we can still do this” effort at morale boosting from the skipper, Ash and Tim opened up the Saints attack.

Ash was his usual fiery self and brought the demons in the pitch to life nipping out both the opposition openers in an impressive spell of 7-2-16-2. Tim struggled to find his usual rhythm and faced batsmen who punished anything too straight or leg side, as a much more aggressive approach was taken compared to Saint’s timid efforts.

Skipper Andy Saunders and Rajiv Surendranath slowed things down at the first change, each claiming a wicket (a brilliant catch from Matt Shadwick giving Saunders his scalp) but a combination of uncharacteristically poor fielding, unnecessary extras and confident front foot batting saw the run rate creep up and the target diminish, and the paltry target was easily surpassed with only 4 wickets down and almost 20 overs left in the bank.

This was a forgettable day with few if any positives to be taken from a game in which Saints were comprehensively outplayed and perhaps worse, culpable in their own downfall. However, there’s always another game of cricket and next week the 4XI go to Hoddesdon with thoughts of redemption uppermost in their minds.

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 3b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
21
98		        
Ashish Dean Run out  25 2
Prathamesh Deshpande lbw b. Naroyaan 0
Najib Khan b b. Thake 0 1
Matt Shadwick b b. Naroyaan 1 1
Marcus Cunnington b b. Sammararoon 11 2
nasibullah Maroofkhel ct b. Bolland 0
Hugo Thomas ct b. Sammararoon 14 2
Jithin Kalarickal George ct b. Choudary 6 1
Rajiv Surendranath ct b. Choudary 8 1
Tim Winfield ct b. Ghafoor 6 1
Andy Saunders Not Out  6 1

Hatfield Hyde 2XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
G Thake7.021628.002.29
Naroyaan8.031427.001.75
Bolland8.0043143.005.37
Sammararoon8.041628.002.00
Choudary6.04321.500.50
Ghafoor0.50010.000.00

Hatfield Hyde 2XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w 10b 3lb 
for 4 wickets
17
99 (21.3 overs)		     
S Davies b Dean 8
A Ghafoor b Dean 12
M Siddique ct Ct...b Surrendranath 27
M Burson Not Out  27
L Wells ct ct Shaddick, B Saunders 2
A Boland Not Out  6
   
   
   
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 4XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ashish Dean7.021527.502.14
Tim Winfield4.002500.006.25
Andy Saunders5.0024124.004.80
Rajiv Surendranath4.0215115.003.75
Jithin Kalarickal George1.30600.004.00