Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v President's XI on Sun 27 Aug 2023 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost - President's XI won by 30 runs

Match report The annual President's Day fixture got off to a grandiose start, with Mayor Anthony Rowlands accepting the role of Honorary Patron of St Albans CC. With Jimmy Rosson now skippering the Beer XI due to injury, man of the moment Zach West stepped up to skippering duties for the Club XI and correctly elected to field upon winning the toss (as is in keeping with tradition).

There was a palpable sense of tension in the air for the first ball of the match, with Dom Watkins again facing up to Charlie Smith after his questionable decision to leave a straight one first up in the corresponding fixture last year. Despite promises of a slog sweep into the tennis courts, Watkins opted for a textbook forward defensive to avoid a second consecutive year of humiliation. It was far from easy for Watkins against the Tremlett like bowling from Smith, and Watkins had to show uncharacteristic levels of application in his eighteen ball wait to get off the mark. Michael Eames did not achieve the same feat, as he fell victim to an excellent one-handed catch from Stuart Murray at gully. The irony being that Eames had played his late cut quite nicely off the dab king, Sandipan Chanda.

Jai Mukherjee played some pleasing strokes before a sharp caught and bowled dismissal by co-chairman Andy Saunders. As Jaffer Chaudry remarked, it was all looking a bit proper for President's Day cricket. Returning all the way from Harrogate, Matt Ingham (63) helped to turn the cricketing tides, quickly overtaking Watkins who was, to his credit, still trying his best. The next wicket was a more typical one for this fixture, as Murray bowled Watkins (29) with a full toss to end his 67 ball vigil at the crease. This was the beginning of a middle order collapse that left the President's XI wallowing on 118-6, with cupcake maker extraordinaire Annie O'Gorman cheaply dismissing Jonny Hall and Jacob "coach" Roche, along with Chanda finally taking a catch off West's bowling to finish Ingham's innings.

West's declaration bowling was continuing to be worryingly effective after an excellent lunch provided by Tavah. This included the comical dismissal of young gun Harry Seagrave (23), as West's limp wrists delivered a miserable half tracker that dropped softly onto the stumps on its route back down to the floor. Cue a Shearer-esque lap of the pitch from West in a strong candidate for send-off of the year. West picked up his third scalp later that over thanks to a smart catch from Joe Regan who had now donned the wicketkeeping gloves, leading to predictable amounts of chat from the 1st XI skipper in the bar that evening concerning his keeping abilities. As he has done countless times, Simon White (20*) provided much needed resistance towards the end of the President's XI innings. This was in conjunction with some powerful hitting from Jaffer Chaudry (29) and some non-powerful hitting from Mark Telkman to take
the final score up to 204 all out.

There was more vintage White on show as he bowled Connor Mitchell after the overseas had raced to 21 and then snicked off last weekend's centurion Nicki Bloor. All we were robbed of seeing was the iconic White teapot. At the other end Chaudry continued his excellent return to the hallowed turf of Clarence Park, clean bowling Hugo Thomas as he tried to keep up with the pace set by Mitchell. In-form Oli Coulman (25) and out-of-form Matt Howeson (18) went about rebuilding the Club XI innings, only for both to fall in soft fashions: the former having a disagreement with West over the merits of a single to rocket arm Ingham, the latter chipping a loosener from Jamie Telkman to cover. No doubt the Club XI's fielding was inspired by the athletic fielding from a tumbling Nick Kirwan on the boundary earlier in the innings.

Howeson's dismissal was the first ball of an archetypal Sunday spell from Telkman (4.3-1-5-3) who bowled with commendable accuracy whilst continually getting life out of the spicy pitch. West's continued defensive strokes against Telkman resulted in some vocal criticism from Chaudry, with the 3rd XI skipper retorting that it wasn't all Hollywood in cricket at CP. A 53 run partnership from West (38) and Regan (25) brought the Club XI back into the game before the third prong of the President's XI slow left arm attack, Ben Ramsay, dismissed the 1st XI captain to leave the score at 129-6.

Like the Ashes this summer, the momentum of the game began to shift again as Chanda (34) quickly went to work after refusing to walk for a clear edge. Meanwhile, West was continuing to triumph in his grudge match against Seagrave, including a mocking rub of Seagrave's locks as he dispatched him over cow for four. Cricket, however, often has the last laugh, as West's arrogant shot the very next ball was spooned to Roche at mid on. Roche then took a catch at leg-slip off the bowling of Jonny Hall, claiming the wicket of Chanda that sounded the death knell of the Club XI's chase. Cricketing karma coming through strongly for the respectful and sporting President's XI.

O'Gorman and Saunders were valiant in defence to try and ensure a draw and prevent a President's XI victory, but the return of golden arm Telkman resulted in the end of O'Gorman's stay at the crease. With Murray departed for a birthday party, a "special guest" of Steve Perrin was sent out to bat at number 11 for the Club XI. Having already consumed several pints of red wine, Perrin was unable to summon the cricketing spirit of Michael Goodfellow and instead played three very questionable shots, with the last of these going to the safe hands of Seagrave to seal a 30 run victory for the President's XI, much to President Mardle's delight. A massive thank you to all the 13 returning players (especially Guy Black for his skippering) and supporters throughout the day for making it a memorable day and a fine tribute to our legendary president!


President's XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 1w 7b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
13
204 (42.1 overs)		     
D Watkins b  S Murray 29 67 4 43.28
M Eames ct  S Murray b S Chanda 0 3 0
J Mukherjee ct  & b A Saunders 10 28 35.71
M Ingham ct  S Chanda b Z West 63 62 12 101.61
J Hall st  O Coulman b A O'Gorman 6 6 1 100
J Roche ct  J Regan b A O'Gorman 0 3 0
B Ramsey ct  J Regan b Z West 10 22 2 45.45
H Seagrave b  Z West 23 15 3 1 153.33
S White Not Out  20 23 3 86.96
J Chaudry st  J Regan b M Howeson 29 24 5 1 120.83
M Telkman ct  A O'Gorman b S Murray 1 3 33.33
G Black  
J Telkman  
   

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charles Smith4.02700.001.75
Sandipan Chanda5.00010.000.00
Andy Saunders6.0030130.005.00
Joe Regan5.012100.004.20
Stuart Murray3.101728.505.37
Annie O'Gorman4.0125212.506.25
Connor Mitchell3.001000.003.33
Zach West3.001735.675.67
Oliver Coulman3.001900.006.33
Matt Howeson4.0014114.003.50
Nicki Bloor2.002500.0012.50

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
8w 1b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
11
174		        
Connor Mitchell b  S White 21 16 5 131.25
Hugo Thomas b  J Chaudhry 0 2 0
Nicki Bloor ct  H Seagrave b S White 1 3 33.33
Oliver Coulman run out  (M Ingham) 25 33 3 75.76
Matt Howeson ct  J Hall b J Telkman 18 25 2 72.00
Zach West ct  J Roche b H Seagrave 38 46 5 82.61
Joe Regan b  B Ramsey 25 32 4 78.12
Sandipan Chanda ct  J Roche b J Hall 34 32 7 106.25
Annie O'Gorman ct  G Black b J Telkman 1 20 5.00
Andy Saunders Not Out  0 7 0
Steven Perrin ct  H Seagrave b J Telkman 0 3 0
Stuart Murray  
Charles Smith  
A.N. Other  

President's XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Chaudhry6.0240140.006.67
S White5.0022211.004.40
J Roche3.001300.004.33
J Telkman4.31531.671.11
M Telkman6.011700.002.83
H Seagrave5.0019119.003.80
B Ramsey4.0035135.008.75
J Hall3.0020120.006.67

  • Umpire :
    Nick Hall and Graham Sherman
  • Scorer :
    Claire and Chris