Scorecard

Redbourn 4XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 18 May 2024 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won By 6 Wickets

Match report The 5s made the short trip down the A5183 to Redbourn, looking to building on their opening day victory. Unlike last week there were 5am hospital trips for the St Albans side. With a green but firm pitch and some favourable overheads Andy Melling won the doss and duly elected to field. Tim Winfield and Jithin George one again had new ball duties and set about their work tying down the Redbourn openers. A sharp caught and bowled chance brought about the first wicket with Jithin diving forward to scoop the ball inches from the ground. This was the start of an electric opening spell from Jithin that saw him blow away all the Redbourn top 5. A sharp catch from debutant Nathan Roos at second slip brought about the next wick. 3 more followed soon after, all bowled and too quick for the defence of the Redborn top order. At the other end Winfield built up pressure with his usual style helping to keep the run rate down.
After a brief interval after the 5th wicket due to a pitch invasion out of the blue from some of the locals, Uttam Vijender and Jamie Speller carried on the saints charge. After a juggling drop earlier in the over the batsman were only given a short reprieve with Winfield taking a good catch to leave Redbourn 43-6. It looked like 7 soon after thanks to another sharp catch at slip from Ethan Roos, only this time a no ball denied him. However, after some further juggling, this time successful, Melling this just about holding on at short cover to bring St Albans seventh wicket and a second for Vijender.
A frustrating 50 stand for the 8th wicket saw Redbourn go bast the 100 mark with gaps being found, some further juggling instead of catching and the ball landing out of reach of fielders. Jude Berry showed off his new finger spin and found the breakthrough with Melling taking the catch running round at mid-on. At the other end Nathan Roos on debut bowled with pace and hostility and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. Ethan Witty finished up the tail with 2 wickets in an 8-ball spell, Praveen Kumar and Jude Berry with the catches leaving saints with a testing 130 to chase.
Fin McNab and Andy Melling opening up the St Albans with the sun now out. McNab set about his work in his usual style, patiently waiting for the bad ball to rotate the strike. At the other end Melling opted for a slightly different approach trying to take the shine off the new ball early. This approach proved risky and saw the skipper dropped twice early on. This was the start of what can only be described as a cat like innings. Not because of his usual agility, reflexes and movement across the wicket but due to the 9 lives he was given across it. The breakthrough eventually came thanks to an lbw with McNab looking to turn a ball down to fine leg. Jude Berry came to the crease and looked to follow his skipper by taking the aerial route and was given a reprieve on 1, the very next ball Melling was dropped for a third time. Melling however carried on the charge and brought up a 50 in 40 balls matching his boundaries with chances for the fielders. With Berry departing Praveen Kumar now at the crease making his league debut they pushed the 5s towards the target, a glorious cover drive from Kumar showed his intentions. However, a stunning 1 handed catch at midwicket saw him depart not long after.
That brough Ethan Witty to the crease as well as Ciran Walsh out to umpire. Fresh from his umpiring course earlier that week he duly forgot how many balls are in an over and that a wide means an extra ball. Witty saw himself in and found the gaps well and even came down the track to the seamer to hit a glorious 4 over midwicket. Witty fell for a well-made 22 with only 2 needed for victory thanks to a good diving catch from the keeper. Tom Cocks strode out and duly cracked his first ball for 4 through cover leaving him with a 400 strike rate and a 6 wicket victory for the 5s. (Match Report by Andy Melling)

Redbourn 4XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
11nb 10w 1lb 
for 10 wickets
22
130 (38.2 overs)		     
Crispin Hedges ct  J George b J George 9 14 1 64.29
Iain Griffiths b  J George 8 37 1 21.62
Tom Foster ct  Roos b J George 2 14 14.29
amit mathur b  J George 10 13 2 76.92
Jack Blair b  J George 0 2 0
Simon Foster ct  Melling b J Berry 44 73 5 1 60.27
Thomas Johnson ct  Winfield b U Vijender 0 7 0
Mattie Johnson ct  Melling b U Vijender 3 14 21.43
Jake Krishnanandan ct  Kumar b E Witty 25 54 3 46.30
James Riley Not Out  7 6 1 116.67
Ellis Gill ct  Berry b E Witty 0 7 0

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jithin Kalarickal George8.012354.602.88
Tim Winfield6.001400.002.33
Uttam Vijender6.011527.502.50
Jamie Speller5.001700.003.40
Nathan Roos7.003200.004.57
Jude Berry5.0026126.005.20
Ethan Witty1.20221.001.50

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 5w 1b 2lb 
for 4 wickets
11
133		        
Fin McNab lbw  T Johnson 2 17 11.76
Andrew Melling Not Out  79 75 10 105.33 2
Jude Berry ct  Unsure b T Johnson 3 14 21.43 1
Praveen Kumar ct  Unsure b A mathur 12 13 1 92.31 1
Ethan Witty ct  J Riley b T Foster 22 40 1 55.00
Tom Cocks Not Out  4 1 1 400
Jamie Speller  
Uttam Vijender  
Nathan Roos  
Jithin Kalarickal George   1
Tim Winfield   1

Redbourn 4XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ellis Gill5.003100.006.20
Thomas Johnson5.021628.003.20
Jack Blair4.001900.004.75
amit mathur5.0021121.004.20
Mattie Johnson4.002500.006.25
Tom Foster3.0018118.006.00