Scorecard

Datchworth 3XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 01 Jun 2024 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost By 8 Wickets

Match report The 5s rocked up at Datchworth full of momentum and hunger to continue their bright 100% start to the campaign.

It became fairly apparent upon arrival that this wasn’t a toss that you want to lose. Despite the picturesque surroundings, the wicket instead was damp, green and thecloud above looked pretty set for the afternoon. Also equipped with the knowledge of the Datchworth attack skittling out their oppo for 29 a few weeks back… So of course, skipper Melling went and duly lost the toss.

Shadwick and Thomas were handled the unenviable task of kicking things off with the bat on the damp wicket but strode out to the middle purposefully. After a watchful start and Thomas dispatching the red to the fence confidently, some excellent fielding in the deep saw the end of Thomas’ with a smartly constructed run out. An opening stand of 11. PD then arrived at the crease and was watchful before finding the fence himself a couple of times to get his eye in.

The variable bounce and a very slow outfield meant scoring runs was becoming challenging and the run rate didn’t surpass 3. PD’s lofted drive to try and get things pushing unfortunately didn’t have the legs to beat mid-off and saw him depart for 18. Saints did reach 60-3 with a bit of a platform, before losing Mistry and P. Melling cheaply either side of drinks in consecutive overs to put them on the back foot. Toby’s entrance to the crease and vigilant stroke play meant the Saints did finish on 3 figures at least, which gave themselves a small chance of defending their innings on this challenging deck. Some good patience and crisp hitting saw him top score with 24, in amongst wickets tumbling around him.

After a rallying team talk at the change of innings from the skipper, Saints took the field knowing bowling Datchworth out was their best and realistically only shot at victory.
They started the innings with purposeful energy and intent. Hadden and Vijender conducting the opening operations sharply with very tight lines, beating the bat repeatedly. Sharp in particular was struggling to score and to get bat on ball during this testing opening spell - being forced back and the ball whistling past his stumps agonisingly for the saints. The accuracy and discipline of the opening bowlers was marked with with just 10 runs coming off the first 8 overs. Hadden then struck the breakthrough deservedly with a peach that yielded some extra bounce, resulting in Bowser gloving it through to Thomas. The Saints now had a small foothold in the innings to perhaps achieve an unlikely victory if they could keep up this disciplined bowling.
The opening pair conceded just 20 off the first 12 overs to end their impressive spells. The Saints were now having to also battle with the blazing heavy metal live music burning the ears at the next door at the annual 2nd Datchworth festival. Witty and Khatavkar took over the reins and bowled some consistent lines to try to create further inroads. However, sadly at this point Sharp looked well set now with his eye in and Finn newer at the crease was also seeing the ball well and the run rate was increasing.

Drinks came and went, and Datchworth soon reached 85-1 and were closing in on their target. Not before skipper Melling’s stylish yorker swiftly rearranged Finn’s
sticks to give Saints a rare and brief moment of joy in the field and another bowling bonus point?

Defeat was inevitable though. It was undoubtedly Saints’ batting innings that lost them the match, putting them on the back foot. Despite a spiriting bowling and fielding response by the Saints, Datchworth ultimately applied themselves much better with the bat and were deserved victors. A commendable performance by Crisp at least with the bat and some impressive athleticism in the field earned him the player of the match award. A bad day at the office, and we can’t afford too many more of those if we are to achieve the end goal of promotion this term.

Onto next week!
(Match report by Peter Melling)

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 7w  
for 10 wickets
12
100		        
Matt Shadwick b Sullivan 6
Hugo Thomas run out Sullivan 7 1 1
Prathamesh Deshpande ct Akers b Nightingale 18 2
Peter Melling ct Kamili b Jenner 13 2
Sam Mistry b Nightingale 7 1
Toby Crisp ct Kamili b Sullivan 24
Prath Khatavkar b Bonser 7
Ethan Witty ct Bonser b Lewis 0
Andrew Melling ct Hunter b Lewis 1
Uttam Vijender b b Lewis 2
Tom Hadden Not Out  2

Datchworth 3XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
M. Lewis7.111635.332.23
T. Sullivan8.0121210.502.63
B. Akers5.001200.002.40
P. Nightingale6.001527.502.50
R.Jenner5.0022122.004.40
C. Bonser5.0014114.002.80

Datchworth 3XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7w 4b  
for 2 wickets
11
102 (25.1 overs)		     
C.Bonser ct Thomas b Hadden 14 3
C. Sharp Not Out  39 3 2
C. Finn b Melling 31 4 1
J. Hunter Not Out  7 1
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Hadden6.0115115.002.50
Uttam Vijender6.04500.000.83
Ethan Witty3.001800.006.00
Prath Khatavkar6.001800.003.00
Prathamesh Deshpande1.001500.0015.00
Andrew Melling3.0014114.004.67
Sam Mistry0.10600.0036.00