Scorecard

Little Berkhampstead Sahibs 2XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 29 Jun 2024 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won By 9 wickets

Match report The 5s made the trip to Little Berkhamstead wanting to make amends for a close defeat the week before. Against an opposition unbeaten in the league this season that task looked tough but more than doable.

Skipper Andy Melling one the toss on what looked like a good pitch and elected to bowl. Finlay Kilner and Jithin George opened the bowling with their usual pace and accuracy and made it difficult for the Little Berkhamstead openers to score. Despite it’s appearance the pitch proved to have some uneven bounce which proved troublesome for the batters and kept Pete Melling behind the stumps on his toes. A short break had to be taken after 7 overs to replace the evidently knock off new keeping gloves provided by Ciaran Walsh. With both batsman looking troubled by the bowling which they described as ‘unlike anything they had face all season’ Kilner found the deserved breakthrough. A slower ball working the magic this occasion and deceiving the opening batsman.

Unlike the dross the Ciaran Walsh had bowled at Merchant Taylors the week before, Kilner consistently troubled the Little Berkhamstead batsman alongside George who bowled equal measure at the other end. Both openers saw out their full 8 over quota with the opposition only going at 2 an over, George unlucky to get no reward for a brilliant opening spell. With the openers seen off the batsman looked like the hoped to see some easing of pressure. However, the pace and swing onslaught continued with Sud Suryavanshi and Tom Hadden picking up from where the openers left off. Hadden soon brought about the second wicket thanks to a catch from the skipper at cover. Sud’s pace was proving unplayable a third soon followed with the top of off stump being knock back. Hadden picked up another with the next ball thanks to safe hands from Finlay Kilner. Nadeem Arif then came into the attack struck first ball leaving Little Berkhamstead 75-5 after 30. A sixth soon followed with Arif’s accuracy and swing proving too much again. Some latter order hitting took them past 100 despite some clever bowling from Arif, Jamie Speller and Hadden. Speller picking up the seventh wicket in tough conditions for a spinner late in the innings. St Albans were set a very tricky 131.

A delicious rarely sighted tea was provided and it was a tough task to not overindulge before batting. James Grant and Pete Melling opened the innings for St Albans. Grant looked purposeful and was unlucky to be prevented from getting off the mark thanks to some good fielding. Pete found the rope twice in the second over thanks to his textbook cover drives. A brilliant seaming delivery saw Grant depart soon after however leaving St Albans 8-1. PD strode out to the crease at number 3 looking like a man on a mission and fajitas in his belly. A few excellent glances to the third man boundary got him going and St Albans were soon past 50 for the loss of only one wicket. On a tough wicket with some accurate bowling both had to be cautious but saw off the bad balls and found gaps when they could, ticking the score along nicely. The bounce continued to vary and a nasty blow to cheek of the Little Berkhamstead keeper from a ball that popped up off a length saw a break in place. After the break Tom Hadden went out to field in his shorts and trainers to make it 11 in the field. Hadden nearly succeeded in running out his teammates but only succeeded in giving away an overthrow. With both batting brilliantly they soon both passed well-earned 50s picking off anything lose and running well between the wickets. A successive 50 on the ground for Pete and a successive 50 for the 5s for PD. They saw St Albans home with 6 overs to spare with Melling finishing 62 not out and PD 54 not out. A hard-earned win and an all-round good team performance.

Little Berkhampstead Sahibs 2XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 15w 8b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
31
131 (40.0 overs)		     
Muhammad Awais b  F Kilner 10
Colin Cooper ct  A Melling b T Hadden 15
James Tancock ct  Kilner b T Hadden 4
Tom Foxon b  S Suryavanshi 0
Shamoon Chaudhary b  N Arif 10
Michael Hopkins b  N Arif 12
Peter Eldridge ct  A Melling b J Speller 22
Mark Marley Not Out  22
Samuel Eldridge run out  George/Hadden 2
Mohamed Hammoudan Not Out  0
Josef Eldridge  

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Finlay Killner8.0113113.001.62
Jithin Kalarickal George8.021900.002.37
Tom Hadden7.011829.002.57
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi8.0112112.001.50
Nadeem Arif6.0021210.503.50
Jamie Speller3.0032132.0010.67

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 10w 1b  
for 1 wickets
12
133		        
James Grant b  J Tancock 0
Peter Melling Not Out  62 7
Prathamesh Deshpande Not Out  54 8
Ethan Witty  
Andrew Melling   2
Nadeem Arif  
Jamie Speller  
Finlay Killner   1
Sudhanshu Suryavanshi   1
Tom Hadden  
Jithin Kalarickal George   1

Little Berkhampstead Sahibs 2XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Tancock4.0112112.003.00
Mohamed Hammoudan8.011800.002.25
Mark Marley8.003200.004.00
Shamoon Chaudhary6.002000.003.33
Colin Cooper5.004200.008.40
Samuel Eldridge3.00800.002.67