Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 6XI v Bayford and Hertford on Sat 01 Jun 2024 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 6 runs

Match report A Stern Northerly, in addition to the Sandpit Lane Microclimate, meant for uncomfortable conditions. June, you say? Coats and thermals all round. Skipper for the day, James, won the toss and elected to bat.

John and Fin opened the batting and even though last week’s piles of cut grass on the outfield had been dispersed, hitting boundaries was not easy with plenty of shots stopping juuuuust short of the boundary. A steady start took St Albans to 52 without loss by the 15th over but following Fin’s dismissal for 13 and John for a top-scoring 29, the innings lost momentum with four more wickets falling for 15 runs in the space of 5 overs. Jodi (19) and Nadeem (23) steadied the ship making light of the slow outfield, scoring three fours each with the partnership taking the score to 99. Nadeem worked with the tail and the St Albans innings finished on 127.

In reply, St Albans made short work of the top order with James taking wickets with the third ball of the innings (the batter doing an Adam Gilchirst and walking following a huge appeal behind the stumps for a sharp catch at the wicket – evidence of which was heard by neither bowler nor umpire) and two in two balls at the end of the second over. Neel, with this new, hyper-efficient, short run-up took one in the eighth over and in his first over Nadeem took a hat-trick (!) to leave Bayford and Hertford reeling at 26-7 just before the drinks break. This was super stuff from the bowlers and rather than keep the pressure on so everyone could finish early and head home to warm their cold bones, the captain wanted to give everyone a bowl so Nadeem rather graciously agreed to be replaced.

The oppo dug in and despite some tidy bowling from Jude, Maroof and Ieuan they recovered well from their previous precarious position and were beginning to accelerate. Suli entered the attack and the change of angle (left-arm over the wicket) drew a false shot and James, running in from mid off, caught a skied shot. Eight down and surely the end in sight? No, the oppo captain batting at 9 dug in and was steadily reducing the target with some lusty offside blows. Jodi found the edge with Nadeem taking a super, diving catch at first slip to remove the number 10. One wicket remaining, 31 runs required.

The oppo could see the finish line now but Ben, Fin and Nadeem bowled three consecutive maidens to keep the pressure on the batters: 14 runs required, 5 overs remaining. The captain dropped a good chance at mid-on : 13 runs required, 4 overs remaining. A six struck over the long on boundary: 7 runs required, 3.5 overs remaining. The very next shot was cut to point and in the yes-no-wait confusion, both batters ended up at the same end and Suli hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end with a direct hit! All out for 121 and St Albans won by 6 runs.

Special mention to Niraj who kindly umpired for the first innings without a coat and not a shiver in sight.

St Albans Cricket Club 6XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
22w 1b  
for 10 wickets
23
127		        
John Webber Caught  29 2 1
Fin McNab Bowled  13 1
Jude Berry Bowled  0
nasibullah Maroofkhel Caught  0
Jodi Odgers Caught  19 3
Sulaiman Nisar Stumped  2 1
Ben Hingston Bowled  1
Ieuan Chakma-Smith Caught  4
Nadeem Arif Bowled  23 3 1
Neel Aswani Not Out  8 1
James Witty Bowled  1 2

Bayford and Hertford Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Pikesley5.2023123.004.31
Jordan D6.00800.001.33
Dumil7.0017117.002.43
Jordan G7.022245.503.14
Lucas4.0034311.338.50
J. Strickland3.0021121.007.00

Bayford and Hertford Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 28w 6b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
38
121 (37.1 overs)		     
Gregory b Aswani 3
Supul ct Webber b Witty 0
Saman ct & b Witty 0
Reece b Witty 0
J. Strickland b Arif 6
Dumal ct Witty b Nisar 21
L. Stewart b Arif 0
G. Jordan b Arif 0
S. Newall Not Out  44
D. Jordan ct Arif b Jodi 8
A. Pikesley run out Nisar 1

St Albans Cricket Club 6XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Witty6.02933.001.50
Neel Aswani6.0013113.002.17
Nadeem Arif3.01230.670.67
nasibullah Maroofkhel3.001300.004.33
Jude Berry3.01500.001.67
Ieuan Chakma-Smith4.00900.002.25
Sulaiman Nisar4.0015115.003.75
Jodi Odgers2.0021121.0010.50
Ben Hingston3.011200.004.00
Fin McNab3.1117117.005.37