Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI v Dunstable Town CC Saturday 3rd XI on Sat 21 Jun 2025 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 60 runs

Match report The 3XI faced a key pair of fixtures back-to-back at the home of cricket, hoping to maintain their strong recent form and start July in a commanding position in 7 West at the halfway point of the 2025 season. The first of these games saw them welcome Dunstable Town 3XI, sitting 10 points above the 3XI in the table thanks to a spotless admin record.

What started the week as one of the strongest 3XI teams in recent memory, was soon gutted by no less than 4 dropouts and changes, but it’s testament to the strength of the club that the side that eventually took the field was still reaming with quality – confidence as ever, was high.

Thanks to Murph’s work schedule, this was another key toss to win. The small matter of it being an absolute scorcher also played a part in the importance of this particular flip, as facing a stint in the field in the searing heat first up would be bad, but doing it with 10 men for the majority of it would be significantly worse… Luckily, the skipper had his lucky coin, and after fumbling it on his first attempt, he escaped the inevitable ‘champ-ng’ from his opposite number when it fell in his favour and smugly declared he would bat. Sadly, the smugness would not last long.

8 balls in, and West was back in the changing room. His gloves finding themselves nestling a significant distance from his kit bag, but still close enough for Stu to collect them and place them on the bench next to him before he asked to borrow his batting shorts. It was surely a sorry sight as West tucked in to his meal deal smoothie in his boxer shorts, alone, and on the verge of mental breakdown. Strangled down the leg side is a horror way to go in 7 West.

Nevertheless, Ash who had found the boundary twice early on was partnered with future 3XI regular Howeson, and some solidity was restored at the top of the order. They both steadily accumulated runs, with Ash looking inevitable at the crease as he has done throughout this season until he fell on the eve of the second drinks break for a well made 47. 87-2, and a solid platform to build on in the remaining 16 overs.

Deb joined Howes, and struggled to find many scoring opportunities against the experienced middle-over pair who had been restricting well for Dunstable. He and Howes both departed in consecutive overs, with the latter ending 6 runs shy of a 50, bringing JLaw and Stu together at the crease.

What followed was some expert late game batting, including some sumptuous shots from both. JLaw off the mark with a booming cover drive, and Stu finding the fence twice in 2 balls with a gorgeous back foot drive followed by a flick to the rope at deep-midwicket. Rayden joined Lawrence and continued in the same vein, with a booming straight six and a trademark reverse sweep the highlights. His cameo ended and brought Murph into the action, who had been vocal in his desire for the Saints batters to ‘run the first one hard’. His first ball was plinked to long off, and the resulting saunter to the opposite end was ironic to say the least, but his aim was clear. This last over would be his. 14 runs from it, thanks in large part to some excellent running in support by Lawrence, and the 3XI had battled their way to 205 at the close. 87 runs from the last 10 overs thanks to a phenomenal effort from Stu, Rayden, Lawrence and Murph.

JC started us off in defence, getting his choice of ends to run down the hill as the premier seamer, at the expense of the skipper. His 6 over stint bore no reward, but he found some life in the pitch to encourage the Saints attack. West at the other end concluded his eventful spell by pegging back the off stump of their skipper, before taking himself off for health reasons as the combination of the hill and heat proved too much for his body to handle. Dunstable saw this weakness and decided to run anything hit in West’s direction, with 2 very close shy’s at the stumps failing to deter them.
In truth, the remaining period to the first drinks break was a bit of a blur, but he had the wherewithal to introduce Murph and lay a suitable trap for their handy looking number 3 to fall into. Deb taking a very handy catch at deep square off an outright pie.

This brought about an early but much needed drinks break, and after a litre of electrolytes, an ice pack, and a sobering chat with Gordon Murray, West was back fighting fit. Banksy was in to the attack, and Jez was scouting him with his long lens hoping to catch a moment of brilliance. If not for JC chewing his ear off, he’d have caught a still frame for the ages as Banks sent the off-stump flying in a genuine cartwheel, a sight likely not seen in the regional Herts divisions to date, and if Banks has any say he won’t be slumming it in the 3XI for much longer to repeat the achievement.
Soon after, a truly strange passage of play followed. A loud ‘no ball’ shout courtesy of Banksy’s overstep preceded a snick through to Murph at 1st slip. The juggle and drop that followed incited a run from the non-striker, and Stu was on hand to mop up the ball at gully and send the 3XI wild with an underarm shy to remove the bails. The Dunstable chase now faltering at 82-4.

Banks couldn’t be kept out of the action, and came good on his promise to send the left hander packing. Another stump all but out the ground. Stu took over responsibility from the same end to partner Murph in the attack, and the 3XI had two in three. First, Murph finding the edge and Rayden eventually doing the rest after a comical juggle to end the 21st over. With Gordon on the edge of his seat on the sidelines, Stu had the old Scot beaming with delight 2 balls in, castling their experienced Tooley figure.

99-7, and that called for the finisher Witty to mop up the tail. A casual 3-fer for the young gun to see the game home, after a worrying flurry of late game hitting from their number 9.

Another assured performance with bat and ball sees the 3XI up to 3rd in the league, just 7 points off West Herts in the second promotion spot who they’ve already dispatched this year. On to the next.

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
11w 14b 1lb 
for 6 wickets
26
205		        
Zach West ct Unsure b C Thaker 0 8 0
Ashish Dean ct Unsure b B Stevenson 47 70 6 1 67.14
Matt Howeson b B Stevenson 44 72 6 61.11
Debshali Sinharoy b R Joshi 4 23 17.39 1
Stuart Murray ct R Joshi b R Joshi 24 22 3 109.09 1
James Lawrence Not Out  22 20 2 110.0
Thomas Rayden ct Unsure b T Shafiq 23 19 2 1 121.05 1
Adam Murphy Not Out  15 7 1 214.29
Thomas Banks  
Ethan Witty   2
Joey Curran  

Dunstable Town CC Saturday 3rd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Clara Thaker7.0140140.005.71
Tauheed Shafiq6.0127127.004.50
Muhammad Shoaib8.013900.004.88
Stuart Harvey8.021900.002.37
Ben Stevenson5.0024212.004.80
Ricky Joshi6.0141220.506.83

Dunstable Town CC Saturday 3rd XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 10w 1b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
17
145 (30.5 overs)		     
Mohammed Tayyib run out  (S Murray) 28 41 6 68.29
Lee Pratt b Z West 13 18 2 72.22
Paras Keshav ct D Sinha Roy b A Murphy 18 25 3 1 72.00
Darryl Barnett b T Banks 12 27 1 44.44
Ben Stevenson b T Banks 1 5 20.0
Clara Thaker ct T Rayden b A Murphy 6 10 1 60.0
Stuart Harvey b S Murray 7 9 1 77.78
Finley Harris Not Out  8 30 1 26.67
Muhammad Shoaib b E Witty 29 14 4 2 207.14
Tauheed Shafiq ct E Witty b E Witty 6 9 1 66.67
Ricky Joshi ct E Witty b E Witty 0 4 0

St Albans Cricket Club 3XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joey Curran6.002900.004.83
Zach West4.0027127.006.75
Thomas Banks6.0024212.004.00
Adam Murphy6.011728.502.83
Stuart Murray5.0036136.007.20
Ethan Witty3.501033.332.61

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