Scorecard

Sawbridgeworth CC 1st XI v St Albans Cricket Club 1XI on Sat 24 May 2025 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report
Saturday saw a clash of two highly fancied sides within Division 1. Both Sawbridgeworth and St Albans had perfect records going into the fixture, the former amassing scores of over 300 in both games. One of those records would disappear over the next 100 overs of cricket. Once the sheets were drawn back off the square, the toss commenced and Sawbridgeworth elected to bat first on what looked a good wicket on a small ground.

Looking to build off the back of their batting prowess from previous weeks St Albans were greeted by 2 of Sawbridgeworth’s premier players, in particular Joe Joyce who had scored 263 runs in the divisions opening weekends. Jones and Adshead bowled with discipline, keeping the loose deliveries few and far between. After building sustained pressure the latter slightly missed his length and looked over to the leg side expecting the ball to disappear into the nearby playground and was somewhat surprised to see it spooned back to him off the bat of Joyce. A timid call preceded Adshead gleefully plucking the ball out the sky to leave Sawbo 50-1 and the main man back in the shed.

The in-form Dan Baylis then entered the attack, bowling with his usual pace and aggression drawing some interesting strokes from the Sawbridgeworth pair, and that would be an understatement for some of the shadow batting that then followed. Baylis made his mark by cleaning up the other opener, with Regan Jr expertly getting catching practice at first slip off the top of the stumps. This practice was soon to be replicated off the outside edge of the new batsman’s bat off the bowling of Adshead and all of a sudden Sawbo’s good start now stood at a below par 70-3 off 20 overs.

Baylis continued to steam in down the slope and after a few hefty blows castled the Sawbo number 5. From the other end spinners Mulvaney and Capaldi were presented with the difficult task of bowling spin on a tiny ground with Sawbo’s big hitting duo of Amit Gupta and Alan Ison heavily targeting the cow corner region. Josh’s first ball soaring over long off into the bushes, welcome back. Mulvaney was eventually rewarded with the wickets of first the number 3, whose innings was rather pedestrian in comparison to the remainder of the Sawbo lineup and then Gupta who was caught by McCormick after a few lives earlier on. He and his runner trudged off the pitch, stay tuned to hear about how the hamstring injury unfolded. However, after this heavy hitting Sawbo were handily placed and a score of 300+ looked on the cards.

Jamie Regan was introduced into the attack bowling well to his field and claimed the crucial wicket of Ison. Baylis’ comeback included a further 2 wickets, including a great catch by Sims out at deep square leg, to give him impressive figures of 10 overs 4-45. Another handy piece of fielding from Mulvaney saw Capaldi claim the final wicket, Sawbridgeworth all out for 273, a good fightback from Saints after the game at one point looked to be getting away from them.

Regan Jr and Sims continued their opening partnership which in previous weeks had boded well for the yellows, however, this week was sadly not to be the same case. Jamie caught after a ball which rose up from the Sawbridgeworth pace bowler. Sims, after receiving endless chat from a guy he said he “assumed would be a nice bloke” then chipped one to catching mid-wicket after a flurry of early boundaries. Saints very much up with the rate, but 2 down inside 10 overs. Work to be done.

Captain Regan and Vice-Captain Jones came together in the middle with the mindset of taking the game deep. Winning the game was going to happen in the last 20 overs, it was key that Saints had wickets in hand. The pair batted with maturity and all in all didn’t give Sawbridgeworth much to feed off. At drinks Saints were handily placed with Regan and Jones punishing any loose deliveries and keeping the scoreboard ticking over with plenty of singles, a double pretty much impossible on such a small ground. Once the restart had occurred the same game plan resumed. Both batters moved past 50, Regan completely chanceless, Jones chanceless if you discount one ball where the ball hitting the edge of his bat could have been heard back in St Albans. Sawbridgeworth dismayed and shocked at the denial of a breakthrough. Regan’s ruthless approach and Jones’ calm aura had sucked the life out of Sawbridgeworth in the field, and Saints now slight favourites for the win.

Off the pitch McCormick was deep into the worst pad rash in 1XI living memory, as we rarely see 2 Saints players bat together for more than 15 overs, and the remainder of the team being treated to a one-sided game of soft hands by the local youths. Baylis being appointed third umpire was where Regan drew the line and asked them to move. Clearly this upset the onlooking home crowd, and they started to get a bit livelier and having their say on proceedings.

On the pitch into the attack came the Gupta who had somehow miraculously recovered from his hamstring injury in the first innings. At first this looked to be a help rather than a hindrance to St Albans as his first few balls were sent crashing over the ropes by Jones, and then Regan bought up his ton with a cut for four, cuing an iconic celebration from the St Albans skipper, immediately removing his helmet then swishing his bat in delight after scoring a brilliant century on the ground he used to call home.

The game then in an instant flip flopped again. Jones holed out to deep mid-wicket for an excellent 72 despite claims from the boundary of the ball being grounded, McCormick was caught off one that went straight up, Bancroft pouched at deep square leg, and Regan bowled for a superb 118.

All of a sudden a game that St Albans were in charge of now looked to have slipped through their fingers. Sawbridgeworth and their home support were buoyant, (you wouldn’t have been mistaken for thinking half the bar were already celebrating the victory) and a bloke who had batted on one leg and fielded at third man for the entire game was now bowling beautifully and stretching his legs around the field. All on adrenaline supposedly…

Capaldi and Caswell kept the scoreboard ticking into the dying embers and with 7 to win off 7 balls, Saints were once again somehow back in control. Capaldi then slapped one straight at cover and with an over to go St Albans required 7 runs to win, Caswell and Mulvaney at the crease.

Joyce bowling his off spin beat the bat with the first, Caswell then dug out a single, 6 needed off 4, Josh Mulvaney on strike. The first ball he faced looked to be in the block hole but somehow Josh managed to swing it away, hockey style, towards deep mid-wicket and the ball evaded the despairing dive of the Sawbridgeworth fielder on the boundary. 2 to win off 3. Crowd silent. Joyce’s next ball was in a similar area and Mulvaney once again swung over towards the leg side boundary, however slightly more aerially. The Sawbridgeworth fielders motionless as the ball flew over the boundary rope once again for another four, drawing wild celebrations from the travelling players in the pavilion. The home crowd stunned, the home players hurt (especially by Mulvaney’s bat drop) but ultimately appreciated what a fantastic game of cricket had been played out.

The plaudits rightly so should go to the partnership between Joe Regan and Will Jones who put on a partnership of 181, which is up there with the best ever seen from a St Albans pairing. However, this was a team performance where everyone had to dig in and show some character in times where the game wasn’t going their way and we should be hugely proud of that.

Sawbridgeworth are a good side and won’t lose many games this season, especially at home. They have some real quality and will be up there at the end of the season, keen to leapfrog Saints in the process who now sit joint top of Division 1 with Luton Town and Indians. But to get this win was oh so sweet and could be crucial, the celebrations continuing long into the night. Attentions now turn to the visit of Lutonian next weekend and Saints looking to add win number 4 to the tally.

(Match Report by Ben Adshead)

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
15w 5lb 
for 7 wickets
20
276		        
Jamie Regan ct M Burrell b M Osborne 1 3 33.33 1
George Sims ct A Ison b G Kenny 25 36 4 69.44 1
Joe Regan b A Gupta 118 121 18 97.52
Will Jones ct M Billings b A Gupta 73 101 6 2 72.28
Tom McCormick ct L Garratt b M Osborne 10 11 1 90.91 1
Will Bancroft ct M Osborne b A Gupta 3 5 60.0
Max Capaldi ct J Joyce b A Gupta 8 8 100
James Caswell Not Out  10 10 1 100 1
Joshua Mulvaney Not Out  8 2 2 400 1
Ben Adshead   1
Dan Baylis  

Sawbridgeworth CC 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
George Kenny10.0056156.005.60
Max Osborne10.0062231.006.20
Joe Joyce9.404500.004.66
Mick Burrell3.002400.008.00
Alan Ison10.003500.003.50
Matt Billings3.002400.008.00
Amit Gupta4.002546.256.25

Sawbridgeworth CC 1st XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 6lb 
for 10 wickets
12
273 (48.4 overs)		     
Alan Jones b D Baylis 32 56 4 57.14
Joe Joyce ct B Adshead b B Adshead 22 34 3 64.71
Rehman Ahmed lbw J Mulvaney 31 64 1 1 48.44
Luke Garratt ct J Regan b B Adshead 3 3 100
Max Osborne b D Baylis 27 22 4 1 122.73
Amit Gupta ct T McCormick b J Mulvaney 64 49 3 5 130.61
Alan Ison ct J Caswell b J Regan 48 32 4 3 150.0
George Kenny ct J Mulvaney b M Capaldi 19 19 1 100
Mick Burrell ct G Sims b D Baylis 8 7 1 114.29
Matt Billings b D Baylis 0 1 0
Charlie Mann Not Out  7 5 1 140.0

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Will Jones10.013900.003.90
Ben Adshead10.0234217.003.40
Dan Baylis10.0245411.254.50
Joshua Mulvaney10.0070235.007.00
Max Capaldi5.4049149.008.65
Jamie Regan3.0030130.0010.00