Scorecard

Mill Hill Village CC 3rd XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 30 Aug 2025 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 5 wickets (DLS)

Match report And so, our mighty 5XI journeyed to Mill Hill with hopes of ensuring relegation safety and potentially halting Mill Hill’s promotion charge. With messages the night prior from our skipper informing us of Mill Hill harbouring two of the best batters in the league, we had a task ahead of us. Thus, skipper Imran ‘Immy’ Ahmed dutifully lost the toss and we found ourselves put in to bat first.

We opened with Tom Cocks and Matthew Shadwick, men who understood their roles and who knew how to bat accordingly. The pair started well, seeing off the new bowlers and scoring where they could, hitting the sparse bad balls well and never looking in much doubt. The situation began to swirl, however, when Cocksy saw fit to smash a full toss to the boundary, forgetting there was a fielder there by the name of Amir Khan. The right hook and uppercut saw the catch taken, ushering newly-promoted Tim Winfield to the crease. Normally, with the new batter I’d begin a new paragraph for structure’s sake, but Shadwick opted to barbecue Winfield far too early to warrant this. Winfield found himself run out after being a young man given an opportunity, allowing for Abdul Alim to take up arms.

Abdul played a short but sweet innings, scoring 2 and departing not long after. Mostufa Alahi then approached, knocking a lengthy 29 whilst Shadwick decided to spoon one up and depart on a well-made 37. By far, the toast of our batting innings, opening well and establishing a solid platform for the rest of his team. Nadeem ‘Nads’ Arif then made himself known, a rapid 15 comprised mostly of boundaries and lethargic running helping our total. Skipper Ahmed then approached, to sighs of relief from a team that was desperate for some kind of a defendable total. He boomed a 4 from the off, facilitated sharp runs between the sticks and obliterated a maximum to scare the fielding team into putting no less than 7 of their men on the boundary. By Jove, I’d do the same when faced with Adonis-level athleticism like that.

The rest of our wickets came and went with little fuss, following Immy getting dismissed on a bludgeoned 25, with Fin Mcnab, Finn Newton and Ciarán Walsh all scoring 0, while youngster James Lancaster stood tall with an unbeaten 1*. A highlight of the twilight overs was Walsh batting at 11, being sensible and seeing out a bowler, then asking for a guard by sticking his bat blindly in front of the stumps and asking umpire Cocks “what’s that?” Cocks refused to entertain such charlatan behaviour, demanding Walsh tell him what guard he wanted. Walsh refused to do so, repeatedly asking “what’s this” while sticking his bat in front of the stumps. He eventually said, “I’ll take what I’m given”, to which Cocks replied “right you’ll have whatever guard that is then”. Walsh was caught on the following ball, proving that Thomas Chumbley Cocks is the worst umpire ever to grace the 5XI since Walsh absolutely would have hit a 6 had he been given a proper guard.

Tea came and went, seeing us stride out to defend 140. A much lower total than we would have been comfortable with, particularly given the two batters we knew were lying in wait for us. Did that stop us making a proper bloody go of it? Course it bloody didn’t.

Winfield and Lancaster opened up, the former finding mild difficulty early on due to some big hitting, but bowling lovely deliveries and seeing a sensational stumping secure a wicket. Cocks was the keeper, and by God did he Carey the offending batter. Big hitter number one? Cooked.

Lancaster, not one to be outdone, set about his task like an absolute menace. Throughout his 5 over spell, he dismissed no less than 3 batters, one of which being the other “big hitter” thanks to a firm hold from Walsh at mid-off, who opted to take the catch on one knee for some reason, despite not needing to. Big hitter number 2? Sautéed. The opposition started with some phenomenal batting in the shed, only 140 to knock off, and boom - 4 down with both their big names dismissed for almost none. This game had turned on its head, and you’d best believe we were about to capitalise.

The next test for the batters came in the form of Walsh and Narif, the perfect combination of village and guile. Walsh stated excellently, a wicket maiden to start his spell thanks to Narif securing a good grab at slip while keeper Cocks dived impotently in the vague direction of the ball. Walsh’s first three overs yielded no runs, until the batters began to open up, while Narif befuddled them with his usual delightful line and length. There was time only for Mcnab to briefly try his hand, bowling a lovely over of his usual unplayable off-spin before the game was forced to a halt thanks to the rain. We didn’t get back out there in the end, but we secured the bonus points we needed to ensure our place in this division next year.

A sense of security claimed and a heartening day of cricket had by all. Mill Hill are a top-of-the-table side, and despite not putting on the score we wanted, we bowled incredibly well and put them into serious doubt. Lancaster deserves a massive shout out for his opening spell: it was exactly what we needed, 3 sharp wickets ensuring we were in the game for a good while to come. The keeping of Cocks was second to none, with a catch and a stumping securing his place as the best keeper our side has ever seen (please come back either or both of Hugo and Pete). Shadwick also deserves a substantial mention: he opened brilliantly, keeping his wicket, securing the runs and amassing a respectable score, never looking in doubt (until he decided Mill Hill need catching practice). Finn Newton also fielded excellently, overshadowing the vast majority of his cohort, letting virtually nothing through him and securing a bloody well-held catch to earn himself maximum fantasy points. Overall, an excellent day of cricket, despite the rain-affected result, with hugely-promising talking points going into next week’s game VS West Herts. Here’s to making them regret they ever refused to let Tom Hadden bat!

Match report by Ciarán Walsh

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
11w 13b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
25
140		        
Matt Shadwick ct P Smith b A Sultan 37 67 6 55.22
Tom Cocks ct A Khan Uriakhel b M Uriakhel 6 24 1 25.00 1 1
Tim Winfield run out  (S Ahmadzai) 0 3 0
Abdul Alim b A Khan Uriakhel 2 6 33.33
Mostufa Fazle Alahi b S Ahmadzai 29 48 4 60.42
Nadeem Arif ct M Asif b J Sheridan 15 28 2 53.57 1
Imran Ahmed ct M Uriakhel b A Khan Uriakhel 25 27 3 1 92.59
Fin McNab ct J Sheridan b J Sheridan 0 4 0
Finn Newton ct D Hickey b J Sheridan 0 2 0 1
James Lancaster Not Out  1 6 16.67
Ciarán Walsh ct S Ahmadzai b J Sheridan 0 6 0 1

Mill Hill Village CC 3rd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chetinder Srai4.001700.004.25
Merwais Uriakhel5.02919.001.80
Pryank Patel8.012100.002.63
Amir Khan Uriakhel5.0123211.504.60
Amir Sultan8.0129129.003.63
Speenghar Ahmadzai3.0015115.005.00
Joe Sheridan3.211243.003.60

Mill Hill Village CC 3rd XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 6w 2lb 
for 5 wickets
10
92 (24.0 overs)		     
Phil Smith ct C Walsh b J Lancaster 3 14 21.43
Majid Asif st T Cocks b T Winfield 20 15 2 1 133.33
Bharath Kashyap Not Out  30 65 4 46.15
Amir Sultan ct T Cocks b J Lancaster 5 6 1 83.33
Speenghar Ahmadzai ct F Newton b J Lancaster 6 3 1 200
David Hickey ct N Arif b C Walsh 9 22 1 40.91
Joe Sheridan Not Out  9 21 42.86
Pryank Patel  
Chetinder Srai  
Merwais Uriakhel  
Amir Khan Uriakhel  

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tim Winfield7.0033133.004.71
James Lancaster5.002438.004.80
Nadeem Arif6.011400.002.33
Ciarán Walsh5.0213113.002.60
Fin McNab1.00600.006.00