Scorecard

Mill Hill Village CC 4th XI v St Albans Cricket Club 5XI on Sat 15 Aug 2026 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 2 wickets

Match report With skipper Imran sidelined for the rest of the season due to a distal bicep tendon injury, James Witty took over the captaincy duties of the 5s. A youthful side arrived at the parched and sloped back pitch at Mill Hill Village – just one spot ahead of the 5s, sitting in third in the league - and included the youngest female 5s league debutant in recent memory, probably ever, Freya Witty. The new skipper’s first job was to lose the toss and to be put into the field – phew, the first big decision of the day avoided. Not a terrible outcome considering the team was full of bowlers.

Four wins from the final four matches could see the 5s sneak into the promotion spots, but they would need a tailwind, a bag of four-leaf clovers and an embalmed rabbit’s foot for the dream to be realised.

James W and Vivek Deswal opened the bowling against a strong Mill Hill batting line-up and kept the run rate acceptable. Two wickets for the skipper in the 9th over (the first a great catch by James Lancaster at cover, the second caught and bowled) swung the early momentum in the 5s favour. Freya replaced Vivek and took a wicket in her second over, superbly caught by Xander Molvik at cover. With the oppo at 57-3 after 14 overs, the 5s were in the ascendency but the remaining opener was in for the long haul. He had pitched his tent, decorated the stumps with daisy chains and was singing campfire songs – there was no chance of the bowlers dislodging him.

As the only proper spinner in the team (sorry, Andy Melling!), a lot rested on Xander’s shoulders, but he embraced the opportunity and bowled beautifully for eight overs with figures which do not do justice for how well he bowled: accurate and with sharp turn, causing the batters plenty of problems. Halfway through his spell he dismissed the oppo’s skipper, with Tom Coulling taking a terrific sharp catch at slip, down by his right boot.

Four down, time to get through the middle order. Sadly, the incoming slogger had other ideas and he got increasingly sloggy as his innings proceeded. The 5s paid for him being dropped at gulley early in his innings and he repeatedly smited the bowling of Xander, James L and James Hallam to the boundary. The four fielders stationed on the rope from deep cover to cow corner couldn’t stop the onslaught. Him and the remaining opening bat put on 95 for the fifth wicket, their partnership finally ended by Vivek taking the wicket of the opener for 88, the second caught & bowled of the innings: 235-5 with five overs remaining.

Despite being hit for two sixes over his head (one lost ball) James H was bowling with good pace against a batter who wouldn't stay in his crease. Vivek took two more wickets, including the slogger for 71, and Mostafa executed a smart run out. The oppo finished on 268-8 on a small-ish ground with a lightning outfield.

Without too much depth in the batting line-up, the focus at drinks was on scoring batting points rather than necessarily going for an improbable win. Too often the 5s have fallen in a heap this season, especially when facing big totals. Today would be different.

Melling and Visha Sirwar opened up and started steadily with plenty of loose balls to score from. Melling was bowled and Vish given out LBW by a rather trigger-happy skip (sorry, Vish, you were right, it was very likely going over), but John Webber and Mostufa Fazle Alahi steadied the ship. Mostufa, wasted no time in pulling rank offside rubbish through the midwicket boundary multiple times to get his innings moving.

By drinks, John (out, bowled) had been replaced by James H and the 5s were ahead of the required rate on 120-3. Five overs later, however, it was 140-6: Mostufa (61) had been caught in the deep three balls after dispatching a monstrous six smashed over the bowler’s head, James H’s watchful innings ended in the same way as James L’s: bowled by the slogger.

Tom and Xander steadied the ship, banking two more batting points, before Tom’s thrashing innings was ended, caught at cow corner. A few balls earlier he’d scored six in the same spot as the fielder rather clumsily carried the ball over the rope. The tail wagged and eventually the 5s were all out for 198, defeated by 70 runs.

Despite the heavy loss, it wasn’t difficult to find positives: a first league wicket for Freya, the amount of turn Xander extracted from the pitch and excellent death bowling by Vivek. Mostafa’s and Tom’s runs were the highlights of the 5s reply but throughout the innings, there were plenty of partnerships which culminated in the third-highest total of the season and a well-deserved 16 league points.

Mill Hill Village CC 4th XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 31w 8b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
49
268 (40.0 overs)		     
Joe Sheridan ct  J Lancaster b J Witty 10 20 1 50.0
Michael Subramaniam ct  V Deswal b V Deswal 88 105 14 83.81
Rithik Mepani ct  J Witty b J Witty 0 3 0
Alex-D Brathwaite ct  A Molvik b F Witty 11 13 2 84.62
Phil Smith ct  T Coulling b A Molvik 27 41 4 65.85
Shash Seem b  V Deswal 71 52 9 2 136.54
Hamish Mistry b  V Deswal 10 7 1 1 142.86
Amir Khan Uriakhel run out  (M Fazle Alahi) 0 4 0
Mohammad Bin Ali Soleja Not Out  2 4 50.0
Jarek Thakker Not Out  0 1 0
Kushh Khetani  

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Witty8.0041220.505.13
Vivek Deswal7.0039313.005.57
Freya Witty5.0033133.006.60
Thomas Coulling5.003700.007.40
Alexander Molvik8.0048148.006.00
James Lancaster3.002700.009.00
James Hallam4.003300.008.25

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
19w 17b 4lb 
for 10 wickets
40
198		        
Andrew Melling b  K Khetani 11 11 2 100
Vishwa Sirwar lbw  M Bin Ali Soleja 7 19 1 36.84
Mostufa Fazle Alahi b  J Thakker 61 55 7 2 110.91
John Webber b  J Thakker 11 21 2 52.38
James Hallam b  S Seem 16 28 1 57.14
Thomas Coulling b  S Seem 30 36 4 1 83.33 1
James Lancaster b  S Seem 0 5 0 1
Alexander Molvik b  S Seem 10 25 40.0 1
James Witty Not Out  7 14 1 50.0 1
Vivek Deswal run out  (J Thakker) 4 5 1 80.0 1
Freya Witty b  J Sheridan 1 4 25.00

Mill Hill Village CC 4th XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Kushh Khetani6.0139139.006.50
Mohammad Bin Ali Soleja6.0123123.003.83
Amir Khan Uriakhel6.003000.005.00
Jarek Thakker8.0049224.506.12
Shash Seem7.021243.001.71
Hamish Mistry4.002300.005.75
Joe Sheridan0.10111.006.00