Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI v Wheathampstead CC 3rd XI on Sat 05 Sep 2026 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 27 runs

Match report Another week of strong availability meant the 5s bowling line-up had a very 4s look. With that in mind, skipper, James Witty, had no hesitation at the toss, and asked Wheathampstead to have a bat when the oppo called incorrectly. The 5s were sitting in 4th spot in the league, where they had been for most of the season – apart from the first week when they were joint top(!) - and needed 17 points to guarantee a lofty upper mid-table finish. Just below were Baldock, desperate to sabotage the plan, who would very likely win away at bottom-of-the-table Ware.

Ten overs in and the batters had certainly had the better of their exchanges with the opening bowlers: the skipper and Uvi Paramesh. The 5s had only one wicket to show for their efforts with Nick Martin being caught behind by the lovely cuddly bear, Tom ‘Zero Byes’ Cocks off Witty snr’s bowling. Freya Witty replaced Paramesh and she took a trademark wicket in her second over; an inswinger giving the batter no chance. She was our very own non-stop disco power pack, and she had been making noise like that all season long - that’s why she would be voted Most Promising Player of 2026 at the awards evening later in the day.

Andrew Walker’s introduction at the other end kept the wickets coming. For his first, he ignored the risk of severe astro-carpet burn by taking a full-length, diving caught and bowled. For his second, he bowled Jayamaha who, having scored a huge six in the previous over, looked like he could do some damage.

118-4 at drinks wasn’t quite where the 5s wanted to be and with the oppo’s remaining opener and leading run-scorer for the season, Dabare, still at the crease, they needed wickets. Tim Winfield replaced Witty jnr. At the other end Walker took his 397th wicket for the club with Zero Byes taking the catch at the wicket.

Dabare and his skipper, Keane, batted well and their 94-run partnership was broken by a returning Paramesh. He bowled Keane, with Dabare falling for 80 in the next over, bowled by Altaf Husain. They both took another wicket each as the oppo finished on 239-9 with the 5s gaining nine crucial bowling points. Zero Byes maintained his 100% record for the season with another display of liquid keeping – hands off, Davey!

In reply, Andy Melling and Matt Shadwick made a good start but were both bowled in consecutive overs: Melling getting a nip-backer which just kissed his off stump and Shadwick chopping on a superb off-cutter that originally pitched waaaay outside off. With Mostufa getting pinned early on, the 5s were in trouble, they really needed to get it together. Husain and 5s Player of the Season, Nadeem Arif had seen it all before, however, and set about wrestling back the momentum. Arif played sensibly, but Husain was brutal and in no mood for running (when is he?). He smashed two sixes on the stroke of drinks: 94-3.

Three overs later he was bowled for a round half-century, 36 of his runs came from boundaries. Zero Byes suffered the same fate just two balls later and the 5s were losing their grip on 4th spot. The skipper made a breezy 13 before he self-BBQd – there really shouldn't be anyone in Division 11 East who can affect a runout from midwicket, aiming at only one stump. He had barely finished throwing his pads at his kit bag, when Paramesh returned from all too brief outing to the wicket. In addition to his chuntering about the legside snaffle that wasn’t given off his bowling about two hours previous, Paramesh was now complaining about being dismissed LBW by his own team-mates. Time for him to kick off his shoes and relax his socks.

Nadders had his roots down and was in another dimension out in the middle: one eye on the bowler, t’other on the scoreboard. If the victory target of 240 was out of reach, 8 bonus points for reaching 190 would do it. Walker was the tough guy who provided ample assistance at the other end. He slammed Gillham’s only over for 19 runs, the final ball of which was a sure shot, Walker’s first six for four years. It took another over to reach the target of 175 and the mirage of victory vanished when Walker was bowled. Nadders continued to accumulate with assistance from Winfield and Witty jnr. He finished on 58 not out at the close of innings with the score at 212-9. Defeat but 18 points gained, and enough to secure 4th spot. A day when every player fought hard for their right to party at the awards evening.

And that was the end of a successful and thoroughly enjoyable season in the 5s. A season where we lost our talisman and skipper, Imran Ahmed, who was unable to play the final weeks of the season due to an arm injury; a whole bunch of colts demonstrated why the 5s will be just a staging post on their Saturday league cricket journey; the investigation into the reason for the toiling in defeat in the Enfield rain is ongoing – Inspector Knacker of the Yard is on the case; and collective memory loss can be the only explanation for why the tradition of Tavah wraps for tea at Sandpit Lane has been forgotten.

Time now for the elbow scrapes and hip bruises caused by diving on rock hard outfields in the second half of the season to heal. There are only another 240-ish days before the start of the 2027 season.

Wheathampstead CC 3rd XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 8w 4lb 
for 9 wickets
16
239 (40.0 overs)		     
Nick Martin ct  T Cocks b J Witty 30 31 7 96.77
David Dabare b  U Paramesh 80 86 9 93.02
Edward Bruce-White b  F Witty 14 17 3 82.35
Rory Knight ct  A Walker b A Walker 8 9 1 88.89
Akila Jayamaha b  A Walker 8 10 1 80.0
George Gillham ct  T Cocks b A Walker 14 20 3 70.0
Eamonn Keane b  A Husain 55 48 10 114.58
Andy Charman Not Out  10 13 1 76.92
Robert Devonshire b  A Husain 4 6 66.67
Charlie Brazier b  U Paramesh 0 1 0
Oliver Rossi Not Out  0 3 0

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Witty6.0135135.005.83
Uvanesh Paramesh8.0042221.005.25
Freya Witty5.0034134.006.80
Andrew Walker8.0035311.674.38
Tim Winfield7.003800.005.43
Nadeem Arif2.003000.0015.00
Md Altaf Husain4.0021210.505.25

St Albans Cricket Club 5XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 19w 4b 2lb 
for 9 wickets
28
212		        
Matt Shadwick b  A Charman 9 30 1 30.0
Andrew Melling b  R Devonshire 20 24 4 83.33
Mostufa Fazle Alahi lbw  A Charman 1 15 6.67
Md Altaf Husain b  N Martin 50 46 6 2 108.70
Nadeem Arif Not Out  58 68 9 85.29
Tom Cocks b  N Martin 0 2 0 2
James Witty run out  (Unsure) 13 13 2 100
Uvanesh Paramesh lbw  D Dabare 5 5 1 100
Andrew Walker b  N Martin 25 31 2 1 80.65 1
Tim Winfield b  N Martin 3 7 42.86
Freya Witty Not Out  0 2 0

Wheathampstead CC 3rd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charlie Brazier3.001600.005.33
Robert Devonshire8.0120120.002.50
Andy Charman7.0051225.507.29
David Dabare8.0125125.003.12
Nick Martin6.002947.254.83
Oliver Rossi2.002400.0012.00
Rory Knight5.012200.004.40
George Gillham1.001900.0019.00