Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI v Northwood CC, Middlesex 1st XI on Sat 13 Jun 2026 at 12:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 61 runs

Match report The 1s hosted Northwood in their search to remain top of the league. Rain during the week meaning what had been a road all season might offer up a bit of life at the start of the game. Skipper Baylis not winning the toss as he claimed you can’t lose when you don’t call. Saints sent in to bat.

Bancroft fell early on. His weekly circuits class clearly ditched for a new pastime as he exhibited fishing of the highest quality outside the off stump. Priyesh then falling in a similarly frustrating fashion on the pull and given out LBW. Could have been high but we decided he was given out on shot alone.

This meant a rebuild was needed and Padki and Jones set about this in a very calculated manner. It clearly was only getting easier to bat on, exhibited by Jones’ first of five 6s hitting the astro floodlights halfway up. The short boundary to that side becoming a feature of the St Albans innings. Padki from the other end rotated the strike very well and put any bad balls away in a very sensible first 50. The only slight scare throughout when Jones was very nearly run out going for a quick single. Fortunately the umpire’s finger remained in his pocket and after 25 overs, Saints had a brilliant platform.

After 26 overs it looked even better as Northwood turned to some fairly mediocre leg spin. An over of half trackers sent crashing to the short boundary by Padki for 20 runs. Whether this was to buy a wicket who knows. The bowler’s dad clearly watching a different game as he remarked to Mulvaney, “I think the skipper should give him another over.”

Jones eventually fell caught and bowled for 81 to bring pad rash victim Coulman to the crease. Following his tirade on how not to spend your Saturday we were promised that Tim David was about to step over the astro and onto the middle wicket. The strike rate suggested that may have been the case. The 10 runs and dismissal perhaps not. Fellow victim McCormick perished 2 balls later with a less theatrical strop, or so we thought. His consequent trip to favourite chicken (food poisoning), compounded by being asked if he was playing cricket today whilst standing in full whites proving to be the final nail in the coffin. McCormick bluntly replied “no” to the poor bloke on the other side of the counter.

Back to CP and Padki was still ticking along into the 80s, with the message very much to bat around him. Despite this he became more of an aggressor for a few overs, taking the option over the top of the fielders to move into the 90s. Church came and went with an unselfish shot, bringing launcher Mulvaney to the crease.

Ashish bought up a magnificent and chanceless hundred with another expansive shot over mid on. His final score of 117 not out the highest score in the club so far this season. Mulvaney then began teeing off from the other end sending the demoralised Northwood bowling attack for consecutive sixes into the tennis courts. 36 in an over looked possible until he tried to switch hit the same bowler to the long boundary. He ended 31*, ably supporting the Ash Padki show. 285-6, St Albans’ highest total of the year so far.

A brisk tea break followed, Northwood keen to know if there was a secret to protecting the short boundary. The Saints had clearly rocked them as they tucked into their onion bhajis.

Northwood’s answer was a double left hand combination to try and target the short side. To be fair in the first 10 overs this somewhat worked with the number 2 in particular showing intent to chase the total down. They sat 50-0 and in the game, not the start St Albans have been used to with the ball this year. From there though, the game began to unravel for them, mainly at the hands of the aforementioned number 2.

Baylis claimed the first wicket of the other left hander who had struggled throughout. Caught behind by Bancroft, who now leads the Division 1 victims chart. Baylis tore through the number 3 who looked slightly out of place against him and then the game seemed to be won or lost on the third wicket stand. The number 4 could evidently play, he showed intent to hit both Mulvaney and Adshead to the boundary on several occasions. However, the same intent had somewhat exited the other end as the number 2 after reaching 50 decided he wanted to settle in for the remainder of the innings. His reluctance to try and score saw the game begin to slip away and when Northwood saw the number 4 fall to Ashish, the game was up. Ashish claimed 2 more wickets to go with his runs. Both catches spooned up by 5 and 6 to Baylis and Patel respectively. 3 wickets and 117* a clear man of the match.

Adshead got in on the act with a catch from walking wounded Coulman at short third man. I bet you can imagine just how pleased he was at this point. Despite all of this, and the rate now at around 12 an over. The number 2 was still happy to take 3 singles an over whilst letting the tail do the hitting. It was only once he got to 100, in the 48th over that he would play a shot again. He was finally dismissed from Rooney shortly after, an MLK if you have ever seen one.
Rooney with his following delivery bowled the number 10, and Mulvaney claimed a burglary of the number 11 shortly after. Saints running out comfortable victors. The plaudits go to Padki for his excellent innings and bowling, mentions for Jones’ 81 and Baylis’ 3fer. Saints remain top but enter a critical phase of the season as in their next 3 they travel to 3rd placed Reed and 2nd placed Hitchin, with the gap between 1st and 4th still just 8 points.

MOTM: Ashish Padki
SOTD: Will Jones 6 hitting the floodlights
HMOTD: Oli Coulman catch at short third
DOTD: Oli Coulman headloss

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 16w 4b 6lb 
for 6 wickets
28
285		        
Will Bancroft ct S Patel b R Nandiraju 3 9 33.33 2
Priyesh Patel lbw N Raveenthiraraja 13 23 2 56.52 1
Ashish Padki Not Out  117 146 14 1 80.14 1
Will Jones ct S Patel b S Patel 81 86 2 5 94.19
Oliver Coulman ct J Baron b D Shah 10 8 2 125.00 1
Tom McCormick ct J Brooker b S Patel 0 2 0
James Church lbw S Patel 2 10 20.0 1
Joshua Mulvaney Not Out  31 18 2 3 172.22
Will Rooney   1
Ben Adshead  
Dan Baylis   1

Northwood CC, Middlesex 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nirrushan Raveenthiraraja10.0060160.006.00
Rammohan Nandiraju10.0124124.002.40
Devam Shah9.0075175.008.33
Jonnie Baron10.005100.005.10
Satyak Patel10.0045315.004.50
Charlie Moore1.002000.0020.00

Northwood CC, Middlesex 1st XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
10w 4b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
17
224 (49.4 overs)		     
Nirrushan Raveenthiraraja ct W Bancroft b D Baylis 19 49 4 38.78
Satyak Patel ct A Padki b W Rooney 104 123 10 84.55
Chris Sayers b D Baylis 5 11 1 45.45
Charlie Blake ct J Church b A Padki 39 49 6 79.59
Kyle Walcott ct D Baylis b A Padki 0 9 0
Charlie Moore ct P Patel b A Padki 7 8 1 87.50
Stuart Reeve ct O Coulman b B Adshead 9 23 1 39.13
Devam Shah ct W Bancroft b D Baylis 16 13 2 123.08
Jonnie Baron Not Out  8 8 1 100
Josh Brooker b W Rooney 0 1 0
Rammohan Nandiraju ct W Rooney b J Mulvaney 0 4 0

St Albans Cricket Club 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Will Jones3.01600.002.00
Will Rooney8.0136218.004.50
Joshua Mulvaney8.4047147.005.42
Dan Baylis10.0236312.003.60
Ashish Padki10.0038312.673.80
Ben Adshead10.0054154.005.40