Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI v Harpenden CC Womens 1st XI on Sun 14 Jun 2026 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Lost by 6 wickets

Match report The SACC Women’s 1XI T20 Cup escapades continue: today, we played host to Harpenden at Clarence Park, the home of cricket. With skipper Arminah Awan at the helm, there’s nothing we can’t achieve. Slicing her way through the colossal clouds of flies that seemed intent on eating our players alive, Awan confidently won the toss after the Harpo skipper foolishly called tails, electing to bat first on a warm but cloudy day.

India Newman and Sally Cheeseman were our first form of attack: the pair took to the task with their trademark reckless abandon and unadulterated glee, with Newman dispatching most deliveries to the boundary with something nearing contempt, her personal score deserving to be higher had it not been for the slow outfield. Cheeseman held down her end with her usual Parmesan - sorry, I meant ‘partisan’ - professionalism, scoring slowly but surely, allowing her partner to take the role of the aggressor, holding down an end, playing a key role and keeping the scoreboard ticking for a long while. A gouda idea, showcasing a Caerphilly thought out innings, confirming Sally is nacho average opening bat. After having boomed several shots to space (and inadvertently eaten about 60 flies while doing so), Newman was forced to retire due to a knee injury, departing on a well-made 41*.

Caitlin Monteith was next up, going with the intent warranted by the T20 format, but being unfortunate to find herself bowled on 3. Awan then approached, echoing the aggression of Newman and Monteith, striking the ball well and utilising the free hits to full effect. A swift but brutal 14 ensued, ended by a run out on a wildly questionable run call: the bails were whipped off with Awan a good 7 feet from the crease, requiring a quietly-fuming Walsh to reluctantly raise the finger to dismiss his fantasy captain. Sally followed not long after, bowled on a thoughtful 27, looking back in anger at her cartwheeling stumps.

The innings would be seen out by the outrageously in-form Anum Ahmad, joined by the best Vijender SACC has ever known: Kara. Anum made full use of the dying overs, notching a crucial 14*, while Kara ably supported her, ending the innings on 1*. Tea came and went, and so we began our bowling innings, our skipper throwing the new ball to Jules Over and Alicia Gibson.

Our openers bowled well overall, with some lovely deliveries leaving the batters nonplussed and questioning why they ever bothered to take up cricket in the first place. However, the bats were clearly just biding their time: in true T20 fashion, they began to dispatch the ball for boundaries and 2s/3s with alarming regularity. Their total started to add up frighteningly quickly, and so Awan deemed it time to hit the big red button only for use in emergencies: Dharmista ‘Cooks’ Nagar and Annie O’Gorman.

What followed was a frustrating spell: in spite of some loose deliveries, both Cooks and Annie bowled genuinely good spells, proving hard to score from and restricting the bats in their choice of shots. However, some lackadaisical fielding was starting to rear its head: various misfields and dropped catches were starting to leak runs, allowing the batters to continue batting for longer than they should have done and allowing singles to become doubles or triples. Cooks and Annie stepped down, allowing Anum and Kara to take the reins.

Here’s where it all starts to get interesting: Anum, clearly keen to remind people that it’s not just batting she’s great at, did an excellent job of reminding everyone that the game wasn’t done and the dream was still very much alive. With roughly 20 required of the final 6 overs, Anum took two sharp wickets thanks to a clean bowled one and a tidy caught-and-bowled, followed by a nifty run out on the very next ball! Maybe cricket’s not that rubbish after all! The game started to get tight: wickets were falling at regular intervals thanks to Anum’s heroics, plus Kara was keeping things tight and economical from the Knill-Jones end with 20ish required off the last 5. This game was by no means said and done: stranger things have happened, get a few wickets and keep the fielding tight and suddenly it’s SACC’s day. Sadly, it was not to be: the bats kept their heads, knocking off the required total with just short of 2 overs to spare.

A loss, but a truly heartening one (as oxymoronic as that may sound). Although our fielding may have left something to be desired with the old adage ringing in our ears “catches win matches”, our bowling was tight in the face of good batters intent on hitting everything Bazball style, plus our own batting showed exactly the kind of aggressive intent warranted and sorely needed in a T20. Anum’s heroics kept us in the game right up to the end, acting as a reminder that when it comes to the beautiful game, anything can happen. Defending a low total and still need 9 wickets to win? Could happen in 9 balls! Some highly-encouraging silver linings to build upon before our next game, underscored by some fabulous individual performances with Anum’s bowling/fielding, India’s flawless 41* and Sally’s tempered 27. Roll on our next game in two weeks (the break is undoubtedly because our players are being called up for international duty in the T20 World Cup).

Fineable Moments:

Sally for loudly solo appealing for a ball that was middled into the ground and bounced up into keeper Arminah’s hands before being dropped, causing a bemused Walsh to ask Sally what exactly she was appealing for.

India’s knee for robbing us of a Newman 50.

Annie for having the gall to tell Walsh the wide he just called was harsh, right before bowling one onto a different square.

The flies for descending on us like a plague of locusts.

St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 9w 4b 6lb 
for 3 wickets
22
121		        
India Newman Retired Not Out  41 36 6 113.89
Sally Cheeseman b Randhawa 27 54 1 50.0
Caitlin Monteith b Randhawa 3 8 37.50
Arminah Awan run out Stobbs 13 10 1 130.0
Anum Ahmad Not Out  14 13 2 107.69 1 1
Kara Vijender Not Out  1 2 50.0
Alicia Gibson  
Dharmista Nagar  
Annie O'Gorman  
Jules Over  
Maryam Safi  

Harpenden CC Womens 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Hayley Arrol4.002500.006.25
Jessica Hendricks4.001400.003.50
Jenna Botha2.001200.006.00
Thea Randhawa3.002300.007.67
Asha Randhawa4.0023211.505.75
Mareia Hussain2.00700.003.50
Bailey Killner1.00700.007.00

Harpenden CC Womens 1st XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 4b  
for 3 wickets
17
122 (17.3 overs)		     
Lizzie Ruxton ct Ahmad b. Ahmad 36
Millie Dyer run out Ahmad 51
Hannah Stobbs b Ahmad 3
Jessica Hendricks Not Out  3
Jenna Botha Not Out  12
   
   
   
   
   
   

St Albans Cricket Club Women's 1XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jules Over3.002400.008.00
Alicia Gibson2.001800.009.00
Dharmista Nagar4.002700.006.75
Annie O'Gorman2.002000.0010.00
Anum Ahmad4.001527.503.75
Kara Vijender2.301400.005.60