Scorecard

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI v Northampton Exiles on Sat 06 Jul 2013 at 1pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won By 1 wicket

Match report It was perfect cricket weather. Not a cloud in the sky. With a strong team on paper the prospects look good for getting back to winning ways. On a hot day perfect for batting it was obvious the skipper would lose the toss. Which he did. And into the field we went.

Normally I am not one for getting agitated so early in a match but seeing their opening batsman walk out in blue trainers, a blue underarmour and a blue sun visor got my blood boiling. Who did this chap think he was? Some Las Vegas croupier. Judging by some of his shot selection he may well have been because he wasn't much of a batsman. At one point in the third over he started walking down the wicket as Josh ran in to bowl. Josh stopped and the batsman looked a bit of an idiot standing halfway down the wicket waiting for a deliver that wasn't about to come. The Northampton Exiles batting coach must teach this new aggressive batting approach as the other opener (although much more in keeping with my standards of cricket attire) started doing the same thing.

In the face of such bravado, the Berko bowlers kept calm and soon we had both batsman back in the hutch. At this point the opposition captain came in and batted in a much more orthodox manner. He and their number 3 put together a useful partnership on what was a good pitch. With little happening for the steamers it was time to turn to the spinners. Riaz and James bowled well in tandem and the batsman found it hard to get them away. Unfortunately with the heat, we were losing our concentration out in the field and a number of catches went down. Unusual for our high standards so far this year. Despite that we finished well with a number of wickets at the death pegging the opposition to 205. Riaz was once again the pick of the bowling taking 4 wickets.

With a strong batting line up, there was confidence we could knock the runs off without any problems. If only it was that simple. With the top order struggling in the last few games the skipper had a new tactic for the batting line up. This saw him move up the order ready to face the new ball and some pace bowling. Unfortunately they had neither pace bowling nor a new ball opting instead to bowl with the old ball for our entire innings (It must have resembled an orange by the end). This of course sent shock waves through the top order which can only be the explanation at how we found ourselves 19/4. Some might say the captain's tactics had somewhat backfired. Little did they realise that my real plan was yet to come. By putting Lee in at 6 I had clearly annoyed him. So much so that he went out there a batted like a god. He took on the Exiles attack and played some aggressive yet proper cricket shots. The very vocal opposition fell silent as Lee kept planting their bowlers over the boundary. He managed to put together a hundred run partnership with Doug of which the latter contributed just 18 runs to. Lee shifted the whole momentum of the game in our favour in just 67 balls.

However the game was not won yet. Doug and James continued to push the score towards the target but it wouldn't be the Berko way without some panic and drama. Once James and Doug departed followed by Seb and Josh we only had Leon and Riaz left at the crease. You could feel the tension from the record crowd that had assembled on the decking. Some were pacing up and down, some couldn't watch, the skipper meanwhile didn't and couldn't move in fear he may jinx the game.

No matter what was going on off the pitch Riaz and Leon were staying cool out in the middle. The last pair nervelessly put on 30 to win the game for Berko. True metal. Good to see both of them win it for us at the end especially Leon who at the post match press conference announced his retirement forth with. Although sad to see his size twelves hung up, a part of me still believes he will come out of retirement to make a triumphant return (again)

Man of the match goes to Lee who reacted to my rallying call last week that no MoM had gone to a batsman. At least someone reads my match reports. The win leaves us 8th and only 34 points off promotion.

Northampton Exiles Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1w 6b 7lb 
for 8 wickets
14
205 (53.0 overs)		     
Bhautik Patel ct  J O'Neill b J Roberts 25 29 4 86.21
Paul Frost b  L Roberts 15 50 2 30.0
Amar Patel ct  J O'Neill b R Richards 34 47 7 72.34
Shaun Lawlor lbw  R Richards 66 98 10 67.35
Praveen Anthony ct  D Foster b J Wyatt 16 34 2 47.06
Tyrone Lawlor run out  (D Foster) 14 21 2 66.67
Haroon Akhtar lbw  R Richards 1 4 25.00
Rizwan Badar ct  D Smith b R Richards 7 7 100
David Taylor Not Out  5 18 27.78
Halit Patel Not Out  8 10 1 80.0
Mehul Shah  

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joshua Roberts12.0341141.003.42
Leon Roberts11.0338138.003.45
Sebastian Smith5.002400.004.80
James Wyatt10.0141141.004.10
Riaz Richards15.0248412.003.20

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3b 7lb 
for 9 wickets
10
206		        
Andrew Joyce ct  H Patel b H Patel 5 10 50.0
David Smith b  H Akhtar 0 9 0 1
Ollie Chinneck ct  P Anthony b H Akhtar 6 11 1 54.55
Jez O'Neill lbw  H Patel 6 10 1 60.0 2
Douglas Foster ct  T Lawlor b H Akhtar 42 74 6 56.76 1 1
Lee Mason ct  P Frost b D Taylor 80 69 7 4 115.94
James Wyatt b  D Taylor 24 30 5 80.0
Riaz Richards Not Out  23 31 2 74.19
Sebastian Smith b  H Patel 3 12 25.00
Joshua Roberts lbw  H Akhtar 0 6 0
Leon Roberts Not Out  7 10 1 70.0

Northampton Exiles Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Haroon Akhtar16.1453413.253.28
Halit Patel12.0359319.674.92
Bhautik Patel8.003500.004.38
Mehul Shah3.002300.007.67
David Taylor6.0126213.004.33

  • Umpire :
    Richard
  • Scorer :
    Sarah & Ben