14/15 May – Round 2
Some sad news this week as we learnt of the passing of our Club President Dick Wilding. He was a great servant of the club over many years and will be greatly missed. RIP Dick. All teams will be holding a minute’s silence before play this coming weekend.
Last weekend saw the first of two bumper Saturday’s this season with three senior sides playing at home. The crunch tie between the 3s & 4s taking place on the top square being the main event.
A largely pointless coin toss was followed by an equally futile walk out to the middle for the 3s skipper who edged Will Goodwyn’s second ball to Kavi behind the stumps. It was a good ball to be fair. Josh Brain (40) and Imran Majid (43) steadily rebuilt the innings against some tidy bowling from the trio of Will, Luca Greene and Sam Brown. Imran’s leisurely start to the innings (3 runs from 43 balls) found some momentum and he scored at a run a ball for the rest of his know, a valuable knock. Steve Wale then gave the innings some impetus with a quick 36 and some aggressive running with Dylan got the 3s up to 161, considerably less than the original target but there had been some impressive bowling from the 4s bowlers. Will finishing with 3-28 and James Clarke with 3-38.
In reply the 4s started well, the 3s seam attack struggling to find the right line and length. Several of the batters hitting a few boundaries before obligingly hitting a long hop or full toss straight up into the air. David Bartholomew (21) top scored but he too was out caught going for another boundary. Josh Peacock was the pick of the bowlers for the 3s with 3-26 and Steve Wale added two wickets and two catches to his earlier runs. The 4s were eventually all out for 123. On the day the 4s bowling was better but the 3s had just enough runs on the board to win despite some scares along the way.
On the main square the 1st XI were taking on Chorleywood, after winning the toss on a glorious day Berkhamsted choose to bat first. Ian Bartholomew (41) opened the innings with positive intent and found a more than capable partner in Alan Gofton (69*) coming in at number four after a few early wickets. The pair put on 61 before Ian departed at 93-3, a big score still on the cards. However, Gofton struggled to find another partner to stay with him and allow us to accelerate towards the end of the innings, Berkhamsted eventually finishing on what proved to be a below par 166-8 from their full 50 overs.
Chorleywood batted well in response, the openers putting on a match winning 157 for the first wicket. Leon Roberts did offer them a tough test from his 10 overs on the bounce from the pavilion end, rarely missing his mark and unfortunate that the edges didn’t stick. Eventually Chorleywood got to the total in relative ease losing only the two wickets along the way, reaching the target with 9 overs to spare. Next week the 1s travel to Stevenage where they hope to kick start their league campaign with a victory.
The final match on Saturday was the 2s trip to Welwyn Garden City, greeted by the flattest deck in the league and clear blue skies and an oppo already depleted to 10. The obvious decision was to bat first. Welwyn duly won the toss and stuck us in the field…
Mukamil Jomegol and Chris Wilcox both making their 2s league debuts opened the bowling and started very well. Neither of the Welwyn openers able to land a punch and the two finished with 0-12 & 0-14 respectively from their full allocation. Both unfortunate not to collect a few wickets each.
With an abundance of spin in the armoury the quartet of Slater, Lewarne, Klosterman and Terrace set about their work, and all got amongst the wickets as Welwyn struggled to get any flow to their innings, ending up with 132. Jamie Slater (3-20) & Mark Lewarne (3-21) the pick.
The batters set about the run chase on what now seemed to be a slightly unpredictable track. Contributions from most of the batters, many scoring 20 then departing meant the total was easily brought into reach. With just 20 required Mukamil approached the crease, with a few lofty blows (16 from 6 balls) including the two biggest sixes of the day the game was over in a flash. Winning by 5 wickets. A quick game always appreciated when there’s a BBQ and beers to be had on the decking back home. Next week sees a tougher test v Northwood at home.
The Women’s team continued their Pre-season Super8s campaign, this week at home to Luton. Sadly the second match was lost due to a down pour however one match was able to be completed. In that first match Joanna Fisher took her first wickets for the club (2-2-0-2!) and Alice Hart took a stunning diving catch at square leg in a very good all-round fielding performance. Berkhamsted winning comfortably in the end with all the batters making light work in reply. A better forecast this weekend for the double header with Lutonian & Hitchin.
Finally, the T20 side had the second of our cup matches v Redbourn on Sunday. A game of four quarters. Berko won the toss and decided to field as the wicket was fairly damp and the drizzle continued to fall. Q1 went to Redbourn after 10 overs they were 103-2, the two wickets for Charlie Lound and Matthew Brown. Q2 went to Berko, tight spells from Jamie Shaw (2-19) & M Brown (2-26) kept the Redborun total to 178-6. Q3 again went to Rebourn, Berko batters tempted by the short boundary lost wickets at regular intervals and finding themselves 78-8 from the first 10. Q4 was an exhibition of tail wagging for Charlie Lound (30) and Indy Singh (35*), but unfortunately the earlier batters had left them too much to do, ending 25 runs short of the target.