Scorecard

Harpenden III v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 01 Sep 2012 at 12.30pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report While doubts remain of the whereabouts of the likes of Lord Lucan, Jimmy Hoffa and the second gunman, Berkhamsted’s own mystery was solved at the weekend with the return of Leon Roberts. Having taken a sabbatical away from the game to add to his family it we good to see the old boy back on the pitch. Especially as it meant for the second time this season the captain wasn’t the oldest in the side.

Now before I start describing the match I thought its worth taking you through some of the things a captain has to deal with especially in the build up to the game:

1) John “Beckham Arm” Herring blackmailing the team that he wouldn’t play unless he had a drinking partner later in the evening.

2) James Wyatt Earp phoning 5 minutes before the meet time to inform me that he and his trusty steed were stuck in traffic on the M4.

3) The above mentioned James losing his whites and having to borrow the captain’s spare pair.

4) Andrew “Joycey” Joyce going to the wrong ground after advising me he would go direct.

5) Larry “Donald Trump” Eaton not realising he hadn’t picked up Joycey’s bat when collecting his kit from the changing room.

6) The above mentioned Larry asking the captain if he could leave the field of play as he needed the rhyming slang of his new nickname.

Seriously you can’t make this stuff up.

Obviously the preparation wasn’t ideal but nevertheless the skipper was happy to insert the opposition post winning the toss despite having to start with 10 men. And a good decisions it was to with the returning Leon champing at the bit to unleash his well rested shoulder on the Harpenden U13 batsman (The oppo were very young). Clearly he could smell blood. Now with no warm up and a couple of years off I was expecting a few wayward overs to ease him back into the game. Not a bit of it, from the very first ball he was on the money. He bowled an inspired spell of control and movement both in the air and off the pitch finishing with figures of 5/25. I even saw him mouth “Back to the nets idiot” after bowling another one of their batsman. In the end he bowled 16 overs straight and no doubt will be unable to walk for the next week but it was worth it to see that thirst for the game in his eyes.

With the help of Romit and Huw we bowled the opposition out for 122. A score we should make with consummate ease with the strength in depth of our batting line up.......

Unfortunately in true Berkhamsted run chase style we made it extremely hard for ourselves. After being 50/1 we were then reduced to 55/5 as Joycey, Hamish, James and Larry all suddenly made the opposition bowling look more like Glen McGrath rather than Rory McGrath that it had been up until then. Luckily, and not for the first time this season, the skipper’s strategic sense was once again proved with Doug, being moved down to 5 in the batting order, was able to forged a decisive partnership with John. Both played some great shots especially John who as ever took a disliking to most of the opposition and proceeded to cart them to all corners. However with 4 runs to win both decided it was probably more fun to put pressure on the incoming batsman by getting themselves out. Doug hitting straight to a fielding and calling through for a single only to get run out while John chopped a wide short ball onto his stumps. It was lucky that no one was in earshot of the captain at that point.

Anyway another 30 points and the team have really started to come together in the second half of the season. Hopefully we can finish the season on a high next week and send a message of intent for the following year.

Harpenden III Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 15lb 
for 10 wickets
17
122 (49.3 overs)		     
D. Gilsoh b  Leon Roberts 10
M. Winchester b  Leon Roberts 9
S. Jeater b  Leon Roberts 3
A. Latham run out  Romit Patel 27
C. Beard b  Huw Barnett 19
M. Smith ct  John Herring b. Andrew Joyce 8
F. Potter lbw  Leon Roberts 0
W. Downes b  Leon Roberts 0
A. Finch ct  James Wyatt b. Huw Barnett 5
I. Hussain b  Romit Patel 16
I. Hussain Not Out  8

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Hamish Lewis7.021600.002.29
Leon Roberts15.082555.001.67
Andrew Joyce7.0027127.003.86
Huw Barnett11.0220210.001.82
Romit Patel8.3319119.002.24

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 6w 3b 5lb 
for 7 wickets
17
123		        
Andrew Joyce ct  S. Jeater b. W. Downes 27 32 32 6 84.38
Toby Phillips ct  S. Jeater b. M. Smith 4 5 4 1 100
Hamish Lewis b  C. Beard 12 37 29 41.38
James Wyatt ct  S. Jeater b. W. Downes 3 9 6 50.0 1
Douglas Foster run out  S. Jeater 26 62 40 4 65.00
Larry Eaton ct  S. Jeater b. C. Beard 0 1 1 0
John Herring b  I. Hussain 30 61 65 3 46.15 1
David Smith Not Out  0 9 10 0
Huw Barnett Not Out  4 6 8 50.0
Romit Patel   1
Leon Roberts  

Harpenden III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

  • Umpire :
    Richard
  • Scorer :
    Ben & Sarah