Scorecard

Waltham X Rosedale v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 18 Aug 2012 at 1.00pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Lost By 28 runs

Match report On the hottest day of the year so far the Berko truckers made another long away trip to the delightful ground of Waltham X Rosedale. Now I know Berkhamsted has a bit of a slope but nothing compares the Waltham X’s ground. Except maybe the east side of Everest. Together with changing facilities reminiscent of Wormwood Scrubs and a wicket with two ends considerably higher than the middle it felt like a ground where home advantage would play its part.

Indeed the oppo must have also cunningly organised a pile up on the M25 as well to scupper our plans of a warm up and acclimatisation to the conditions. Turning up 5 minutes before the start is not the best preparation for any sport but I had seen most of the Hertfordshire countryside under the watchful eyes of navigator and co-pilot Doug. He did admit that he was unfortunately directing me to the wrong town at one point however made up for it with snippets of useful information. Did you know that the Great North Road which was a coaching route used by mail coaches running between London, York and Edinburgh is now mainly followed by the modern A1. However this bypasses some of the surviving coaching inn which can actually be found on the A1000 (the original Great North Road). A road which somehow we found ourselves on.

Once the skipper had finally turned up and inspected the wicket he was glad to lose the toss. A strategy which he has employed the last 4 games and which the opposition has elected to bat. So another 53 overs in the searing heat was on the cards. The captain stressed the need for a good start despite the lack of a warm up. Unfortunately it didn’t quite pan out that way. With the opposition on 120/1 off only 17 overs the prospect of chasing down 400 was on the cards. Once again the skipper showed his leadership qualities that only a management courses at Sandhurst can train and lifted spirits at the first drinks break. The change to spin worked like a charm as Romit and Wyatt Earp suddenly pegged the run rate back. Once the dangerous opener Patel was given out LBW (much to his dismay – more on that later) the runs were soaked up like a sponge as clearly the opposition tail started at number 4. After a very shaking start we showed a lot of fight to get back into the game by tea and bowling the opposition out for 213 with Romit and James finishing with figure of 53/3 and 45/4 respectively.

Joycey and Toby opened the batting again and gave real impetus to our innings with some fine stroke play. Toby’s unorthodox batting style clearly wound up the opposition so much that their aforementioned opener Patel had some choice words. This was a feature of their fielding style. Clearly with only 3 proper players in their team the others clearly have to make up for their clear lack of any talent by abusing the opposition and umpire. What a lovely way to give up your Saturday. No wonder the game in general is losing so many Saturday cricketers. I’m proud to say that is not the Berko way and we showed discipline and integrity not to rise to their level (or meet them in the car park afterwards). Anyway back to the cricket and the opposition turned to their one-man-band Patel and his spin. Unfortunately for Berko this had the desired effect and with close catchers surrounding the bat, he ripped through our middle order. However all was not lost with the returning Doug making up for his orienteering skills by batting sensibly with the lower order. Sadly it was not too be and after Doug was caught after reaching his 50 we couldn’t quite hold on for the draw and the opposition won with 2 balls to spare.

The win clearly cheered the opposition up and they were happy to shake hands and ignore their behaviour on the pitch. Whatever makes you sleep at night fellas.

Waltham X Rosedale Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3w 14b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
22
213 (51.1 overs)		     
K Modi ct  J Wyatt b J Atkins 36
Jonny Patel lbw  J Wyatt 53
S Roberts run out  G Preedy 75
H Patel ct  G Preedy b J Wyatt 7
P Morrison lbw  R Patel 4
Jignesh Patel run out  G Preedy 6
S Waller b  R Patel 1
S Briggs b  J Wyatt 2
S Peek ct  D Foster b J Wyatt 7
A Matthews ct  J Wyatt b R Patel 0
A Chatler Not Out  0

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Hamish Lewis7.013300.004.71
Joseph Atkins4.0033133.008.25
Andrew Joyce4.003000.007.50
Romit Patel19.0253317.672.79
James Wyatt17.1545411.252.62

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 7w 23b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
33
184		        
Andrew Joyce b  S Roberts 35 42 55 5 63.64
Toby Phillips ct  H Patel b S Peek 34 53 46 3 73.91
Hamish Lewis ct  Modi b J Patel 2 6 7 28.57
Douglas Foster ct  Chatler b J Patel 50 87 75 7 66.67 1
James Wyatt ct  & b J Patel 4 4 6 1 66.67 2
Jamie Lewis ct  & b Peek 5 21 21 1 23.81
Luke Frey st  b J Patel 5 5 7 1 71.43
David Smith b  Peek 3 14 14 21.43
Gareth Preedy lbw  b J Patel 8 30 31 1 25.81 1 2
Joseph Atkins b  J Patel 4 17 10 1 40.0
Romit Patel Not Out  1 11 16 6.25

Waltham X Rosedale Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Peek24.0566322.002.75
Matthews5.003000.006.00
Roberts4.0023123.005.75
Patel13.333966.502.89
H Patel1.00200.002.00

  • Umpire :
    Guy
  • Scorer :
    Sarah and Ben