Scorecard

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI v Potton Town on Sat 04 May 2013 at 1pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won By 5 wickets

Match report On Star Wars day (May the 4th) it was fairly apt that a young apprentice named Luke rose to the challenge against the evil empire of Potton Town to steer the rebel alliance of Berkhamsted to a win on the opening day of the season. Unfortunately that analogy is probably wasted on the younger players who didn’t know who the Nature Boy Ric Flair or Mr Perfect were hence I doubt they realise there were three quite brilliant original Star Wars films before that terrible prequel, The Phantom Menace.

The opposition won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a decent pitch. After the first 12 overs it seemed like a good decision as the two burley openers latched onto anything short and wide to despatch to the boundary and push the score 72 without loss. It was a slightly disappoint start from the home team after a Churchillian speech by the captain relaying the importance of starting the season strongly. However as can happen in sport, small incidents can change the momentum of a game. With a change of bowling and after 5 very loose losseners Luke O’Dair made the important breakthrough snagging one of the openers well caught by the skipper. The ever dependable Leon followed that up by trapping the other opener in front of the stumps.

From that moment on the opposition showed limited resistance apart from one chap who didn’t walk after nicking one to 1st slip. To be fair Ollie initially fumbled the chance before holding on to the ball but was unsighted by the umpires. In Div 4 cricket I would have thought the batsman would take the word of the fielder especially from such an honest chap as Ollie (Probably a different matter had it been Jez but that story from Leverstock Green is for another time). Leon showed incredible resilience dragging his aging body through 17 straight overs to pick up 2 wickets. League debutant and Coach Riaz bowled a very tight spell of 9 overs, 8 runs for 3 wickets. However it was Luke O’Dair who led the team off for tea after taking his maiden Michelle Pfeiffer for the 1st XI.

Chasing down the 140 to win was slow going at times. Jez made a good start before running himself out and James nicked off for the second successive game. It was left to Ollie and Luke O’Dair to forge the decisive partnership to take the game to the point of victory. Ollie on his 1st team league debut played with patience and maturity and scored a well deserved 50 which included some cracking back foot cuts up the hill for 2s. I recommend getting down the gym to turn those 2s into 4s. Either that or don’t let a bowler like Leon instruct on how far out to put the boundary rope. However the day belonged to Luke who followed up his wickets with a useful 40 not out to win the captain’s man of the match. Had he not worn such a ridiculous pair of jeans/leggings he may have gotten away from the game without a fine.

In any case it was good to start the season off with a win and the team spirit we showed sharing a few beers after the game was great. We will come up against tougher opposition this season but for the time being the old saying does stand true “Beers taste better when you win.” Woooo

DWS

Potton Town Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 2w 7b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
15
139 (45.5 overs)		     
Sean Stevens lbw  L Roberts 40
Kelvin MacFarlane ct  D Smith b L O'Dair 40
Gus Berry ct  J O'Neil b L O'Dair 7
James Howlett lbw  L O'Dair 7
Ben Howlett ct  J O'Neil b L Roberts 2
Colin Stevens lbw  R Richards 2
Dave Salmon ct  R Richards b R Richards 10
Phil Banks ct  J O'Neil b L O'Dair 9
Niall Hamshere b  R Richards 7
Files Carter b  L O'Dair 0
Steve Highland Not Out  0

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Leon Roberts17.0447223.502.76
Syed Shah6.004000.006.67
Luke O'Dair9.022254.402.44
Riaz Richards9.55832.670.81
William Steed4.021400.003.50

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1w 3b  
for 5 wickets
4
143		        
Jamie Lewis lbw  N Hamshere 8 37 21.62
Jez O'Neill run out  (G Berry) 23 42 4 54.76 3
Ollie Chinneck lbw  S Highland 57 99 5 57.58
James Wyatt ct  S Stevens b K MacFarlane 6 23 1 26.09
Sajid Kan run out  (S Stevens) 1 5 20.0
Luke O'Dair Not Out  44 90 2 48.89
Riaz Richards Not Out  0 1 0 1
David Smith   1
William Steed  
Leon Roberts  
Syed Shah  

Potton Town Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Howlett9.042400.002.67
Niall Hamshere12.3431131.002.48
Kelvin MacFarlane10.0224124.002.40
Gus Berry7.021500.002.14
Files Carter5.002000.004.00
Dave Salmon2.001100.005.50
Steve Highland4.0015115.003.75

  • Umpire :
    Richard Wiggs
  • Scorer :
    Sarah Marsden