Scorecard

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI v Bayford & Hertford on Sat 12 Jul 2014 at 1pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won By 1 wicket

Match report Anyone know a good way of reducing stress levels? After Saturdays result the team scribe would really appreciate any suggestions. In true Berkhamsted style we almost clutched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

The day started badly when young Chad did his best impression of Glen McGrath at Trent Bridge in 2005 and rolled his ankle in the warm up. Hmmm, we all know what happened to the Aussie's after that. While we continued with our warm up the opposition were lubricating their throats with France's finest lager circa 1664. Some would say a very traditional English cricket warm up. I dread to think what Riaz thought.

In a nice touch before the toss, the skipper received a bottle of champers from the club's president to mark his 100th cap for Berkhamsted 1st XI. Once the picture hit social media well-wishers from all four corners of the globe passed on their congratulations with varying degrees of sarcasm. The news also made it into the local rag.

Upon winning the toss Bayford choose to bat on what was turning out to be a beautiful day. Chad and Rob opened up with the former keeping in tight from the off. With the batsman continuously playing the ball through third man the skipper decided to pack the offside with an 8 - 1 field. As some of the regular readers will remember the captain used the same tactics with Leon over at Hertingfordbury last season. Unfortunately Rob doesn't quite have the same control as Leon and two balls later after runs through the leg side the captain explained to Rob where he expected the ball to be bowled. The little chat had the desired impact as a couple of balls later we had the opening caught behind. Wickets started to tumble at this point as Chad got into his stride, bowling through the pain of his ankle.

Wickets then started to become harder to come by as the ball became unresponsive on a fairly flat albeit slow wicket. Riaz and Dighty came on to see if some spin could bring us more wickets. At the time Ketteridge was batting well and starting to look dangerous. With Dighty given less away from his bowling than Ebenezer Scrooge pre the first Christmas ghost, the run rate started to slow and we were building pressure on the batsman. That pressure turned into wickets as the opposition looked to score off Riaz only to full victim to his full variety of balls. He picked up 5 in the end including the crucial wicket of their opening. A bit of blocking at the end of innings saw Bayford setting us 167 to win.

After last week’s slight difficulties in chasing, the skipper stressed the importance to start well. We did. Gareth smashed the first ball for 4. Then the third ball went the same way. Then he was out. Not quite what I had in mind. Nonetheless Doug who had been promoted up the order was calming the situation down and playing patiently. O’Dair who had joined him in the middle, was also very watchful early on. Both played well in the partnership and had almost perfectly timed the run chase. Almost. After passing 50 Luke then preceded to run himself out. Doug hung around a bit after that but was also out post reaching 50, well caught at short fine leg.

Now pressure does funny things. Normally Berkhamsted have steel like nerves but with 30 needed off of 10 overs and 7 wickets remaining we started melting as though we were wicked witches doused in the purest of mountain spring water. Suddenly we found ourselves 5 down when the skipper went in. He was out with only 7 needed off 3 overs. Dighty was pacing up and down at this point, chain smoking his way through a pack of 20. Thing didn’t get any better as suddenly both Riaz and Rob were out in the same over with the opposition taking what can only be described as sensational catches. As Chad limped out we somehow needed 5 off the last over. James added to the drama by laying up a catch first ball only to be dropped with the pair scampering through for a single. 4 runs 5 balls, Chad on strike. Big swing. Miss. Dot Ball. Big Swing. Miss. Dot Ball. Big Swing. Miss. Dot Ball. Big Swing. Connection. Caught. Now we were panicking

The batsman had crossed so James was on strike for the last ball. All three results were still possible at this point. The captain couldn’t watch. The field was spread with everyone on the boundary. Everything fell silent as the bowling started his run up………….....

However James Wyatt inserted himself into Berkhamsted Cricket Club folklore. The stalwarts will be talking about his shot for decades to come. I think I had blacked out at that point but am told he pumped an on drive for four and glory. The cheering and dancing went long into the night.

We really shouldn’t have made it that hard for ourselves but it was great to get over the line. Credit must also go to Bayford for never giving up and pushing us all the way. Some fine catches were taken under intense pressure.

Man of the match goes to Luke OD for his fifty. Two wins in a row. Say it quietly but it sounds like the start of a winning streak.

Bayford & Hertford Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 1b 7lb 
for 9 wickets
12
166 (53.0 overs)		     
Ricky Ketteridge lbw  R Richards 61 112 87 7 70.11
James Hogg ct  J O'Neill b R Prunty 16 28 18 2 88.89
Ben Wilson b  R Prunty 0 4 0
Dave Morris b  C Fortune 2 10 10 20.0
Robert Hogg b  C Fortune 1 11 11 9.09
Mitch Chapman ct  L O'Dair b R Richards 22 67 55 3 40.0
Miles Tomkins ct  L O'Dair b R Richards 4 36 23 17.39
Nye Greenfield ct  L O'Dair b R Richards 2 7 7 28.57
Andy White ct  R Prunty b R Richards 20 27 29 3 68.97
Carl Skinner Not Out  21 38 45 3 46.67
John Collins Not Out  5 30 30 16.67

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chad Fortune7.001829.002.57
Robert Prunty5.0028214.005.60
Douglas Foster5.012500.005.00
Luke O'Dair2.00500.002.50
Stephen Dight18.054300.002.39
Riaz Richards16.033957.802.44

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 1w  
for 9 wickets
2
167		        
Gareth Preedy ct  M Chapman b A White 10 1 12 2 83.33
Douglas Foster ct  b C Skinner 56 134 102 9 54.90
Luke O'Dair run out  () 52 91 96 7 54.17 3
Luke Frey b  J Collins 16 26 17 2 94.12
James Wyatt Not Out  22 43 31 4 70.97
Jez O'Neill lbw  J Collins 2 8 7 28.57 1
David Smith ct  b J Collins 6 7 7 85.71
Riaz Richards ct  b C Skinner 1 3 4 25.00
Robert Prunty ct  b C Skinner 0 2 3 0 1
Chad Fortune ct  b J Collins 0 4 4 0
Stephen Dight Not Out  0 1

Bayford & Hertford Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Andy White8.0228128.003.50
Miles Tomkins7.011300.001.86
Carl Skinner16.0250316.673.12
James Hogg1.00500.005.00
John Collins15.0171417.754.73

  • Umpire :
    Richard
  • Scorer :
    Ben and Sarah