Scorecard

West Herts II v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 23 Aug 2014 at 1pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won by 108 runs

Match report On January 10 1982 in the NFC Championship Game, San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys with the final play of the game. With 58 seconds left in the game, Joe Montana rolled to the right and launched a high pass out of the pocket over the heads of three on-rushing Cowboy defenders into the back of the end zone. The throw seemed destined to sail out of bounds until 49ers receiver Dwight Clarke made a leaping touchdown grab with his fingertips to win the game. The play went down in sporting history and is simply known as “The Catch.” On Saturday 23rd August something similar happened when Quarter Back Chad Fortune sent in fizzing pass into the end zone in the Berkhamsted 1st XI warm up game. Covered by three defenders, Gareth defied the odds by jumping forward to take a back of the hand diving catch low off the ground in the dying seconds. Admittedly they had already sewn up the game but the play would go down in Berkhamsted history as “The Grab”

After 6 wins in a row it was off to West Herts to play the bottom of the league. Memories of last year came back as we entered the home of the "Stags", a scene of much carnage from their batsman on our bowlers. Revenge was very much the order of the day.

The skipper went out and lost the toss but was surprised to be inserted on what looked an absolute belter to bat on. And so it went, Gareth and Ed opened up in a manner reminiscent of Hitchin however this time Ed was wearing the trousers in this particular partnership. They posted a very solid start before Ed got carried away and gave their rather muscular bowler his first wicket. Doug settled in at No 3 (Unfortunately for Joycey, engineering works on the London Midland line had scuppered his chances of batting in the top 5) and looked assured as usual. Gareth had moved on to a well-deserved 50 and with the pitch flat and the bowling as threatening as Dame Edna Everage the skipper predicted a ton was on. No such luck as the very next ball Gareth lobbed an easy catch to mid-off. Shame on me for putting the mockers on our own batsman.

Jez joined Doug in the middle at which point the oppo brought on their 14 year old bowler. Doug having taken stick the previous week over his subdued batting when facing one of his pupils launched into the young'un with a Dorothy straight down the ground. Jez obviously feeling sorry for the poor lad gave him his wicket just as a dentist gives you a lolly pop after 3 hours of root canal surgery. Chad was the next man in and immediately took a fancy to the bowling. He made a rather rapid 45 before playing on to leave the skipper and Joycey to force the declaration. 252/5 off 50 overs. Not a bad return after being asked to bat.

Tea included homemade brownies and cup cakes. One could consider these as a bribe to obtain top facilities marks but I think it was a clever rouse to load up the opening bowlers. Clearly it had the desired effect on Josh McRoberts who despite getting a wicket in his first over struggled to find his rhythm. Probably due to a belly full of cakes on top of his McDonalds breakfast. Chad was also finding life difficult with their number 3 swinging at anything full or wide. The oppo had got off to a flyer helped by some poor fielding and with the score 81/1 off 12 overs the captain was starting to panic a bit.

However a change of bowling brought the break through as Doug got the free scoring Harding out. After that it was pretty much plain sailing as wickets continued to fall. As so often this season Riaz was out thinking the batsman and picked up 4 wickets. The innings however belong to Doug who went one better to take a Michelle. Not a bad return for someone who was unsure about bowling when the skipper asked him. If only the skipper could move his tired bag of bones quicker and Doug may have made the honours board. As conciliation he picked up Man of the Match.

Another great win. 7 in a row. 7th in the league. Bring on Ampthill Town.

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 5w 13b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
20
252		        
Ed Parkes b Harding 38
Gareth Preedy ct Nandana 51
Douglas Foster b Harding 43
Jez O'Neill ct Milford 22
Chad Fortune b Harding 44
Andrew Joyce Not Out  18
David Smith Not Out  14 1
Stephen Dight  
Jamie Lewis   1
Riaz Richards  
Joshua Roberts  

West Herts II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Harding16.0368322.674.25
Richardson7.022700.003.86
Woosley13.025200.004.00
Nandana5.0020120.004.00
Milford4.0024124.006.00
Palmer5.004200.008.40

West Herts II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 7w 8b 6lb 
for 10 wickets
23
144 (41.0 overs)		     
Parmer b Roberts 4
Woosley lbw Foster 22
Harding b Foster 44
Da Silva b Foster 4
Durn lbw Foster 10
Phang lbw Richards 7
Tabor b Foster 5
Milford b Richards 1
Richardson ct Lewis b Richards 9
Mills ct Smith b Richards 13
Crain Not Out  1

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joshua Roberts4.0122122.005.50
Chad Fortune7.003900.005.57
Douglas Foster13.014759.403.62
Riaz Richards13.061243.000.92
Stephen Dight4.01700.001.75

  • Umpire :
    Peps
  • Scorer :