Scorecard

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI v Ampthill Town II on Sat 30 Aug 2014 at 1pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won By 25 runs

Match report The Oakland As famously went on a 20 game winning streak to defy the critics in the 2002 Major League Baseball season. The 2014 Berkhamsted 1st XI season is very much starting to show certain parallels. Anyone who has read the book Moneyball (or indeed seen the film - highly recommended for those that can't be bothered to read the book) will know the secret to the A's success was through detailed analysis of player statistics. Although the skipper does have an AS in stats and once proved the null hypothesis that Alex Stewart's batting average wasn't statically different when keeping wicket for England, he can't profess to use similar techniques for the turnaround in our fortunes. One could say it is down to his man management skills and inspirational leadership. Others would say we have had strong availabilities these past 8 games. If only we had that at the start of the season.......

After a bit of rain in the week the pitch was fairly soft on top so the skipper seek advice from some of the experienced players on what he should do on winning the toss. The general consensus was to go out and lose the toss. Thanks boys. As luck would have it (or 50% probability to be more precise - still using my stats) the skipper won the toss and batted. At drinks we were 103/3 after 27 overs which seemed to support his decision. Doug and Ollie had batted well together to set the foundations for a good score on a wicket that kept the bowlers interested. The captain suggested 200 was the aim at the halfway point much to the disgust of the Hulk who promptly went green, bit the head off the messenger and decreed how preposterous it was that we were even batting after winning the toss.

Now anyone who has had a cheeky look down at the scorecard will see we got bowled out for 132 which would suggest the Hulk had some credence to his eruption. In fact one of the second team also commented that he would have never batted if he had won the toss. However stats only ever tell one side of the story. Doug ran himself out, Ollie, Jez and Riaz were all out trying to pull half trackers, Chad was caught on the boundary going for a Dorothy and Rob tried to sweep a straight one. Suddenly we were 110/9 and out walked Dighty having not had to bat since early July. I'm not sure the pitch could necessary be fully blamed for our predicament.

In any case the skipper and Dighty put on a useful little partnership to frustrate the opposition before the former yoked himself. 132 was completely below par from where we were but it still gave us a chance. If we were away I would have panic as Chad is like a pint of Guinness or a 4 year old on a plane. He doesn't travel well. But we were home. Game on.

And so it went. Chad clearly hadn't had enough tea so he tucked into the opposition batsman. It must have tasted nice as before long he had already got 4 wickets. A double wicket maiden later and he was on the honours board. It was a great spell of bowling with some absolute rip snorting deliveries. I particularly enjoyed the bouncer that they number 4 just couldn't get his gloves out of the way of.

Shattered from his opening spell, Dighty then came on to replaced him and with Riaz both brought on the squeeze. Ampthill Town were 7 down at this point and seemed to be happy defending. With numerous maidens in a row and the game drifting a bit we changed things up and brought in a short leg. I would like to claim it was my idea given it had the desired effect but alas it wasn't. The oppo changed tactics and we had two wickets in two balls. The second one included the best one handed slip catch I have ever seen. Even more impressive was that the hand belonged to Dighty. Surely with the number 11 in victory was just around the corner. Unfortunately not, the 10th pair were starting to frustrate us with Strong farming the strike. At this point they were inching towards our total. Time to call in the cleaner. For the second time this season it seemed like I dialled the wrong number and Mildred from Fresh n Go laundrettes on the high street had received the call. Chad's first over of his second spell went for 13. Hmmm. I was a little worried at this point.

However I needn't of been as his next over delivered the final blow and a punch drunk opposition went down onto the canvas 25 runs short. Jubilant celebrations followed as we had won another tight one. 8 in a row.

Man of the match was Chad for his 7 for. The evening that followed consisted of our fines night out. From what I can remember it was a good night made better by the preceding win.

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 5b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
11
132		        
Ed Parkes ct P Clark b B O'Connell 19 45 34 4 55.88
Gareth Preedy b K Smith 6 30 18 1 33.33 2
Luke O'Dair ct  b K Smith 5 21 18 1 27.78
Douglas Foster run out  (P Strong) 30 60 57 5 52.63
Ollie Chinneck b G Howson 34 60 56 4 1 60.71
Chad Fortune ct B O'Connell b P Clark 4 16 11 1 36.36
Jez O'Neill ct N Howson b G Howson 2 14 15 13.33 2
David Smith b P Clark 19 46 45 4 42.22 1
Riaz Richards ct N Howson b G Howson 0 6 5 0
Robert Prunty lbw P Clark 1 6 4 25.00
Stephen Dight Not Out  1 28 23 4.35 1

Ampthill Town II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben O'Connell11.0229129.002.64
Kieran Smith7.0021210.503.00
Joey Evans7.003900.005.57
Phil Clark16.282438.001.47
Gavin Howson6.011133.671.83

Ampthill Town II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
12w 1b 10lb 
for 10 wickets
23
107 (41.5 overs)		     
Phil Clark ct J O'Neill b R Prunty 5 11 9 1 55.56
Gavin Howson lbw C Fortune 1 22 17 5.88
Jake Duxbury ct G Preedy b C Fortune 8 25 19 1 42.11
Nathan Howson b C Fortune 17 24 21 3 80.95
Paul Strong b C Fortune 39 113 101 5 38.61
Jason Dimond b C Fortune 0 8 6 0
Thomas Degnan ct J O'Neill b C Fortune 6 19 17 1 35.29
David Morgan ct G Preedy b C Fortune 0 6 2 0
Joey Evans ct D Smith b R Richards 2 27 35 5.71
Ben O'Connell ct S Dight b R Richards 0 1 1 0
Kieran Smith Not Out  6 36 24 1 25.00

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Robert Prunty5.0127127.005.40
Chad Fortune12.563174.432.42
Douglas Foster5.001100.002.20
Riaz Richards11.051226.001.09
Stephen Dight8.041500.001.88

  • Umpire :
    Mickey
  • Scorer :
    Ben and Sarah