Scorecard

Datchworth v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 06 Sep 2014 at 12.30pm
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won by 39 runs

Match report So the final game of the season had arrived. A trip to already promoted Datchworth was the order of the day with 4 points needed to secure our place in the top half of the division. Although It was September and an early meet time no-one expected a blanket of mist to have descended on Hertfordshire as if to signal the inevitable arrival of Winter. The early start had also unfortunately caught one of our players out as the normally very reliable Gareth was nowhere to be seen. A phone call later revealed that he just didn’t realise it was an earlier meet time. Pathetic excuse. I would had preferred him to say he'd had a skin full the previous night and couldn't get out of bed because of the Brazilian model lying next to him. Also given the post-match rush to get back for awards night he probably thinks he has gotten away without being fined. Unfortunately not, as I will collect it at the start of next season. And by my calculations a £1 fine in today's money is likely to be worth £12,576 using an APR from Wonga.com come next April.

Once we had all finally arrived at Datchworth a very green and grassy pitch presented itself to us. However there was a certain firmness to the wicket hence the skipper had no issue about batting first upon winning the toss. The opposition players had a bit of a snigger and I overheard one of the spectators comment "this will be over by half two". The captain suddenly had doubts about his decision.

I needn't have worried. Although we lost Joycey early, Gareth and Jez weathered the early ball movement and started to settle in. Both looked comfortable and before long we had already secured our 4 points and guaranteed the dizzy heights of Saracens Herts league division 6 next year. After this Gareth unfortunately holed out just short of a well-earned fifty which brought Luke into the fray. While Luke was building his innings Gareth was decanting stories of Luke's post Goat performance from a previous weekend. Blue. Very blue.

The batsman were frustrating the oppo and despite them having to turn to their main bowler, who incidentally has taken 999 career wickets and it would seem the chap will have to wait another 8 months to get to his millennium, the runs were being scored freely. Unfortunately Jez got out in the 80s but with Chad joining Luke in the middle the run rate accelerated. Chad's cameo helped the team to get to the captains target with overs to spare. An all-round top batting display and special mention goes to Luke for his maiden 1st XI fifty.

Tea was good. Very good. Joycey took a shining to one of the tea ladies. I assume it wasn't the octogenarian.

Rob and Chad opened up and both got early wickets in their spells. They also keep it tight and the opposition were never up with the run rate despite Joe coming on and gifting them 12 runs in his first (and unfortunately last) over. To be fair it probably should have gone for more. Josh was on at this point and bowled the best I have seen him all season and was unlucky not to pick up more than 2 wickets. Riaz at the other end was twirling away desperate for wickets to get to 50 for the season. He only managed two on the day but Chad was having more luck as the skipper worked him like drug mule on his fifteenth trip over the border at Tijuana. His persistence paid off and wickets kept falling at a steady rate as the opposition tried to push for victory. To be fair to them despite never really being in the game they carried on playing their shots all the way till the end and with three balls to go and Chad in his 19 over for the day we got the final wicket. Celebrations erupted. 9 wins in a row which included 3 out of the 4 teams that got promoted this year. Man of the match goes to Jez for (finally) showing his quality with the bat.

So a season of ifs, buts and maybes. 9 straight wins after being bottom of the league proves we should be in a higher league. If only we could start playing cricket earlier than July.

After the match it was time to get back to the club and dish out some awards. Player of the Year went to Riaz for taking 48 wickets in the season while Best Colt in Adult Cricket was won by Rob Prunty. It has been a testament to Rob's hard work that two years ago he was playing 4th XI cricket and now he opening the bowling for the 1st XI. There were two new awards this year, firstly the King Arms Shield which is adjudicated by Riaz. It's an all-encompassing award that takes into consideration things such as commitment and improvement. The inaugural winner went to Gareth Preedy, a very deserving winning. The final award was for the best Michael Jackson impersonator. Although the skipper ran him close the judging panel were unanimous in awarding the prize to Chad, our silky hipped overseas player. Auditions for South Africa's got Talent start in January.

All that was left to do was to drink the bar dry and dance the night away. Two words of advice though, never have Jamie on your team for a strawpedo boat race and never let Joycy bring a women back to your parent’s house. You have been warned.

Bring on next year where we can hopefully carry on our run.

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 8w 9b 12lb 
for 5 wickets
32
260		        
Andrew Joyce ct L Bennett b M Fisher 7 16 43.75
Gareth Preedy ct S Stroomer b T Bennett 45 62 6 72.58
Jez O'Neill b S Nash 86 113 15 76.11 1 1
Luke Frey ct L Bennett b R Pybus 65 82 9 1 79.27
Chad Fortune ct S Stroomer b R Pybus 24 16 4 150.0 1
David Smith Not Out  1 1 100
Riaz Richards  
Joshua Roberts  
Robert Prunty  
Joseph Atkins  
Jamie Lewis  

Datchworth Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
George Wallace7.003600.005.14
Michael Fisher6.0127127.004.50
Reece Pybus9.0072236.008.00
Steve Stroomer12.024400.003.67
Tom Bennett8.0224124.003.00
Steve Nash6.0036136.006.00

Datchworth Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8w 12b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
23
221 (51.4 overs)		     
Steve Gregory ct C Fortune b R Richards 69 113 8 1 61.06
Luke Bennett b R Prunty 6 10 1 60.0
Nigel Pointing b C Fortune 4 16 25.00
Owen Dwyer ct J O'Neill b J Roberts 38 55 7 69.09
Tom Bennett b J Roberts 10 21 1 47.62
Steve Stroomer b C Fortune 26 39 4 1 66.67
Reece Pybus b C Fortune 12 14 1 85.71
George Wallace b R Richards 5 9 55.56
Johnny Britas run out  (J O'Neill) 0
Michael Fisher b C Fortune 16 19 4 84.21
Steve Nash Not Out  12 14 3 85.71

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Robert Prunty7.0129129.004.14
Chad Fortune18.4363415.753.38
Joseph Atkins1.001200.0012.00
Joshua Roberts7.0325212.503.57
Riaz Richards18.0377238.504.28

  • Umpire :
    Richard
  • Scorer :
    Sarah