Scorecard

Northwood Town v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 13 Jun 2015 at 1pm - 100 overs (53/47)
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won by 63 runs

Match report When I woke at five am to what sounded like the Colorado River outside my window, I thought in all possibility that our match against Northwood Town would probably be called off. Even when I was running through my Saturday morning errands there was grey drizzle in the air. Typical after a week of glorious weather. So the predictable text messages came through; “Is the game still on?”, “Are off yet?”, “Leo Sayer when the match is cancelled?”

As it would seem, Berkhamsted wasn’t a good reflection of the weather across the rest of the country or as it would seem the county for that matter, although technically Northwood Town CC is in Middlesex. Not to be confused with Northwood CC, however, as two of our players found out much to the dismay of their lighter wallets after fines. Once we all arrived at the club the skipper was quickly whisked out of the warm up game for the toss which he promptly lost (That’s now 7 in a row). Berkhamsted were then inserted on what Chad described as a tasty looking wicket.

There was a little early movement and the opposition used the conditions and the new ball well to see our openers play and miss a number of times. Gareth nicked off early, well I say nicked off, it sounded remarkably like pad from my vantage point at square leg. Then two balls later Jez nicked off, well I say nicked off, it sounded remarkably like bat on ground. In any case we were two down for not many. This brought our young 22 year old colt to the crease together with Joycey. The pair put on a useful partnership before Joycey was legitimately caught behind. Luke was scoring freely despite his tender age and inexperience and we were all delighted for him to score a 50 for his first ever game in adult cricket. Chad came and went for a quick fire 37 and may have been suffered a bit from trying to hit the ball as hard as the impact of one of Dighty’s jokes. The ever calm Alan was going about his business at the other end, slowly (at a strike rate of 90 but it’s all relative) accumulating runs in the most elegant of fashion. A plethora of correct cricket shots probably not seen at the Northwood ground for a number of years.

With the score well set it was time to push for a declaration, the skipper hit a beautiful straight Dorothy which is probably still rising while Riaz, fresh from his game for Trowley Bottom Village CC, gave it some long handle stuff and the skipper declared on 265 off 49 overs. It was a great team effort but special mention to Alan who anchored the innings brilliantly.

Tea was good with a wide variety of cakes, much to Joycey’s delight. Northwood’s innings started well for us with 2 quick wickets, one of which was superbly taken by our specialist first slipper Dighty. I’m not sure he actually saw it but that probably helped him. Then the oppo’s number four came in and after playing himself in for all of one ball, tried to smash the next delivery into next week. He missed that one but he generally connected with the next 40 balls in what can only be described as proper wicked biffing. No matter where we put the fielders or who bowled, it seemed to either elude us or race to the boundary. He chanced his arm and on the day it paid off with some very clean striking. We were quite glad to have him finally caught for a blistering 68, not just because he was taking the game away from us but it meant we didn’t have to keep moving the sightscreen. Which reminds me, I should check the spirit of cricket guidelines.

After that a bit of normality resumed. I say a bit, Dighty went for 23 off 2 overs. Last time that happened, the pound was still in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and Luke was a mere glint in his father’s eye. In any case the tail was removed in efficient manner and we had won 5 games in a row. Chad bowled well for his 4 wickets but Riaz was the pick of the bowlers with a tight spell of bowling in the middle of some proper carnage. Man of the Match, however, and this week’s recipient of the £50 “Player of the Day” Kings Arms voucher was Alan for a fine 74.

Second in the league. Bring on next week.

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 7w 3lb 
for 6 wickets
12
265		        
Andrew Joyce ct Vadgama 33 42 5 78.57
Gareth Preedy ct Lawrence 0 8 0
Jez O'Neill ct Lawrence 0 2 0
Luke Frey ct M Patel 58 54 11 107.41 1
Alan Gofton Not Out  74 81 10 91.36
Chad Fortune b Mekwan 37 29 6 127.59
David Smith b Mekwan 23 20 3 1 115.00 2
Riaz Richards Not Out  28 16 3 1 175.00
Ethan Mackie  
Toby Gribbin  
Stephen Dight   1

Northwood Town Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Vadgama10.0151151.005.10
Lawrence9.0044222.004.89
Mekwan9.0053226.505.89
M Patel10.0240140.004.00
Whyley2.001400.007.00
J Edgar4.002900.007.25
K Patel5.003500.007.00

Northwood Town Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 18w 12b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
35
202 (36.4 overs)		     
Loomba b Fortune 9
M Patel ct S Dight b Fortune 8
Lawrence ct L Frey b Fortune 1
Mekwon ct D Smith b Gofton 68
Burt b Mackie 38
Edgar b Richards 19
Lister ct D Smith b Richards 3
Vadgama b Mackie 0
K Patel Not Out  2
Kotacha b Fortune 19
Whyley  

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chad Fortune8.4052413.006.00
Ethan Mackie7.0041220.505.86
Toby Gribbin3.002900.009.67
Riaz Richards13.0429214.502.23
Stephen Dight2.002300.0011.50
Alan Gofton3.0028128.009.33

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    Rob Prunty