Scorecard

Letchworth V v Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 27 Jun 2009 at 1:30
Berkhamsted Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report Ab initio, a bright clear day with thunderstorms forecast. The opposition had lost 6 but won two against top teams in the league. The pitch looked Bad, we had lots of batting and three bowlers it was as easy as ABC as far as the opposition went if we wanted to Beat it win the toss. Charlie did and we elected to field. Ian Merrett and Goughie opened up the bowling and their skipper soon ended up quacking back to the hutch with a good catch from Simon Brennan at gully.

A worrying moment with Ed jarring his hand into the Earth (song) in Ian’s fifth over and a muffled Scream. Charlie asked “Can you feel it?” and more importantly “Say Say Say you can bowl” Luckily he could and bowled a 15 consecutive turning overs for 42 runs taking 2 wickets. It could have been more: a stumping not given when the batsmen was still not in his crease when the decision was queried and various dropped catches. Goughie bowled at one end straight through the whole innings ending with 23 overs, 55 runs, a sore shoulder and 6 wickets with 6 dropped catches. Ian came back at the end to bowl one and with Tim’s help run out the last man.

Despite a late spurt Letchworth had 129 all out on the board after 47 overs which was a good bowling effort. We could have had them for a lot less. It seems the ball became a bar of soap off the bat with over ten dropped catches. We know it is Human Nature not to drop them on purpose and we’d all say I can’t help it. Most players got in on the actus reus to follow with the phrase “You are not alone.” Credit to Charlie who led by example and took an excellent diving forward catch at extra cover. As to their number 4, left handed, top scoring batsmen he must have been a reincarnated cat as we kept saying have One more chance and dropped him 7-8 times while he accumulated 39. Goughie dropped him in the deep which stopped him mithering about the drops off his bowling as you have to look at The man in the mirror. One day in your life the batsmen is unlikely to have repeated and when he is older will be telling his team mates Remember the time? I suppose that is History.

There followed a disappointing magic-less tea in a Hogwortesque school dinner room. This did seem to bring back various regressive memories with surnames shouted out at intervals. The way you make me feel – worrying for some.

Alex Hardwicke and Will Burgess opened with the words Don’t stop till you get enough ringing in their ears. Alex smashed 4 fours before proving he is fallible and didn’t see a straight full bunger to be bowled. Tim Buckley hit a good 23. Will, the teams token P.Y.T for the day batted well with 6 fours for a 30 and Simon was done by the inconsistent bounce being caught and bowled on 24. What became a Thriller was the looming thunder clouds putting the win On the line. Bad light yes but Don’t blame it on the sunshine. An Off the wall moment with Peter and Charlie gloved and padded in the blocks waiting to run out in the event of a wicket. Toddy and Puds saw us home in the 33rd over about 2 minutes before the sky’s broke. It made us Smile although I imagine Letchworth wished they had a spinner.

Another 30 points in the bank and up a place to second in the league. It is good to be back in winning form and We wanna be startin’ something. Can we go up next season? It is not Black and white but as Barack Obama would say Vero possumus.

Post scriptum: It seems Ed’s injury was worse than anyone realised even though there was No blood on the dancefloor. He has a clean fracture of a metacarpal bone (between the knuckle and wrist). Surgery is due on Thursday and it is likely Someone put your hand out for the rest of the season. Being a leftie breaking his left hand Ed will be wishing it was Another part of me. Lets hope it does not affect Ed Workin’ day and night. Michael Jackson could not Heal the world but we all hope Ed heals quickly. The amazing effort to bowl 15 overs with a broken hand leaves us Speechless. We all extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery and as one can say I want you back. A bit of support at home games and future team socials – Will you be there? Let’s hope so mate.

[With apologies to Goughie for the excellent formatting of the report which doesn't translated to here. Bear in mind when reading this the current news as of this date of a recently lamented pop star's passing away.... PD]

Letchworth V Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
129 (0.0 overs)		     
J Gillam ct  Brennan b Gough 0
M Dyer ct  Drury b Goodwyn 3
S Hughes b  Gough 13
L Hughes ct  Todd b Gough 39
S Williams ct  Merrett b Gough 0
T Morse ct  Hussey b Goodwyn 0
K Moore b  Merrett 17
R Youth ct  & b Gough 3
J Bitting b  Gough 23
D Shires Run out  6
A Young Not Out  1

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ian Merrett9.0030130.003.33
Martin Gough23.055569.172.39
Edward Goodwyn15.0042221.002.80

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 4 wickets
0
131		        
Alex Hardwicke b  Bitting 17
Will Burgess ct  b Bitting 30
Tim Buckley b  Shires 23
Simon Brennan ct  & b Bitting 24 1
Aaron Todd Not Out  8 1
Ian Putman Not Out  9
Peter Drury   1
Ian Merrett   1
Charlie Hussey   1
Edward Goodwyn  
Martin Gough   1

Letchworth V Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.