Scorecard

Wheathampstead III v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI on Sat 04 Jun 2011 at 1.00pm
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 2 wickets

Match report Another lost toss, another chase, another victory.

Having slipped twice in the first two overs of bowling seam-up, Tarang Katira (43/1 off 18) decided to switch to legspin early. On a pitch that had a little bit of juice in it, he managed to extract good turn and bounce, and should have had a few more wickets had all catches been taken off his bowling. At the other end, Energiser Bunny Mitesh Parmar (52/2 off 15) produced yet another long, consistent spell, troubling batsmen with both his pace and consistency.

29 overs in, with a field set that included a first slip, a third slip, a silly point, a silly mid-off, a short leg and a leg slip, Weathampstead were just 68/2.

However, the turning point in the opposition’s pace of inning came when their opening batsman was hit on the toe off a quicker yorker by Katira, right in front of middle stump, and walked off retired hurt (magically, not LBW), only to be replaced by a batsman twice his size and with immense strength. Had it not been for the super lines and lengths bowled by Prakash Tailor (49/1 off 11) at the death, the opposition could have easily been 20 runs more than the 169 that they eventually got to.

Characteristically, Town got off to a smashing start in their chase – reaching 29 by the end of the fifth over. Uncharacteristically, they were 4 wickets down by the 16th over (still scoring at close to 5-an-over).

The stand-out performer in the early part of the inning was Rukshan Senanayaka (32, 6x4s), with the second-memorable moment of his inning being a breathtaking off-drive that split extra cover and mid-off to perfection. I won’t get into the details of the most memorable moment – suffice to say that it was finally adjudicated as a bump ball.

A strong partnership between league debutant Ravi Ramawat (54, 1x6, 8x4s) and Master Blaster-fast-turning-into-Mr. Consistent Vipul Patel (31, 4x4s) brought Town right back into the game - the second-most memorable moments of the innings being a flat 6 over the longest boundary in the ground for the former, and a 4 from the latter that didn’t bounce before the rope in the eyes of all except the nearest fielder.

The most memorable moment from the former’s inning was a pull shot that made it to the boundary over the keeper’s head – only taking Ramawat’s chin with it. It’s not funny – he may still be in hospital as I type!! Solid commitment from him to carry on with his inning with a lid on for the cause – excellent effort.

The most memorable moment of Patel’s inning was a shot hit into the deep. Patel set off to run, almost made it to the other crease, the non-striker unmoved; Patel turned around, slipped, had a power-nap in the middle of the pitch, crawled, dived, and somehow made it back into his crease, effectively competing two whole runs, powernap included. Somehow the opposition did not manage to run him out. One of the club members said to the NTCC III captain after the game “you guys seem to be knocking off 180 runs on a weekly basis in your sleep”. Patel clearly took the “in your sleep” literally.

But what would a Town game be if it did not involve a collapse! Town somehow managed to lose 4 wickets for 24 runs, leaving it down to numbers 9 and 10 to finish the game off. Sam Brenton (11 not out, 1x6) and Amit Parmar (2 not out) were involved a short but solidly composed partnership under immense pressure to take Town home with just under two overs to spare, Brenton spectacularly finishing the game by getting six off the winning delivery.

Well done boys – let’s carry on the charge!

Wheathampstead III Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 4 wickets
0
169 (0.0 overs)		     
I. Winchester b  M. Parmar 17
A. Alexander Retired Not Out  14
S. Evans ct  H. Patel b. T. Katira 21
I. Porter ct  S. Brenton b. Tailor 62
D. Stevens lbw  M. Parmar 38
D. Hewitt Not Out  10
A. Bates Not Out  0
   
   
   
   

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tarang K. Katira18.0543143.002.39
Mitesh Parmar15.0452226.003.47
Rukshan Senanayaka1.00900.009.00
Ravi Ramawat1.00300.003.00
Prakash Tailor11.0149149.004.45
Jonathan Bentvelzen1.001200.0012.00

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
173		        
Havan Patel b  Banister 0 1
Jonathan Bentvelzen b  Playle 6
Rukshan Senanayaka ct  Playle 32
Rajul Patel b  Banister 6
Ravi Ramawat b  Stevens 54
Vipul Patel ct  Smith 31
Tarang K. Katira lbw  Playle 3
Mitesh Parmar ct  Playle 6
Sam Brenton Not Out  11 1
Amit Parmar Not Out  2
Prakash Tailor  

Wheathampstead III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Banister10.0156228.005.60
Playle13.2344411.003.30
Stevens7.0134134.004.86
Smith11.0131131.002.82