Scorecard

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI v Knebworth Park VI on Sat 11 Jun 2011 at 1.00pm
Northwood Town Cricket Club Lost by 29 runs

Match report Northwood Town III won the toss and decided to field first against Knebworth Park VI – at the time bottom of the league, but with a strengthened side, with numerous university students returning and ex-league players returning from long exiles.

Against a team which ‘looked’ like a strong batting unit, the ‘pace’-trio of Mitesh Parmar (43/2 off 14), Prakash Tailor (23/3 off 10) and Tarang Katira (25/0 off 7) started off with another tight performance – conceding 61/4 off the first 21 overs of the game.

However, Kenbworth’s Mether, returning from a 31-year cricketing drought counter-attacked to score his first 50 ever. He was supported by Knebworth’s number 10 batsman – between them, the two accounted for a frustrating 43 run partnership at the death of Knebworth’s inning, before Knebworth was finally bowled out for 171.

Nevertheless, Bobby Graham (25/3 off 9), playing his first-ever NT3’s game, held his head high, surprising the opposition (and Town’s keeper) with his wonderful changes in flight and pace. Conor O’Neill (44/1 off 6) also troubled the batsmen with his pace.

Away from the basics of the sport, Town saw some of the most ‘interesting’ umpiring and scoring decisions some of Town’s players had ever seen (including certain scores sneaking up over the luncheon break and one of Town’s players receiving an ‘official’ warning for staring at his shoelaces – or something like that). But delving into the detail might seem as Town being sore losers – so I won’t.

Town’s chase of 171 started excellently, with Town’s sixth opening pair in as many games providing yet another excellent display of bastmanship. Amit Parmar’s (51, 3x4s) touch play provided an excellent foil to Graham’s (46, 6x4s) aggression, as the two put together Town’s third 100+ partnership in the season so far. While Graham displayed some excellent all-round skills throughout the day and earned some solid respect from the rest of the team, Amit ‘ball-magnet’ Parmar’s popularity in the dressing room was clearest with the huge round of cheers when he his maiden 50 for Town.

Unfortunately, and uncharacteristically, the rest of Town’s batsmen collapsed between the time Graham was out and returned from his shower – 10 wickets went down for a mere 37 runs, to mainly very disciplined swing bowling from the opposition’s Butler and Skeggs. Little of the collapse can be attributed to Town’s arrogance, but to the extent it played a part, hopefully that’s now out of the team’s system.

Carry on the confidence though boys – onwards and upwards. Let’s look at the positives – some disciplined bowling, strong fielding and some excellent individual performances from Amit, Bobby, Mitesh and Prakash – yet again doing Town proud. The batting was a blip and here’s to the win next week!

Knebworth Park VI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
171 (0.0 overs)		     
C. Johnson ct  McInnes b. Tailor 9
G. Gibbins b  O' Neill 38
J. Wareham lbw  Tailor 0
B. Orlandi b  M. Parmar 1
Hoskins b  Graham 8
H. Bateton Retired Not Out  8
G. Skeggs lbw  Graham 4
P. Mether Not Out  50
S. Newland b  Graham 6
T. Butler b  Tailor 22
E. Large b  M . Parmar 0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tarang K. Katira7.012500.003.57
Mitesh Parmar13.5343221.503.11
Prakash Tailor10.012337.672.30
Bobby Graham9.032538.332.78
Conor O'Neill6.0044144.007.33

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
142		        
Bobby Graham ct  Warenham 46
Amit Parmar lbw  Warenham 51
Ravi Ramawat ct  Skeggs 2
Patrick Rooke lbw  Skeggs 2
Tarang K. Katira b  Skeggs 11
Vipul Patel ct  Butler 8
Mitesh Parmar b  Skeggs 0
Sam Brenton ct  Butler 0
Prakash Tailor b  Butler 2
Conor O'Neill Not Out  3
Mark McInnes b  Butler 0 1

Knebworth Park VI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Newland8.003700.004.62
Butler9.012446.002.67
Large4.002000.005.00
Skeggs11.003649.003.27
Warenham7.0023211.503.29