Scorecard

Kings Langley IV v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI on Sat 18 Jun 2011 at 1.00pm
Match was Drawn

Match report Seven games into the season, Northwood Town III finally got the chance to bat first. On a pitch that offered some spongy bounce, and where batsmen struggled to ever feel ‘in’, Town’s batsmen did quite well, playing knocks of patience, and making sure that the strike was continuously rotated. As an indication of the maturity Town showed on a tough pitch, six of Town’s batsmen scored 13 runs or more, compared to just one of the opposition batsmen who got a score of over 13.

At the top of the order, Amit Parmar (22, 3x4s) beautifully rotated the strike early on, and once his opening partner was dismissed and his eye was set, smoothly started hitting boundaries. The development of his game is a great sign for Town.

Town was in danger of another collapse as the team went from one-wicket down to three-wickets down in quick time. However, a very determined and sensible partnership of 35 between Ravi Ramawat (19, 1x6, 2x4s) and Tarang Katira (24) brought Town back on track.

Further down the order, Mo Abbasi (20*, 3x4s) and Skantha Sunderalingam (14, 2x4s) played some terrific cricket to make sure Town’s score was propelled to 153. The two took a little bit of time to get their eyes in, followed by some serious power-hitting. Abbasi walked back to the pavilion, carrying his bat, with his usual casual demeanour, almost suggesting “What was all the fuss about? The pitch is fine, mate”

Pitch, or no, pitch, King’s Langley, the team ranked fifth in the league table before the game, had no clue what, or rather who, was about to hit them.

Mitesh Parmar, fresh from a wedding, just-about de-suited, shaven, hair cut, focused, piercing eyes, deadly accuracy, no kebabs for breakfast, 15 overs, 5 maidens, 26 for 7. Whatever he had had to eat at the wedding, or whoever he had met, had got him all fired up. LBW, bowled, bowled, caught, bowled, bowled, bowled - read his wickets. Clearly the opposition batsmen just had no answer to his swing and deadly accuracy. Hopefully he got a chance to brag to whoever-he-had-met all about his achievements at the reception. Let’s just hope she was into cricket.

Mention must also go to Mo Abbasi (17/1 off 5) for some tight bowling in his comeback game, and also to Town’s fielders. An absolutely flawless fielding performance, with some moments of absolute brilliance, epitomed by a blinder at square-leg by Viraj Manek, where he barely had half a second to react.

Back to the story. 21 over in, King’s Langley finds itself at 51/8, battling for some self-respect. The rain decides to give it a hand. In the real world, the boys slowly trod off into the dressing rooms; in a parallel universe, Mitesh Parmar stands at the top of his run-up, refusing to move, eyes still pierced, determined to bowl out the next batsman; and Mo Abbasi is still in the captain’s ear ball-after-ball, begging for his next spell so he can get back into the action.

But the short of the story is this – sometimes the weather wins, and we have no control over it. The fact remains that this was one Town’s best performances ever – probably the best for the 3s. Solidly determined batting, fantastic fielding and great bowling. You can’t always control the result. Really well done, lads!

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
153		        
Amit Parmar ct Gibbs 22
Havan Patel ct Iqbal 8
Rajul Patel ct Gibbs 13
Ravi Ramawat lbw Archer 19
Tarang K. Katira ct Persie 24 1
Mitesh Parmar b Persie 2
Jonathan Bentvelzen lbw Turner 9
Viraj Manek ct Persie 2 1
Skantha Sundaralingam ct Persie 14
Mo Abbasi Not Out  20
Mark McInnes ct Turner 5

Kings Langley IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gibbs9.0040220.004.44
Gallagher4.001600.004.00
Iqbal9.0422122.002.44
Archer10.0311111.001.10
Persie10.003649.003.60
Turner5.5027213.504.63

Kings Langley IV Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
98 (0.0 overs)		     
M Iqbal lbw M Parmar 1
B Harding b M Parmar 5
D Percie lbw T Katira 13
W Smith ct V Manek b. M Abbasi 1
D Turner b M Parmar 11
P Gallagher ct T Katira b. M Parmar 7
S Lloyd b M Parmar 5
J Gibbs b M Parmar 0
N Archer Not Out  39
W Wood Not Out  2
D Barton b M Parmar 0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mitesh Parmar15.052673.711.73
Mo Abbasi5.0117117.003.40
Tarang K. Katira6.0023123.003.83
Viraj Manek2.001400.007.00
Skantha Sundaralingam2.001600.008.00