Scorecard

Watford Town v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI on Sat 15 Aug 2009 at 1.00pm
Northwood Town Cricket Club Lost by 3 wickets

Match report Northwood Town picked up a valuable 17 points in their battle against the drop but still fell just short in a very entertaining game against local rivals Watford Town. Having won the toss, skipper Raj Ahluwalia elected to bat and after losing an early wicket, the skipper - along with Phil Costard - batted patiently and sensibly as the hosts turned to spin early. Ahluwalia fell for a decent 27 as the pair put on 80 for the third wicket.

The middle order of Neil Dudley, Jamie Cotton and Mike Lister all began to chip in with scores in the teens but none of them were able to push on convert into a bigger score. Costard continued to bat with style and he was joined by Dave Bushnell as they began to take the attack to the home bowling. Costard went on to score an unbeaten 91 and Bushnell supported with 22* as they ensured maximum batting points with a total of 210/6 off their 53 overs. In reply, the game was in the balance as Watford Town went on the offensive but Bushnell and Johannes Van Ee picked up early wickets to see the score on 80/3 at drinks. But a match winning partnership between Manzoor and Riaz saw the hosts take big steps towards their target of 211 though Town were left to rue a number of dropped catches. Town were given hope though by the introduction of young spinner Raj Kotecha who broke the partnership and bowled superbly on his way to figures of 3-27. With the scoring rate dropping, Town sensed an unlikely victory as wicket fell quickly but the hosts literally edged their way to victory with just two balls remaining. Town will have been disappointed to lose but can take heart from the 17 points they picked up. They face three massive games in the battle to stay up but things have dramatically improved and Town will welcome Broxbourne to Chestnut Avenue next week with real hope of picking up a vital win.

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
28lb 
for 6 wickets
28
210		        
Akshay Loomba b Afridi 4
Raj Ahluwalia ct Riaz b Kakonzi 27
Phil Costard Not Out  91
Johannes Van-Ee lbw b Manzoor 6 2
Michael Lister ct Kaniyur b Manzoor 11
Jamie Cotton lbw b Kakonzi 4
Neil Dudley b Afridi 17 2
David Bushnell Not Out  22
Dominic Whyley  
Raj Kotecha  
Gurpal Ahluwalia  

Watford Town Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
T Afridi10.0152226.005.20
M Connolly6.011500.002.50
A Kakonzi22.0572236.003.27
K Manzoor15.0349224.503.27

Watford Town Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
14lb 
for 7 wickets
14
212 (46.4 overs)		     
N Sen ct Van Ee b Bushnell 21
K Kaniyur lbw b Van Ee 37
G Riaz ct Dudley b Kotecha 51
A Kakonzi b Bushnell 4
K Manzoor ct Van Ee b Kotecha 66
M Manzoor ct Dudley b Bushnell 11
S Prodger Not Out  4
S Traxon lbw b Kotecha 0
T Afridi Not Out  4
C Hazarika  
M Connolly  

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
David Bushnell17.4277325.674.36
Johannes Van-Ee13.0450150.003.85
Dominic Whyley7.012600.003.71
Raj Kotecha6.002739.004.50
Raj Ahluwalia3.002100.007.00