Scorecard

Ampthill Town II v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI on Sat 17 Aug 2013 at 1 pm
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won By 14 runs

Match report Viraj Manek was the hero for Northwood Town as the 1s pulled off another dramatic win, this time against Ampthill Town, and continued their late season surge up the table.

Winning the toss and batting first on an excellent wicket, Town's openers Loomba and Sanghi were watchful initially as they sought to see off the new ball. Looking to push things along, Loomba skied one to give Ampthill an easy catch and the breakthrough they deserved. Cotton joined Sanghi in the middle and the two in-form batsmen for Town built steadily and began to up the run rate, Cotton in particular looking fluent, sweetly timing a number of boundaries off his hip and through extra cover as the Ampthill bowlers failed to maintain their tight lines after a solid start. When Sanghi departed, skipper Michael Lister joined Cotton and the pair immediately got to work in seeing off the seamers and attacking the spinners with a string of boundaries, taking advantage of Ampthill failing to plug the gaps and mysteriously not opting for a sweeper to protect the cover boundary which Lister and Cotton were hitting with ease.

Cotton fell for 33 to a sharp take by the keeper but the momentum picked up further when Sangeet Patel arrived in the middle. Patel was in excellent touch, crashing four huge sixes and sweeping the off-spinner Thompson with regularity and great skill as the Ampthill bowlers grew frustrated whilst strangely persisting with very attacking fields. Lister was eventually caught at slip for 45 but Mikhil Patel came in and continued the good work with a quickfire 36 as the runs flowed to all parts and Town pushed past the 200 mark. Sangeet Patel was unlucky to be given out LBW on 66 when he looked set to record a huge score but the damage was done and Patel's masterful innings had ensured that Town were in full control. A late flurry of wickets meant that Town slowed towards the end but still finished with an impressive 238 off the 53 overs.

In reply, Amptill struggled against the old ball and the spin pairing of Mikhil Patel and Raj Kotecha, each of them picking up the wicket of an Ampthill opener. Passman and Diamond looked less troubled by spin and began to build a partnership but the introduction of the new ball and Jack Daly did for both of them and Town were making in-roads. Daly was unlucky not to take more wickets as a couple of half-chances were spilled in the field. Ampthill's middle order failed to spot Daly's slower ball on more than one occasion but somehow they survived and as Ampthill's run rate was improving, Lister called upon the spinners again and this immediately brought dividends as the runs were halted and Kotecha claimed the key wickets of Ruddick and Thompson and Mikhil Patel clean bowled dangerous keeper-batsman Haxell. With Viraj Manek bowling a tidy and disciplined line from the other end Town had worked themselves into a position to win the game, but 3 wickets still eluded them. When it came to the final over of the game the 3 wickets were still required and Ampthill had managed to get close, needing just 15 runs to steal the win. It was anyone's game. Viraj Manek was entrusted with bowling duties and duly delivered one of the most stunning overs seen by a Northwood Town cricketer as under the utmost pressure he achieved the incredible feat of 3 wickets in just 5 balls, shocking the opposition and spectators into silence and sending Town's fielders delirious.

Town move to sixth in the league table, an impressive feat for this young team but the skipper was keen to emphasise the importance of staying focused and competing hard in the remaining 3 fixtures, "It was another great day for us today, a real team effort and we are becoming very hard to beat. Sangeet batted and kept superbly again and Viraj stepped up and showed real character with those 3 wickets at the end. We must now focus on performing to this level in our remaining games to ensure we maintain our position in the top half of the table".

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3w 8b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
16
238		        
Akshay Loomba ct Diamond b Thomas 5 28 1 17.86
Kunal Sanghi ct Howson b Thompson 22 51 5 43.14
Jamie Cotton ct Haxell b Thompson 33 52 7 63.46 1
Michael Lister ct Howson b Morgan 45 42 10 107.14
Sangeet Patel lbw b Degnan 66 63 8 4 104.76 3 1
Shaun O'Neill b Thompson 5 8 1 62.50
Mikhil Patel Run out  36 39 5 1 92.31 1
Raj Kotecha ct Haxell b Howson 0 5 0 1
Nishil Mapara ct Thompson b Degnan 6 8 1 75.00
Viraj Manek b Degnan 3 15 20.0
Jack Daly Not Out  1 4 25.00

Ampthill Town II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Degnan16.4369323.004.14
Thomas7.0320120.002.86
Thompson14.0669323.004.93
Morgan10.0155155.005.50
Howson5.0212112.002.40

Ampthill Town II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
10w 7b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
18
224 (46.5 overs)		     
Farley ct M. Patel b Kotecha 2
Howson b M. Patel 5
Passman ct S. Patel b Daly 38
Diamond ct Cotton b Daly 56
Ruddick ct & b Kotecha 42
Thompson ct S. Patel b Kotecha 24
Morgan b Manek 28
Haxell b M. Patel 2
Degnan ct S. Patel b Manek 9
Thomas Not Out  0
Farley st S. Patel b Manek 0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mikhil Patel10.0334217.003.40
Raj Kotecha12.0053317.674.42
Jack Daly9.0154227.006.00
Nishil Mapara3.001700.005.67
Viraj Manek12.5358319.334.52

  • Umpire :
    Colin Lynch
  • Scorer :
    Martin Bird