Scorecard

Wheathampstead II v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI on Sat 08 Jun 2019 at 1:00 PM
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets.

Match report After a fine win at home last week, Town 2nd XI travelled to Nomansland to face Wheathampstead counterparts. Wheathampstead 1s XI having no game and due to lack of availability, decided to play 7 of their DIV-3 players in their 2nd XI. Due to recent rain and weather prediction for the rest of the day, the toss was absolute vita and for once, skipper Ramawat came out smiling after the toss. Having won the toss there was no hesitation in inserting the opposition in to bat. The pitch although covered had enough moisture and few damp patches on the length on both side with a wet and damp outfield, a perfect set for Town's bowling to put Wheathampstead DIV3 bats under the pump.

New ball was shared between Mapara and returning M. Patel who both started with decent lengths but soon realised the quality of opposition openers. Pitch providing ample assistance produced a big nick of Patel only to be given not out by the umpire disappointed but town decided to march on. C. Martin who was looking very solid and dangerous played some lovely drives before edging to Mapara on a peach of a deliver drawing him forward and taking his outside edge safe into Gairola's gloves. A massive wicket and a perfect start for the town. At the end of 12 overs Wheathampstead were 40/1. Double bowling change got S. Patel and Avadhani into the action and S. Patel soon got No.3 induced into playing a big drive only to lob the ball in the air, again taken safely by Gairola. Both bowling with superb control, kept the scoring very hard, equally supported by the excellent fielding. At the end of 25 overs, the score was 75/2. Wheathampstead middle order worked really hard to rebuild the innings and just when it was looking settled, S. Patel produced another beautiful deliver to induce an edge of the opener's blade which again settled nicely in Gairola's gloves and in the next over, Avadhani got Li (1st team skipper) into playing a perfect cover drive but only to find Janardhan at short cover. Suddenly all the hard work from Wheathampstead was wasted as they were down to 90/4 in 30 overs.

Last phase of the Wheathampstead innings, town introduced another double bowling change, Kotecha and Anjum working in tandem together, Kotecha soon got out Ishaar, who decided to take adventurous route but only to find Gordhandas at Mid-on who tool a beautiful catch. What came next was not expected by anyone let alone the sleeping giant, Kotecha got next 2 Wheathampstead bats in the same over caught excellently (not sure how) by sleepy Mapara at short cover. After taking 3 wickets in 1 over, Kotecha turned the Wheathampstead innings on its head as scoreline read 125/7 in 38 overs. Town couldn't quite finish the tail but managed to take 2 more wickets before Wheathampstead finished their innings on 166/9 in 45 overs. A brilliant effort in the field by the town bowlers to put them in control and managed to keep the solid opposition bats to a minimal total.

Sun now out shining, outfield dry & quick and pitch that looked getting better with every passing minute, it was time for a cup of tea and then on to the business to wrap up the 30 points.

Town openers started in their typical style, Gairola punishing anything full, short or wide and Ramawat paying full respect to the bowlers. The pair soon put together 55 on board in 12 overs. Gairola was looking dangerous with every passing over but unfortunately got out trying to drive over mid-on. Promoted to number 3, Anjum walked in and together with skipper Ramawat started to rebuild the innings. Although the pitch got relatively easier, there was enough assistance for the bowlers which Wheathampstead made full use of and made scoring difficult. The next 12 overs were tricky for the town batsmen as they only managed to add 30. The scoreline was 92/1 in 24 overs. Having needed 70 more runs from the 20 overs with 9 wickets in hands, town were relaxed and were confident of a comfortable chase. A double bowling change made the life a little easier, the scoring rate increased and with it, it got few casualties in the form of town batsmen, first the skipper played a perfect leg glance only to see it pouched at leg gully followed by Pandey and Janardhan making scoreline 140/3 in 37 overs, giving Wheathampstead a glimmer of hope but little they knew that there was a lot of batting gas in the tank to come. M. Patel joined Anjum in the middle who was well set by now and punishing anything loose. Soon it was all over in the 40th over when Patel played a lovely cover drive followed by a trademark swat over the midwicket.

It was a fantastic win, set-up by a fine bowling performances by Mapara, S. Patel, Avadhani and later by Kotecha equally supported by the fielding effort taking some fine catches and saving precious runs. Later, the town batsmen, specially Anjum ensured that the fine effort earlier in the field was not going to go waste by applying earlier in the innings and later finishing the game clinically despite a mini collapse later in the innings to beat a team that was full of DIV3 players. A massive effort by all, town retain 3rd spot in the league and travel to Luton for their next game.

Onwards & Upwards!

Wheathampstead II Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 5w 3b 3lb 
for 9 wickets
15
166 (45.0 overs)		     
C. Martin ct  D. Gairola b N. Mapara 12
S. Booth ct  D. Gairola b S. Patel 37
D. Dabare ct  D. Gairola b S. Patel 10
M. Ishaq ct  K. Gordhandas b R. Kotecha 36
T. Li ct  H. Janardhan b K. Avadhani 3
M. Balser lbw  b S. Patel 9
L. Keane lbw  b I. Anjum 22
H. Smith ct  N. Mapara b R. Kotecha 0
J. Mason ct  N. Mapara b R. Kotecha 0
S. Cresswell Not Out  4
G. Jarvis Not Out  18

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mihir Patel5.002300.004.60
Nishil Mapara6.0225125.004.17
Suryanaryan Patel9.0136312.004.00
Kashyap Avadhani9.0125125.002.78
Raj Kotecha9.0136312.004.00
Iqbal Anjum7.0015115.002.14

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
16w 3b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
20
167		        
Deepak Gairola ct  b H. Smith 30 36 5 83.33 3
Ravi Ramawat ct  b S. Creswell 36 74 3 48.65
Iqbal Anjum Not Out  70 75 10 1 93.33
Pradip Pandey ct  b G. Jarvis 3 19 15.79
Harish Janardhanan b  J. Mason 0 4 0 1
Mihir Patel Not Out  8 7 1 114.29
Raj Kotecha  
Kishan Gordhandas   1
Nishil Mapara   2
Suryanaryan Patel  
Kashyap Avadhani  

Wheathampstead II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J. Mason4.1035135.008.40
G. Jarvis8.0225125.003.12
H. Smith8.0019119.002.37
S. Booth9.003500.003.89
S. Creswell9.0241141.004.56
D. Dabare3.001100.003.67