Scorecard

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v Northchurch II on Sat 15 Jun 2024 at 01:00 p.m.
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 8 wickets

Match report We all know that situations change very frequently in cricket, but one thing in this country that never changes is the impact of weather on the game. Today was no different. The entire week was just fine, and come Saturday, the rain gods got upset and lashed out with showers early in the morning.

Pitch well covered in advance ensured the playing surface was beautifully kept intact, and the game started a bit delayed with reduced 35 overs per innings. Town finally won the toss and elected to bowl first on a pitch that looked beautiful, given the recent showers.

The new ball was shared between P. Patel and Myring. Patel, who is getting better with every game just like a fine red wine, bowled superbly with extreme control, whereas Myring found it hard to control the ball due to the wind. Hence, John was introduced replacing Myring. Together, they bowled with great control and got the Church openers out courtesy Gairola, who 1st took an amazing catch in the slips to help Patel get his first wicket, and later helped John outfox the other Church opener, who started aggressively, by catching him at mid-on. Church started rebuilding the innings as K. Shah went through the middle overs, doing what he does best. By the end of the 20th over, Church were 59 for the loss of 2 wickets.

Just when the situation was perfect for Mr. 2s (Puwar) to come and tighten the screws further, Puwar just couldn't settle into his rhythm. By now, both Church's No. 3 and 4, well settled, started applying pressure and made full use of anything loose. Between them, they collected 60 runs before No. 3 was unfortunately run out. Church batsmen kept coming hard and kept losing wickets at regular intervals, ending up with a competitive total of 158 for 8 in 35 overs.

After a quick tea, Town were back in the middle, committed to chasing the total down. Aggarwal and Gairola started the innings and gave Town a lightning start, scoring 20 in the first 2 overs. However, Gairola got out to a delivery that just did enough to beat his defence. Ramawat walked in at 3 to support Rahul, who looked in imperial form and was determined to finish the game as soon as possible. He thrashed anything off length, drove anything full, and pulled everything that was even an inch shorter than the length. Town raced to 80 in 13 overs, mainly with the help of Aggarwal, who had just reached his 50 by now.

Just when it looked like the deal was done, another twist came along in the form of quick showers, interrupting the game briefly for 35 minutes and reducing the overs and target to 139 in 30 overs. Needing 60 runs in 17 overs, Aggarwal and Ramawat picked up from where they had left off. Ramawat gave the strike to Aggarwal and Aggarwal ensured that Town was always ahead of the required run rate. Unfortunately, just when the target was within touching distance, Aggarwal got out playing the shot that had fetched him most of his runs. Vaghela joined in the middle and ended the game quickly for Town.

At the end of the game, skipper Ramawat spoke: "It felt like the longest and hardest game in recent, but we are glad that we came out on the right side. Despite our overall bowling having an off day, our batters ensured that there were no further surprises. Again, a different kind of tough game, but we did alright to hang in there."

Highlights of the game: Pratik and John's bowling, Deepak's one-handed catch, and later Rahul's fireworks.
Man of the Match: R. Aggarwal for his fine 79 in a tricky chase.

We move on.

#Onwards&Upwards!

Northchurch II Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 9w 6b 9lb 
for 8 wickets
28
158 (35.0 overs)		     
J Fantham ct  D Gairola b P Patel 3
J Smart ct  D Gairola b C John 16
S Bateman b  K Puwar 53
D Pischedda run out  (B Vaghela/T Shah) 28
E Jeavons lbw  C John 3
K Ahmed b  K Shah 8
E Clifford b  K Puwar 0
R Odedra b  K Puwar 1
M Dawson Not Out  5
O Pischedda Not Out  12
J Hopkins  

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Pratik Patel7.04919.001.29
Henry Myring2.001600.008.00
Cijine John7.011326.501.86
Keval Shah6.0022122.003.67
Krunal Puwar7.0034311.334.86
Amit Chhalani3.003000.0010.00
Deepak Gairola1.001700.0017.00
Rahul Aggarwal1.00700.007.00

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 5w 7b  
for 2 wickets
17
140		        
Rahul Aggarwal ct  b Hopkins 79 68 14 116.18
Deepak Gairola b  E Jeavons 8 8 2 100 2
Ravi Ramawat Not Out  22 44 50.0
Bijendra Vaghela Not Out  13 10 1 1 130.0 1
Cijine John  
Amit Chhalani  
Tushar Shah   1
Pratik Patel  
Krunal Puwar  
Keval Shah  
Henry Myring  

Northchurch II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
E Jeavons4.0014114.003.50
O Pischedda3.002000.006.67
R Odedra6.002700.004.50
M Dawson4.003500.008.75
J Hopkins5.0026126.005.20
E Clifford2.00700.003.50