Scorecard

Dunstable Town CC 3rd XI v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI on Sat 16 May 2026 at 13:00
Northwood Town Cricket Club Lost by 9 wickets

Match report There are away days you remember for the right reasons. This wasn't one of them. A trip to Dunstable, played in a cold, breezy 13 degrees, ended in a nine-wicket defeat, a batting card propped up by extras, and a fielding performance that will be quietly omitted from anyone's end-of-season highlight reel.

Batting first, Northwood posted 162 for 9 — a total that flattered us slightly, given that 27 of those runs came courtesy of Dunstable's bowlers themselves (15 wides, 8 byes, 3 no-balls, 1 leg-bye). Honestly, a generous donation we were grateful to accept.
Bijendra Vaghela got us off to a flier with a punchy 44 off 39, finding the rope seven times and clearing it once, before falling caught Griffin bowled Newton just as he looked set for a big one. His departure brought Harish Janardhanan to the crease — denying the scorebook the Vaghela–Janardhanan partnership the openers had been planning over the warm-up — and Harish settled in for the long haul, grinding out a determined 43 from 62 to hold the innings together.
After that, things got quieter. Pradip Pandey dug in for 15 off 49 (strike rate withheld out of kindness), Hardik Nakum chipped in with 12, and Krunal Puwar finished unbeaten on 10. Tushar Shah was run out for 4 in a moment of mid-pitch democracy where no one quite agreed on the plan. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and 162 felt about 40 short of par on a ground where the outfield was quick and the bowling there to be put away.

Then came the fielding. Reader, we dropped seven catches. Seven. Now, in our defence, it was 13 degrees, the breeze was sharp, and fingers were reportedly numb — but the opposition were fielding in the same conditions and seemed to manage just fine. If catches win matches, we generously gifted this one, gift-wrapped, with a handwritten apology for the weather. Robbie Coe (52*) and Tarlochan Singh (54* off 42, with seven fours and two sixes) were the chief beneficiaries — Singh in particular making us pay every time we put one down, which was often. Paras Keshav was equally untroubled on his way to 46, until he finally edged Harish Janardhanan to Sanjay Shukla behind the stumps for the only wicket of the innings, and one of the few chances we actually held onto. Possibly because Sanjay's gloves were warmer than everyone else's hands.
The bowling figures deserve better than the scoreboard suggests. Krunal Puwar was excellent (5-1-24-0, economy 4.80), Aashir Rifat got through six tidy overs for 30, and Harish took the lone wicket. The bowlers asked questions all afternoon. The slips, gully, and various other postcodes were unfortunately out of office, blaming the wind chill. Dunstable cruised home at 163 for 1 inside 27 overs.

Takeaways: The ball was fine. The bat was patchy. The hands were, charitably, weather-affected. Three economical bowling spells and two solid top-order knocks give us something to build on, but seven drops will lose you most games before tea — and did. Catching practice on Thursday will be, shall we say, well attended. Gloves optional. Onwards.

Skipper shah said after game - “We did well in patches with the bat and gave ourselves something to work with, but fielding is where we let ourselves down. Dropping catches rarely leads to wins, and today proved that. The effort from the bowlers deserved better, and we know standards in the field have to improve. We’ll learn from it, work hard at training, and come back stronger next week.”

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 15w 8b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
27
162		        
Bijendra Vaghela ct H Griffin b C Newton 44 39 7 1 112.82
Tushar Shah run out  (J Strong) 4 19 21.05
Pradip Pandey b A Priestley 15 49 1 30.61
Harish Janardhanan ct R Coe b H Griffin 43 62 5 69.35
Sanjay Shukla ct C Thaker b A Priestley 4 19 21.05 1
Hardik Nakum b C Thaker 12 28 2 42.86
Jaymin Patel b C Thaker 0 4 0
Krunal Puwar Not Out  10 14 71.43
Aashir Rifat run out  (H Griffin) 2 5 40.0
Viral Patel b H Griffin 1 2 50.0
Tejasvi Srivastava Not Out  0 1 0

Dunstable Town CC 3rd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Clara Thaker8.0225212.503.12
Ciaran Newton8.0041141.005.13
Muhammad Shoaib8.003200.004.00
Alan Priestley8.011929.502.37
Ben Stevenson4.002000.005.00
Harry Griffin4.001628.004.00

Dunstable Town CC 3rd XI Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 4w 4b 1lb 
for 1 wickets
11
163 (26.5 overs)		     
Robbie Coe Not Out  52 74 5 70.27
Paras Keshav ct S Shukla b H Janardhanan 46 47 5 97.87
Tarlochan Singh Not Out  54 42 7 2 128.57
Alan Priestley  
Harry Griffin  
Jason Strong  
Finley Harris  
Ben Stevenson  
Clara Thaker  
Ciaran Newton  
Muhammad Shoaib  

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Aashir Rifat6.013000.005.00
Tejasvi Srivastava4.503300.006.83
Pradip Pandey2.001400.007.00
Krunal Puwar5.012400.004.80
Harish Janardhanan6.0038138.006.33
Viral Patel3.001900.006.33