Scorecard

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v St Albans CC 3rd XI on Sat 09 May 2026 at 13:00
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report Northwood Town won by 6 wickets

The sun was out, the outfield was green, and after a long winter of staring wistfully at our kitbags, the Saturday 2nd XI finally got the season underway at home — and what a way to start. A 6-wicket win in glorious 21°C sunshine, the kind of day that reminds you why you put up with cricket in April.

St Albans innings — 108 all out (34.4 overs)

St Albans lost the toss and bat first. Andy Rudlin dug in for a patient 20 off 54 and Richard O'Toole top-scored with a battling 26, the pair giving their innings some backbone before our bowlers tightened the screw. And tighten it they did. Vishal Barad set the tone up front with 5-0-18-1 at an economy of 3.60, never letting the openers settle. From the other end, Tejasvi Srivastava was the pick of the bowlers in pure miser terms — 6-3-9-1, economy 1.50 — bowling six overs for nine runs in April, which, frankly, is the sort of thing that should be illegal before May. Krunal Puwar was outstanding through the middle, finishing 3-20 from 8 (3 maidens), applying relentless pressure and picking up the breakthroughs when they were needed. Pradip Pandey chipped in with a wicket and Viral Patel kept things tidy at the other end. That brought us to the death overs, and the small matter of finishing the job. Enter Harish Janardhanan, who was apparently saving himself for a grand entrance and produced figures that read like a typo: 3-10 from 2.4 overs. Three wickets in sixteen balls. Whatever he had for breakfast, the rest of the bowling unit would like the recipe — preferably before next Saturday. The innings was wrapped up in suitably dramatic fashion by Bijendra Vaghela, who launched himself full-stretch in the cow corner to pluck a diving blinder out of thin air. The kind of catch that makes the slip cordon stop pretending to look interested and actually applaud. One moment a four was racing to the boundary, the next moment Bij was horizontal, ball in hand, grass stains everywhere, and St Albans were all out for 108. A respectable total to defend, but with our bowlers having squeezed them all the way through, it never quite felt enough. Special mention to Tushar Shah behind the stumps, who took two sharp catches and generally made the keeper's job look a lot easier than it actually is.

Northwood Town innings — 110-4 (24.2 overs)

The reply was the Bijendra Vaghela show, and what a show it was. 65 off 69 balls, seven fours, three sixes, a strike rate of 94 — a knock that left no one in any doubt as to who the senior pro is. Clean hitting, sharp running, and the sort of innings that makes the rest of the order's job significantly easier. Frankly, the rest of us were just there to keep him company. At the other end, Tushar Shah went about the run chase with the urgency of a man waiting for a bus he knows is coming eventually. 20 off 50 — a strike rate of 40, which during a successful chase of 109 is what we shall politely call "tempo management." Mind you, having spent the morning behind the stumps taking blinders, he'd earned the right to settle in. He kept one end safe while Vaghela did the heavy lifting, and to be fair, when the plan is working, it's working. Harish Janardhanan walked out at three with the swagger of a man fresh off 3-10 and was promptly caught for 0 off 3, contributing roughly as much with the bat as he did to the tea spread. The ball clearly likes him more than the bat does. Moving on. Sanjay Shukla had a brief stay at the crease before Ben Hicks pinned him for 1, which threatened to cause a wobble but didn't, mostly because Vaghela was still there and showed no signs of leaving. Pradip Pandey finished 10 not out off 16 with a couple of fours, calm as you like, and Hardik Nakum put the icing on the cake with an unbeaten 4 — including a six, naturally, because if you're only facing six balls you may as well make them count. 110-4. Job done.

Man of the Match — Bijendra Vaghela No debate, no committee, no awkward pause. 65 off 69 with three sixes, a diving blinder in the cow corner to seal the bowling innings, and the spine of the entire afternoon. Take a bow, skipper.

Final word A perfect start to the league campaign. The bowlers were tight from ball one, the catching was sharp (occasionally spectacular), Vaghela was Vaghela, and nobody pulled a hamstring in the warm-up. In April, that constitutes a triumph. Next up: more of the same, please.

St Albans CC 3rd XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 7b 6lb 
for 10 wickets
19
108 (34.4 overs)		     
Stuart Murray b  V Barad 5 18 1 27.78
Andy Rudlin ct  T Shah b K Puwar 20 54 3 37.04
Zach West ct  B Vaghela b T Srivastava 11 19 2 57.89
Sam Street b  P Pandey 1 4 25.00
Ashish Dean b  K Puwar 4 14 28.57
Adam Murphy b  K Puwar 6 9 1 66.67
Ben Hingston ct  T Shah b V Patel 0 7 0
Ben Hicks ct  H Janardhanan b H Janardhanan 11 28 39.29
Richard O'Toole b  H Janardhanan 26 37 3 70.27
Altaf Husain ct  B Vaghela b H Janardhanan 5 13 1 38.46
Jamie Telkman Not Out  0 5 0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Vishal Barad5.0018118.003.60
Tejasvi Srivastava6.03919.001.50
Pradip Pandey8.0122122.002.75
Krunal Puwar8.032036.672.50
Viral Patel5.0016116.003.20
Harish Janardhanan2.401033.333.75

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 1b 2lb 
for 4 wickets
10
110		        
Bijendra Vaghela ct  Z West b A Murphy 65 69 7 3 94.20 2
Tushar Shah b  B Hicks 20 50 3 40.0 2
Harish Janardhanan ct  A Husain b A Murphy 0 3 0 1
Pradip Pandey Not Out  10 16 2 62.50
Sanjay Shukla b  B Hicks 1 3 33.33
Hardik Nakum Not Out  4 6 1 66.67
Tejasvi Srivastava  
Jaymin Patel  
Krunal Puwar  
Viral Patel  
Vishal Barad  

St Albans CC 3rd XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jamie Telkman5.002000.004.00
Altaf Husain4.001600.004.00
Zach West4.003100.007.75
Ben Hicks7.2127213.503.68
Adam Murphy4.011326.503.25