Scorecard

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v Harpenden Dolphins on Sat 27 Jul 2019 at 1:00 PM
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 1 wicket.

Match report Town witnessed the hottest day on record on Thursday followed by torrential rains on Friday and Saturday early morning making it a shortest heatwave on record! Pitch inspection at 11am suggested that a game could be carried out albite in tough conditions. Town won the toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bowl first.

New ball was shared between Malik and Pandey who is fast becoming skippers choice as a suitable partner for Malik to deliver early on. Both carried on from the last game and adapted to the conditions and kept things tight. Malik soon got the breakthrough by cleaning up Lewis and to skippers delight he got No 3 trapped in front of the wicket in the next over. Everybody knew that scoring on this pitch was going to be a challenge as balls held for an extra split of a second making timing an exquisite art. Gordhandas was introduced as 1st bowling change replacing Malik and straight away got the breakthrough by removing number 4 with the help of Gairola and Pandey who completed his quota of overs without any luck from other end so far was finally rewarded on his last ball when he bowled batsman number 6. At the end of 18 overs Dolphins were 42/5. Patel replaced Pandey and straight away got the Dolphins skipper who was hanging there trying very hard, cleaned up with a beautiful delivery. Dolphin's decided the best option now is to attack and they played some lofted shots. Field was adjusted and got the reward straight away when Gordhandas got Godfrey caught & bowled who was looking dangerous. Patel on the other end kept removing lower order calmly and together with Gordhandas, they cleaned up the middle/lower order of Dolphins in 26 overs with 63 on scoreboard.

Town decided to take the field right away given tea and rain could arrive at any time, town were quite confident of the chase give their batting depth but were equally aware that it was going to be a tricky chase, although, little did they knew what was coming. Mekwan started with couple of boundaries in the first over giving skipper something to smile about but that soon turned into frown when Mekwan was bowled by Lacey. Gairola joined Ramawat in the middle but Ramawat got out caught in covers trying to drive on a pitch that demanded some respect and timing, leaving town scoreline 8/2 in 4 overs.

What came next was a shock, Janardhan and ever reliable Anjum got out in the next over to Lacey leaving a sorry scorecard of 9/4 after 5 overs. Suddenly Dolphins were over the move and were on the hunt. Patel joined Gairola in the middle who was looking resolute and together started to build the partnership and kept the scorecard moving slowly and gradually and collected 16 runs before Gairola was caught at midwicket superbly by Lacey who was giving everything he had to ensure Dolphins were in the game. Patel who was looking good got out in the next over followed by Pandey with a golden duck and Dolphins were jubilant, reducing town to 32 for 7 in 12 overs. Suddenly a target of 64 was looking beyond the reach. Sadagaurna and Myring in the middle surrounded by the hunting dolphins all around. Dolphins by this time turned into hungry great white sharks, sniffing the blood and wanted to close the game in the next few deliveries. Both of them started to defend the balls with the straight bat and started to rebuild the innings and after few maiden overs the scoreboard started to tick slowly, making it 34/7 from 32/7 in the next 6 overs. Myring played couple of lovely lofted drives in the 18th over giving the balcony something to cheer about. Both the Dolphin's opening bowlers now finished gave a respite to the town batsmen as both bowled really beautifully giving noting to the town batsmen to work with.

Sadagaurna who was very impressive with his temperament and technique played a lovely pull shot in the next over and suddenly runs started coming and soon it was 54/7 in 21 overs. Town balcony was a much happier place and suddenly a victory was in sight and a possibility that seemed million miles away. Just away by 10 runs. As has been the case all day, another twist was to happen, town lost both the set batsmen on 54, leaving it to the last partnership of Gordhandas and Malik to score those gold dust 10 runs. Gordhandas walked in and played a lofted shot over mid-on to a boundary with no fuss and tried the same shot but felt just short at long-on boundary, bringing Malik on the strike. Malik facing his 1st delivery despatched it to the mid-wicket boundary in style, handing town a very hard fought and nerve wrecking win.

What a cracking game. A massive well done to both the teams for putting up a game and playing in the right spirit. It was a game that could have been won by any team but town came up top in the end. A fantastic show of nerves and temperament by young Sadagaurna and mature Myring. Together they got town right back into the game at the footstep of a memorable win. A fantastic team effort all along. A win town should be very proud of.

Upwards & Onwards!

Harpenden Dolphins Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1w 1b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
3
63 (26.0 overs)		     
A. Rayner ct  D. Gairola b K. Gordhandas 20
B. Lewis b  S. Malik 5
E. Finch lbw  S. Malik 0
S. Cripps ct  D. Gairola b K. Gordhandas 11
M. Godfrey ct  & b K. Gordhandas 17
A. Driscoll b  P. Pandey 0
O. Lacey b  S. Patel 2
T. Jubb lbw  S. Patel 0
R. Giovanni ct  S. Patel b K. Gordhandas 3
B. Giovanni Not Out  2
G. Dowrsy b  S. Patel 0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sajid Shafique Malik6.03924.501.50
Pradip Pandey9.0125125.002.78
Kishan Gordhandas7.002245.503.14
Suryanaryan Patel4.01531.671.25

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 4w 1lb 
for 9 wickets
6
64		        
Suvin Mekwan b  O. Lacey 8 2
Ravi Ramawat ct  b R. Giovanni 0
Deepak Gairola ct  b R. Giovanni 18 3 2
Harish Janardhanan b  O. Lacey 0
Iqbal Anjum ct  b O. Lacey 0
Suryanaryan Patel lbw  b O. Lacey 4
Pradip Pandey lbw  b O. Lacey 0
Keeran Sudagaran ct  b A. Rayner 7 1
James Myring ct  b A. Driscoll 12 2
Kishan Gordhandas Not Out  5 1 1
Sajid Shafique Malik Not Out  4 1

Harpenden Dolphins Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
O. Lacey9.032054.002.22
R. Givoanni9.0421210.502.33
A. Driscoll3.01717.002.33
A. Rayner2.5116116.005.65