Scorecard

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v Watford Town III on Sat 20 Jul 2024 at 01:00 p.m.
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 66 runs

Match report The past week has been the hottest week of the year, but come Saturday, we knew what to expect from the weather :-). With the weather set to remain constant throughout the day and the pitch looking docile, the toss was not particularly critical. Town lost the toss and were asked to bat first, which they were happy with.

Town started their innings with Aggarwal and Gairola, but lost Aggarwal very early to a delivery that stayed slow and low, indicating what to expect from the deck. Vaghela walked in at 3 and found it difficult as well, but Gairola took his time to settle down and started punishing anything loose. In an effort to up the scoring rate, Vaghela got out. Skipper Ramawat, in at 4, also found it difficult to rotate the strike or find boundaries, but Town were fortunate that the run rate remained healthy thanks to extras and Gairola. Ramawat too perished while trying to accelerate, leaving the score at 70/3 in 18 overs.

Gairola, who has been out of form recently, regained his rhythm and started playing his trademark shots, but perished playing one shot too many in an over (57). Jay Patel also got out early in his innings, leaving Town at 108/5 in 22 overs. At this point, Town were in a spot of bother and needed small partnerships. Tushar Shah got the scoreboard ticking in his typical fashion, but he too couldn't keep going. P Patel, promoted up the order, also couldn't trouble the scoreboard, leaving Town in trouble at 133/7 in 26 overs.

John, who was watching this unfold from the other end, now had a young rookie partner, Rudy Shah. The stage was perfectly set for John to play his natural game—grind out, take singles, and hit loose deliveries—which he did with excellent support from junior Shah. Together, they added a valuable 60 runs before Town lost both of them in quick succession. Towards the end, Puwar and Mobeen collected some 'icing on the cake' runs, pushing Town's total to 217/9 in their allotted 40 overs—a score Town felt was more than sufficient on a pitch that required a lot of patience.

After a 20-minute break for a team 'sit together' lunch with homemade tea, Town were back in the middle to defend their score. The new ball was shared between P Patel and R Shah, and both bowled well, but it was Patel who got the breakthrough in his 2nd over. Watford's batsmen found it hard to score freely due to some tight bowling that made full use of the helpful conditions. Watford did something really well in the next 20 overs - they did not lose any wickets but unfortunately, they did not score runs either. At the end of the mid-innings, Watford were 65/1.

After a quick drinks break, it was clear that Watford would come hard for the remaining 20 overs and Town were well prepared, operating both of their best spin duos, Puwar and Mobeen, who bowled really well and further strangled the Watford chase. In need of quick runs, Watford kept losing wickets, and with every passing over, the target was getting further away from them, such was the class of the Town bowling attack—accurate and calculative. In the end, Watford could only reach 151/9 in their 40 overs.

Town won the game by 66 runs. This game again highlighted the importance of building partnerships while batting and during bowling - bowling at good hard lengths, even if it gets boring at times. A true team win with some fireworks from Gairola at the top and Puwar and Mobeen towards the end.

Man of the Match: Deepak Gairola

Highlights of the day: Mobeen hitting a flick off his legs to get a boundary in the last over of Town's innings.

Town has been playing really well as a team, and today was a prime example. When Town lost the ever-reliable Aggarwal early in their innings, others stepped in and posted a very healthy score, making it easier for Town's formidable bowling attack.

"If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it - then I can achieve it." - Muhammad Ali

A good and important win, and we move on to our next challenge.

#Onwards&Upwards

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 40w 10b 4lb 
for 9 wickets
60
217		        
Rahul Aggarwal b T Jan 4 8 50.0
Deepak Gairola ct b R Shrungarpure 57 56 10 101.79
Bijendra Vaghela ct & b T Jan 5 20 25.00
Ravi Ramawat ct b J Andre 1 23 4.35
Cijine John ct b A Hussain 31 62 3 50.0 1
Jay Patel ct b T Canning 5 6 1 83.33
Tushar Shah ct b J Andre 13 13 2 100 1
Pratik Patel b T Canning 0
Rudra Shah b b A Rehman 18 26 2 69.23
Krunal Puwar Not Out  12 10 1 120.0
Mairaj Mobeen Not Out  11 12 1 91.67

Watford Town III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
T Jan6.0024212.004.00
J Rajpurkar8.021900.002.37
J Andre8.0139219.504.88
T Canning8.0050225.006.25
R Shrungarpure1.0014114.0014.00
A Rehman6.0045145.007.50
A Hussain3.0012112.004.00

Watford Town III Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 18w 1b 3lb 
for 9 wickets
23
151 (40.0 overs)		     
S Rohan ct M Mobeen b P Patel 6
A Hussain ct P Patel b K Puwar 36
P Patel run out D Gairola/M Mobeen 31
A Rauf ct P Patel b M Mobeen 5
R Shrungarpure ct P Patel b R Shah 17
A Rehman b M Mobeen 1
T Jan b R Shah 8
M Zaid st T Shah b K Puwar 1
J Rajpurkar ct C John b P Patel 3
J Andre Not Out  11
T Canning Not Out  0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Pratik Patel7.0121210.503.00
Rudra Shah8.0024212.003.00
Cijine John4.01900.002.25
Jay Patel6.002400.004.00
Mairaj Mobeen8.0027213.503.38
Krunal Puwar8.0039219.504.88