Scorecard

Northwood Town II v Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI on Sat 15 May 2010 at 1:00pm
Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club Won by 1 wicket

Match report TMIV v. Northwood Town II
15/05/20
Played at Northwood

Squeaky bum time.

So, NT coming off the back of a defeat where they conceded 313-1 off of 40 overs the obvious choice if we won the toss must be to insert ourselves and rack up a big one. However being slightly uneasy about our total setting abilities the decision was made to put the opposition in and set ourselves a reasonable total to chase. It worked.... just.

Steve had their opener LBW in the third over and this was followed soon after with the runout of the other opener coming back for a second that wasn’t really on. Numbers 3 and 4 had highly contrasting styles the former being all bottom hand and the latter standing tall and actually using his feet. El-bottomhando proved to be rather an irritating limpet to deal with riding his good fortune despite a man loitering in cow for his shovel shot. Steve did the decent thing and cleaned him up for 11. Shiva was toiling away at the other end all this time bowling some good nuts but the number 4 who was the class batting act on the day started to hoist some big shots off of him mostly up and over the rope (revenge is a dish best served swinging, but we’ll get to that in a bit). Sanjay was bought on to give him something else to think but he never seemed to be at the right end for that and so it was left to Steve to deal with him. The early tussles went the batsman’s way with further sixes being struck usually after 5 dot balls had passed. A few choice words from the bowler that are frankly unprintable and a lapse in concentration brought about the breakthrough that we desperately needed; he fine edged an outswinger into Kamlesh’s welcoming gloves and departed for a classy 45. A second wicket followed in the same over clipping the top of off and we broke for drinks with a spring in our step. With their main man out the way Sanjay got in on the act finding a good length and an admirable amount of turn that brought in close fielders. He first picked up an LBW hitting the batsman on the full on his toes then Neil Dennison produced the outstanding piece of fielding of the day catching one handed inches off the floor from a silly point position. A more controversial catch followed with Ketan fumbling a bat-pad at short leg before gathering as he dived over. The batsman was not impressed but the square leg umpire confirmed the legitimacy of the catch; the end seemed nigh for NT with under 100 on the board (though they scrapped together just over this in the end). A young tailender helped Steve reach his five-for by missing a full straight one with him finishing with an excellent 16-4-48-5 and Sanjay capped a good day at the office 8-5-21-4, by having their skipper caught snicking one through to the keeper. Kamlesh’s keeping was superb as was our all round fielding and attitude.

106 to get on a pitch that was okay without being a belter. All the chat at tea was about not giving the opposition a sniff which kinda went out the window when Laurie sent a thick edge out to point in the first over he faced from their skipper. Kamlesh soon followed LBW as did Mani who got cleaned up by their number 4 whose innings started to loom large over our victory ambitions. When Kit was also bowled by the same guy we were in trouble at 25 for 4. Ketan in at 3 was doing his best to be watchful and take some of the heat out the situation. Joseph Catleria now in had looked calmness personified when he was involved in an rain abandoned run chase for the 4s last year. On this Saturday he left his composure at home and came out swinging, not what the situation called for. His piece de resistance was an attempted to reverse sweep the quick bowler who was aggrieved not to have him trapped in front. This mattered little as he got his LBW shortly after. Ketan had also holed out after making 15 invaluable runs leaving Sanjay and Chris trying to salvage something from this sinking ship of an innings. Their captain gave himself a breather after an excellent spell of 11-2-22-3 but the new bowler soon had the bonus wicket of Sanjay who popped one up wrapped in marshmallows back to him off a rank full toss. At this point we were 50-7 and it looked really, really bleak. Onto Siva’s revenge then. I can’t exactly remember how many boundaries we had scored up to this point although perhaps I should be able to recall as it was not many. Siva not being a natural blocker by inclination, decided to do something about this. With his tormentor still steaming in unchanged from one end Siva launched his first ball for a massive six, the bowler shrugged his shoulders marched back to his mark to see his second ball dispatched for four through the same area. Okay lets have a man back, no bother to Siva who went over this guys head for another huge six, two men back now so Siva dissected both for a four bringing 20 off the over and more importantly some head scratching in the opposition for the first time on the day. When Siva next faced the same bowler his enormous swipe cleared slips head comfortably and raced to the boundary. 50-7 had become 80-7 and maybe just maybe we could get there. Siva tried one slog too many departing for an electric 27, the opposition celebrated wildly. Enter Neil at 10 to play his most important innings to date. Chris had kept his head down during Siva’s pyrotechnics playing straight and orthodox, the score was taken to 95 when he drove a widish one to that was not quite there to backward point who selfishly did not shell it; out for 16. Last wicket, 11 needed, Steve’s first ball went for 4, 7 needed at the end of that over. Neil to face the opening bowler brought back on, first two balls almost took the edge as Neil’s feet were not yet moving. The last 4 balls were repelled with big strides, a glorious maiden. Steve hits a four chased all the way to the boundary by three fielders who could not get there, a couple of dot balls before a swipe* just about clears mid on for 4 more and the winning runs. A match winning 12 runs to the Chairman and a glorious 2 not out to Neil.

My nerves were shot but a calming drink with their magnanimous skipper afterwards confirmed that this is apparently the reason that we all turn up to play cricket on a Saturday... I think.

*The following correction has been printed on 17/05/2010. "The use of the word swipe to describe the cultured lofted on drive that hit the winning runs was in no way meant to demean the skill involved to execute said shot under indescribable pressure. The editor apologises for any offence and emotion distress caused by this casual use of the English language".

Northwood Town II Batting
105 for 10
Player name Runs
A.Choudry Run out  C.Benn 8
R.Ganizetti Lbw  S.Lyall 8
E.Johnson Bowled  S.Lyall 11
A.Hills Caught  S.Lyall (Bharadia) 45
P.Pandey Lbw  S.Patnaik 5
M.Abbani Bowled  S.Lyall 6
A.Firfire Caught  S.Patnaik (Dennison) 5
N.Cheesewright Caught  S.Patnaik (Shah) 0
C.O'Neill Bowled  S.Lyall 1
D.Harding Caught  S.Patnaik (Bharadia) 8
A.N.Other Not Out  3

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Steve Lyall16.044859.603.00
Sanjay Patnaik8.052145.252.63
Sivasankar Sakthivel8.023500.004.38

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
107 for 9
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Kamlesh Bharadia Lbw  D.Harding 6 2
Laurie Goldsmith Caught  D.Harding 0
Ketan Shah Caught  D.Harding 15 1
Mani Periyasami Bowled  A.Hills 1
Kit Hutcheson Bowled  A.Hills 5
Joseph Calteria Lbw  A.Hills 6
Sanjay Patnaik Caught  M.Abbani 7
Chris Benn Caught  M.Abbani 16 1
Sivasankar Sakthivel Bowled  M.Abbani 27
Neil Dennison Not Out  2 1
Steve Lyall Not Out  12

Northwood Town II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A.Hills16.0645315.002.81
D.Harding11.022237.332.00
M.Abbani6.4031310.334.65
A.Chaudry2.00100.000.50