Scorecard

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI v Sawbridgeworth III on Sat 07 Aug 2010 at 1:00pm
Match was Abandoned Rain, Rain, Rain

Match report TMIV v. Sawbridgeworth III
07/08/2010
Played at Rowley Lane

Overnight rain had left the Rowley Lane pitch looking not at its best. Chris lost another toss so opinions on the state of the pitch were no longer of concern to us. The 4s were invited to bat.

Chris and Vivek opened up with the former misreading the pitch instantly and almost skewing a leading edge to the man at short midwicket who could only lay finger tips on it. After that no more attempts to turn the ball round the corner were attempted and the openers set into a reasonable rhythm with Chris defending and Vivek occasionally blasting over midwicket for six (three in all although the first was nearly held by the fielder before being helped over the line). The key was not to loose early wickets which worked reasonably well at around 45 for the opening stand before Chris was bowled. Sanjay who had been in imperious form as of late struggled with the pace of the pitch and despite slapping a couple of 4s couldn’t capitalise and was caught. Vivek played well for 34 before trying to hit one straight down the ground but not getting enough on it with an excellent catch taken by the opposition skipper coming in from long on. Ketan joined Rakesh in the middle and middled a few lusty blows before a leading edge was taken by square leg. AB the pocket dynamo entered the fray with the 4s innings at a cross roads at about 95-4, what happened next was an exhilarating partnership with both batsman playing brutal shots and running hard for absolutely anything they could. As can happen Rakesh offered up a chance at long on hitting over the top but the fielder was unable to hold on to the difficult chance. The partnership was worth over 100 runs when it ended as AB departed for a brilliant 51. Waqas came in to keep the momentum moving and played well before being well run out from the boundary trying to steal a second. Mani’s task was two-fold, to not give away his wicket and hand the opposition anymore bowling points and to farm the strike to Rakesh to help him get to ton. He made an excellent effort to achieve both ends succeeding entirely in the first making 10 not out and did all he could in the second getting Raks back on strike for the final two deliveries of the innings on 99. Heartbreakingly for the onlooking 4s Rakesh could not get his bat on any two of these deliveries both fired down the legside so he finished on 99* a magnificent innings bringing us back from the brink and getting us up to what would be a hard chase in the second innings. The score would have been greater had it not been for one of the best fielding displays we have witnessed all season from the young guy stationed at deep square leg, he covered a huge amount of ground cutting off numerous boundaries with diving stops throughout the innings.

We began our fielding effort with the old ball in the hands of the Chairman and Waqas. Both bowlers immediately hit the right lengths bringing in the close fielders. This created a few more scoring opportunities but also had the desired result as Steven induced the opener into an injudicious drive which flew to mid-off, thankfully Chris had his contact lenses in which meant that rather than missing the ball completely a juggling act ensued before the catch was claimed. As is the way at Rowley Lane, the black clouds began to circle and it was only a matter of time before the deluge came. It only took 15 minutes of rain to saturate the pitch beyond recognition and ruined any chances of the game resuming. It’s impossible to speculate what would have happened in the match but the performance up to this point had been exceptional against the second placed team in the league.

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
255 for 6
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Chris Benn Bowled  9 1
Vivek Mallavarapu Caught  34
Sanjay Patnaik Caught  13
Rakesh Venugopal Not Out  99
Ketan Shah Caught  16
Abhilash Mathew Bowled  51
Waqas Memon Run out  5
Mani Periyasami Not Out  10
Neil Dennison  
Sivasankar Sakthivel  
Steve Lyall  

Sawbridgeworth III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
L.Purnell11.015200.004.73
J.Hill13.0346223.003.54
G.Gostling18.0293246.505.17
S.Dewhurst6.032000.003.33
A.O'Donovan5.0035135.007.00

Sawbridgeworth III Batting
35 for 1
Player name Runs
E.Levey Caught  S.Lyall (Benn) 4
R.Harnack Not Out  11
J.English Not Out  18
I.Bowler  
C.Mann  
G.Inch  
A.O'Donovan  
J.Hill  
L.Purnell  
G.Gostling  
S.Dewhurst  

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Steve Lyall7.0314114.002.00
Waqas Memon6.022000.003.33