Scorecard

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI v Old Albanian II on Sat 30 Apr 2011 at 1:00pm
Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club Won by 16 runs

Match report First match of the season for the 4s at Rowley Lane was against 9 man Old Albanians IIs who had the sort of selectorial nightmare that the 4s are all too familiar with. On winning the toss the opposition skipper had little choice but to have a bowl given that setting a target with the 9 men he had available would be a questionable decision. Chris warned him that the sun set low at RL which could prove a hindrance for the team batting second….

Aniket and King Vivek were sent out to open for the 4s, yin and yang if ever there was in an opening pair. Aniket played out a studious maiden in the first over and Viv went over the top for 4 twice in the first 3 balls he faced. Viv raced to 25 in no time but went for the big shot to one that was a fraction too full and was bowled. In the next over Aniket was caught behind of a decent away swinger. Jeremy and Sanjay were next in with Sanjay looking to pick up where he left off last season, unfortunately after a couple of boundaries he was bowled. Krishan was now up and was looking good also with a couple of boundaries before also being bowled. Jeremy played well to get to 24 before deciding to mix the dismissals up and got caught at cover driving at one that was not quite there. PK was up and running by this point and was joined by Kamlesh for our best partnership of the day with both batsmen playing sensibly picking up the singles (although one hard run three almost gave PK a heart attack) and putting away the bad balls as they came along. PK played the shot of the day with a lofted six back over OAs wily leg-spinner’s head but that was all she wrote when he was bowled the following over. Neil Dennison sadly failed to continue with his good touring form which brought Chris to the crease. Having spent the afternoon so far chuntering from the sidelines about giving wickets away he was duly given a life when on 3, he attempted to give his wicket away. Kamlesh top scored with an excellent 41 before being bowled by a turning leg break. Milo caused some controversy by being given out LBW from one that he hit (just); the OAs skipper and bowler graciously withdrew the appeal. Milo was gearing up to make the most of his reprieve when Chris got out stupidly chipping one back to the bowler followed next over by Miles being bowled. Waqas was stranded without facing a ball and the 4s were all out for 187.

It was a little disappointing not to bat our overs and probably caused by an over emphasis on smiting 4s where the focus should have been on finding the gaps with the opposition two men down.

Nevertheless we had some runs on the board and a decision was taken to use the old ball as the wicket seemed pretty slow during our innings. Waqas began proceedings and soon settled into a test line and length varying his pace really well. PK bounded in from the opposite end keeping the ball pitched up and tight on the off-stump and was well rewarded with an early wicket. Waqas then struck a quick double with an excellent caught behind by Kam and then a leap and a juggle by Chris a cover. This brought the oppositions star player to the crease who began cracking the ball all round the park with worrying ease. It seemed that this wicket was the one standing between the 4s and victory but the bat progressed serenely past his 50 without a sniff of a chance. Vivek was brought on to try and break the partnership to no avail and so PK who’d been enjoying a well earned break was summoned again to break the partnership. It almost worked first over back but the hard chance went down behind the pegs, the bonus was that PK picked up another bowled just not the bat we needed. He then created the chance we needed and there were hearts in mouths as the ball looped towards Krishan at cover. Thankfully he didn’t disappoint and the 4s smelled blood taking the new ball which Vivek and Milo shared with two new bats to attack. After a little resistance Viv managed to get one through to clean bowl number 6. The opposition skipper was providing a harder nut to crack though Milo had a really good LB shout turned down from an excellent inswinger. With two wickets to go and under 20 runs to victory Chris brought himself back on with the sun setting behind his bowling arm. This proved decisive as he managed to get a tossed up delivery to bounce all of three inches off the pitch, the opposition skipper fatally tried to sweep leaving the umpire with one of the easier decisions he’ll ever need to make. Last man was now in at 9 so the 4s skipper tried to be cute first tossing one up and then firing one in. Too cute in fact as 4 byes raced to the rope. Viv produced an excellent maiden to keep the number 9 slash 11 on strike for Chris’ next over and two deliveries later he inside edged one into his stumps.

So the 4s emerged relieved but ultimately victorious in what was a compelling match. It was a top effort from the opposition who were hindered by their two player deficit, probably decisively so on the day. To our credit we kept going even when their gun appeared to blazing them to victory and we were always committed in the field, too much so in Jezza’s case as he managed to fracture his finger executing one particularly athletic stop. We will need to bat better in the coming weeks but a solid start the season is most welcome.

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
187
(0.0 overs)		    
Aniket Gocoldas Caught  J.Burman 2
Vivek Mallavarapu Bowled  N.Jagatia 25
Jeremy Book Caught  T.Hassan 24
Sanjay Patnaik Bowled  J.Burman 10
Krishan Chopra Bowled  N.Jagatia 10 1
Prakash Kannan Bowled  N.Jagatia 34
Kamlesh Bharadia Bowled  T.Hassan 41 1
Neil Dennison Bowled  T.Hassan 3
Chris Benn Caught  T.Hassan 22 1
Miles Hencoe Bowled  1
Waqas Memon Not Out  0

Old Albanian II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
N.Jagatia18.0467322.333.72
J.Burman5.4033311.005.82
T.Hassan16.0348412.003.00
K.Jagatia3.011800.006.00

Old Albanian II Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
171 (0.0 overs)
D.Hughes Bowled  P.Kannon 12
S.Wakely Bowled  P.Kannon 6
Hassan Caught  W.Memon (K.Bharadia) 12
D.Baldwin Caught  W.Memon (C.Benn) 0
T.Hassan Caught  P.Kannon (K.Chopra) 78
K.Jagatia Bowled  V.Mallavarapu 16
D.Goodier Lbw  C.Benn 24
N.Jagatia Not Out  1
J.Burman Bowled  C.Benn 0
No player  
No player  

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Waqas Memon15.0142221.002.80
Prakash Kannan14.0142314.003.00
Vivek Mallavarapu9.0141141.004.56
Chris Benn5.201125.502.06
Miles Hencoe4.001700.004.25