Scorecard

Letchworth III v Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 09 Jul 2011 at 1:00pm
Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club Lost by four wickets

Match report Nearly, nearly, nearly. And then not quite close enough. The 3rd XI have fallen to three successive defeats now though some bright sparks emerged from the drizzle.
On a manicured ground inside a former institution for the, er, intellectually challenged, one with a boundary on one side that was no bigger than the front lawn on some of the houses within the estate, TMCC III came close, but there was definitely no cigar.

A raft of changes in another difficult selectorial week brought in Kamlesh Bharadia fresh from his Sunday ton, Mitesh Bhimjiyani, Arjun back from the 2s, and a debut for Gayan Fernando who has impressed wise judges (i.e. me) in the nets so far.
However the old bugbear of this and all TMCC sides, a lack of practice, match or net-based, reared its ugly head once we were batting. It’s true that the pitch was lively and green and the fraternal opening bowling partnership was a lot younger than the bowling that followed, but we were a shadow of what we can be with the bat. The number of caught and bowleds highlights the fact that balls popped from a length regularly, but several batsmen got in while failing to go on.

Pete Leslie (42) and Jim Hutcheson (29) threatened to take things to a higher plane, Pete clearing not only the short but also the long boundary, but both fell when on the verge of greater things. Arjun, with time to build an innings, played very sensibly for his 28, while Mike holed out to one of several men on the short boundary line. Some of the best batting came from Gayan “G-Man” Fernando, who drove and pulled lustily, well supported by Waqas who was unfortunately run out when going for a quick single, and then Steve who is making a speciality of shepherding us up to 185 and 8 batting points. Gayan’s 34 from no.8 was an excellent maiden effort but the contributions of the top order again did not amount to scores that will win you many cricket matches.

So 190 all out it was, with a few overs lost for rain, and initially it meant Letchworth had 44 overs in which to get the runs. Gayan and Charlie opened things for us and while beating the bat regularly, there was a positivity of intent from the batsmen, which kept the game alive. Another rain break reduced the overs, ultimately to 36, and on resuming after the final break it came down to a straight chase of 120 from 22 overs. Charlie had made a couple of early breakthroughs with balls not quite there to be driven, good catches from Mits and Kamlesh, but the big no.3 played proper cricket shots while hitting the ball high, hard and handsome. Steve, on as first change, enjoyed the swing and seam available, finding a leading edge that didn’t quite go to hand, but not the stumps when it seemed inevitable that he would. Charlie’s amazing wicket haul grew even further with yet another c&b, and a leg before, but the experienced batsmen picked off the short boundary and enjoyed a few lucky nicks that sped to the rope.

Needing a change Jim brought back Gayan from Charlie’s end and the reward came immediately when “Mr Letchworth” Graham Bishton chopped on to his stumps. Steve gave us brief hope and a 14th point when he cleaned up the young no.7 with a lovely off-cutter. But fortune favoured the brave and a few big hits took the batting side home with 3 balls to spare. It sounds closer than it was, but the uncomplicated run chase made it more like a 'proper' limited overs game and everyone was on their toes right to the very end.

While it wasn’t a reflection on events on the field, frustrating though they may have been, the logistical and people management difficulties of putting one of several sides out every week have taken their toll on our skipper Jim Hutcheson. He has decided to stand down for the foreseeable future.

We all owe him an immense debt of gratitude for taking on a perennially difficult task, and had all of us just taken a little bit of time to use our common sense and insight into how difficult captaincy of an amateur cricket team really is, we would not have lost an excellent young captain. As it is we all sincerely hope Jim can enjoy playing free of this responsibility and make shedloads of runs. A coalition of senior players will look after the side for the rest of the season, starting with Steve.

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
190
(0.0 overs)		    
Jeremy Book Caught  and bowled A Young 2
Kamlesh Bharadia Bowled  R Young 15 1
Mitesh Bhimjiyani Caught  and bowled Booth 9 1
Peter Leslie Caught  and bowled G Bishton 42
James Hutcheson Caught  Croucher 29
Arjun Chopra Caught  Croucher 28
Michael Pratt Caught  G Bishton 1
Gayan Fernando Caught  A Young 34
Waqas Memon Run out  5
Charles Low Caught  and bowled A Young 0 1
Steve Lyall Not Out  4

Letchworth III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R Young7.0120120.002.86
A Young11.322036.671.74
Croucher18.0358229.003.22
Booth5.0030130.006.00
G Bishton7.0045222.506.43

Letchworth III Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
193 (0.0 overs)
Millbourn Caught  Low 29
A Bishton Caught  Low 8
Bridge Caught  and bowled Low 61
Mullen Lbw  Low 3
G Bishton Bowled  Fernando 22
Dovey Not Out  34
Ferriss Bowled  Lyall 2
Booth Not Out  8
R Young  
A Young  
Croucher  

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gayan Fernando9.3241141.004.32
Charles Low14.0194423.506.71
Steve Lyall12.0140140.003.33

  • Umpire :
    Bob Chandler
  • Scorer :