Scorecard

Ware v Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 16 May 2009 at 13:30
Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report ...brought to you this week by Kit 'The Sledge' Hutcheson.

Having –just about – managed to navigate our way across the green pastures of the Hertfordshire countryside to successfully arrive at Ware this Saturday, the Totteridge Millhillians 3rd XI won the toss and elected to bowl first. The pitch was green and wet and the sensible money was on runs being in short supply.

TMs got off to a bright start with Charlie Low bowling one of the opposition openers with only the second ball the batsman faced. Unbeknown to us at the time this was an important wicket as one of the Ware players later informed me that we ‘should count [ourselves] lucky he didn’t get going’! Tony and Charlie continued to bowl thriftily whilst making steady headway through the opposition’s middle order. This bowling was backed up by some good fielding, in particular from promising Colt Matt Gibson, who amidst brave stops in the in-field and athletic chases around the boundary rope was very unlucky not to earn himself a run out with a direct hit. Acclaim must also go to Kriss Waters, who anticipated everything that came at him behind the stumps with great aplomb.
The TM’s were coasting with the score at 30-5 but for two dropped catches off the same batsman in successive balls: the first, by your narrator, a difficult chance that skewed awkwardly off the bat; the second, an opportunity in the slips. Ware took advantage of these individual errors and the pendulum looked to be swinging back in their favour, but Charlie and Tony clawed them back to 65-7 with some more excellent bowling. But alas, in a repeat of the previous week’s slovenly fielding performance in the final third of the oppositions innings, Ware were given the opportunity to mount a final push ending on 116 all out after 38 overs - a not unrespectable score in the conditions.

One particular ball sticks in the memory from the aforementioned final third of the Ware innings. As the Batsman clipped the ball off his legs towards backward of Square leg and I saw Phil Ridout galloping round to collect it and my initial thought was ‘one, maybe two if they’re feeling lucky.’ But suddenly Phil pulled up limping, leaving Tony Alderton the least remote player from the ball. It was then a good few seconds before one of the sides younger charges realised a man that had bowled just shy of twenty overs - who can also be caught trading up his flesh and bone knee for some kind of bionic effort in the changing room prior to the match - is not going to be the most effervescent in the field. The two Ware batsman comfortably ran five before the ball was safely returned to the gloves of Kriss Waters.

Kudos must go to Tony and Charlie who both did a sterling job with the ball. Charlie (19-4-60-3) and Tony (18.2-5-57-6). The only criticisms can be of the fielders who must take their chances and strive to keep the intensity right to the end of the innings.

After tea a somewhat turbulent start to the TM’s chase ensued, despite us having over 60 overs to chase the runs. This slack start can be attributed to an underestimation of the difficulty of the conditions. The top three all fell very cheaply and we were in seriously choppy waters when Jim Hutcheson joined Hilton Nathanson at the crease – the score 2-3! These two batted with great watchfulness and patience against a difficult attack - with one particularly tidy seam bowler - on a difficult pitch. Jim scored an unbeaten 55 and Hilton scored 34. The pick of the shots was a well time pull for four by Jim that rocketed away to the leg-side boundary. It would be no exaggeration to say these scores would be worth double in improved batting conditions. The fall of Hilton’s wicket brought two wickets in quick succession; the first brought about by the most recent episode in a series of injudicious shots from your narrator; the second, Matt Gibson committing the well-trodden Hertfordshire League error of trying to play a relatively a full ball on the back foot (excuse the pun!).

At this point with about fifteen runs required and four wickets remaining locum captain Charlie Low could be seen pacing nervously to and fro around the circumference. His anxiety was to be unfounded as Mark Dearing joined Jim and wielded the bat manfully – if not a little agriculturally- to see the TMs over the finish line. Let’s hope we can continue the winning streak against Potters Bar next week.

Ware Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
115 (0.0 overs)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charles Low19.0460320.003.16
Tony Alderton18.255769.503.11

Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
118
(0.0 overs)		    
Michael Pratt Caught  0
Kristian Waters Caught  1
Hilton Nathanson Caught  34
Ketan Shah Caught  0
James Hutcheson Not Out  55 1
Kit Hutcheson Bowled  3 1
Matt Gibson Lbw  1
Mark Dearing Not Out  8 1
Philip Ridout  
Charles Low   1
Tony Alderton  

Ware Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

  • Umpire :
    Bob Chandler
  • Scorer :