Thrilling Threes Thwart Albanians!

Waking up to a beating sun, fresh air and green grass on a Saturday after picking up an emphatic first win of the season the week before. You love to see it.

Journeying out to Harpenden on a 30°C day, we knew we were in for a challenge of concentration and willpower; not only against the harsh heat of a British summer but also our hardy opponents. A classic village cricket setting in Rothamsted Park brought about an unforgiving wicket and no sightscreen (which was a blessing in disguise, rather than having to run out in the heat to move it!). We were also without Bob and Tony unfortunately, who were certainly missed.

On such a day you'd want to win the toss and post a score, but unfortunately Skip lost the toss (sorry boys) and Old Albanians to no one's surprise elected to bat.

Up stepped Bipin and Ashul to open the bowling - the Ol' Reliable. Their no. 1 was particularly skilled, driving the ball convincingly and nearly decapitating Bipin who dodged expertly (never seen you move so fast Bips). At the other end, Ashul kept the runs down which prompted their other opener to swipe one right to Bilal 'Bucket Hands' Hassan. One down. Great start.

Not too soon after, Bipin banged one in short resulting in a sky-high top edge towards Bilal. Bucket Hands watched with an eagle eye, taking a fantastic catch greeted by a roar of celebration in the field. Two down.

Their opener and number 4 started creating a good understanding and scored efficiently. But after a sanitisation break, Ahsan standing up to JK took an assured catch to dismiss their opener (Sanitisation Brings Wickets!!!) who could have easily pushed on to hit more. Important wicket!

Avi came on soon after to bowl through his spell, keeping the ball tight and bowling some jaffers. Aman chipped in with a couple of wickets, taking a running catch off his own bowling with Eklavya chipping in with a wicket too. Bipin returned and kept the runs down to help suffocate the score.

A score of 191-7 isn't an easy chase by any means - especially in the heat! We were in good stead, having taken our catches (all wickets were catches, which you love to see) so we were well up for the challenge. Packed lunches eaten, we set out to chase it down.

Our opening pair of Eklavya and Kam got us off to a quick start but both unfortunately perished early on. In stepped Ahsan and Bilal at the 8th over who looked like they'd been batting together for years; Ahsan taking up the senior role and scoring quickly with some blinding shots - the most memorable being a pull shot right back over the bowler's head for 6 as well as a few cracking cover drives. Bilal supported with great assurance, taking his time to get his eye in and playing with maturity and sensibility.

After Ahsan reached his half century, he was bowled out and greeted by applause from The Boys after a spectacle of a knock and got us ahead of the rate which was key in dampening the oppo's spirits. No one likes looking at a scoreboard to see just a few wickets down and ahead of the required rate! Optimism was high - we were 97-3 off 20 overs.

But, the boat was rocked. JK was caught off a high full toss and Avi was mugged off by the pitch, with a ball bouncing up high which he could only glove to their slip cordon. 5 down and it was feeling a little bit squeaky.

Bilal, having 5 off 30 odd balls, accelerated massively - striking the ball cleanly and picking up boundaries. It's great to see colts naturally taking a supportive role with a senior member, then after the senior is out, they step up of their own initiative and become the predominant scorer. He was unfortunately bowled after one kept low, ending up on a fantastic and vital 29; doing his job of anchoring the innings for our chase.

120-6. 71 to win. This could go either way.

Aman and Skip were tasked with seeing it out. Skip got off to a good start, hitting his first ball for four which set the tone well. Some assured running along with punishing the bad balls got us going. The spirit dwindled in the outfield - each run was celebrated by The Boys!

With 30 to go, Aman skied one up in the air after being hit on the arm by the bowler - after being sternly told by Skip to not play any massive shots! Colts love to get into on-pitch rivalries and pretend it's Donald vs Atherton - all he wanted to do was smash the next ball for a 6 with vengeance! To the team's relief, he was dropped. Naughty boy.

He then proceeded to play some cracking shots over the bowler's head with a straight bat which were absolutely sublime and admired by all, including the outfield. The required runs dwindled and with 4 to win, we saw it out rather anti-climactically with 4 byes but impressively, we still had 6 odd overs to spare!

A great experience for the team to chase down a big score, with plenty of lessons learned and things to take forward. Once again, each player contributed to another win - a testament to the spirit of the squad (that includes you too, Bob & Tony!). Really proud of you boys - let's keep this steamroller going.