Scorecard

Aldenham Cricket Club v Old Citizens on Sat 08 Aug 2015 at 1400
Aldenham Cricket Club Won by 125 runs

Match report Beautiful weather greeted the All Stars as they welcomed perennial foes Old Citizens. Team selection troubles returned for Dan as we struggled up to the 11th hour to find a full 11. Luckily, Chewett pulled an ace out of his sleeve by the name of Sam Webb, a keen cricket fan who would be making his debut for the Parish.

Skipper Nic, perhaps in a state of shock having witnessed Chewett arrive reasonably close to the meet time, won the toss and elected to bat, much to the joy of his minions who were eyeing up a very flat track and soaring mid afternoon temperatures and after a little calibration to his order, Nic sent out the Pirate and Wellsy to open the innings.

The Citizen’s opening bowler came tearing in from the top end and for the most part seemed intent on getting the ball down the other end as quickly as possible with very little regard to its direction. Lee took full advantage of anything wayward but still reachable but Wellsy was surprised by the first straight one in 3 overs and fell for just 2, later to be heard muttering to himself that he’d paid £1.60 per ball he’d faced!

This brought out the Sheep, returning to the side after a couple of weeks absence. Off the mark first ball with a three, his strike rate remained similar throughout his 51 ball innings as he bludgeoned his was to 101*.

The vast distances the ball was travelling and the fact we were using an expensive Duke’s ball sent Nic the Skipper patrolling the area down by the nets to save it from potentially being lost and sure enough as Sheep cannoned another drive, Nic readied himself with a bat to send the ball back where it came from.

Unfortunately, he seemed to forget there was a game of cricket on and as he made a swing the fielder came careering round to pick up the ball! Fortunately but perhaps unsurprisingly, Nic failed to make contact with either man or ball, however in the proceeding confusion Umpire Jerry could only muster an outstretched arm and a cry of ‘NO BALL!’. Not entirely sure how he came to that conclusion but he is a level 2 coach don’t you know.

Sheep retired which brought Watfa to the crease who didn’t hang around long before being bowled and the Horse, who’d stopped trying to behead fielders long enough to put his pads on to score a couple before being caught.

Meanwhile, the Pirate had clawed his way into the 80’s and so Baz was sent out to try and shepherd him to his century. With the best part of an hour to play, it seemed so simple for the Pirate to coast his way to the ton, however Lee seemed intent on getting there in as few a shots as possible and focussed on clearing his front leg no matter the ball. Eventually he skied one on 92 and was caught, leading to Nic to declare and enjoy a fine Hewett tea.

The A’s then set out to take the 8 wickets of the Citizens (they had only turned up with 10 and earlier Greg had marmalised the arm of one of the bowlers with a line drive) under the baking sun. Charlie opened the bowling despite Skipper Nic threatening not to allow him to as he had disappeared for some of Aldenham’s earlier innings to watch the Everton vs Watford game in the bar. He was rewarded for his efforts with two fine cover drives from the opposition, before trapping one LBW.

Chewett on the other hand, perhaps inspired by seeing what a cricket ground looked like before 2 o’ clock, bowled excellently and picked up 2 wickets.

The Aldenham fielders however were not so sharp as chance after chance went down, with Lee ‘I can’t f#*@ing catch anything!’ Burrows shelling two regulation chances and debutant Sam Webb, who’d earlier showed his first reaction to a moving cricket ball is to aim a shin at it dropping three. Others who perhaps could do with some fielding drills on a Friday night include Nic, Jerry and Chewett.

Dan Morgan came on for Charlie and he too looked threatening, picking up 3 wickets when a sharper fielding performance would have easily seen him pick up a 5fa before debutant Sam was tossed the ball. After an uninspiring spell in the field which had much enthusiasm but less orthodoxy and without an opportunity with the bat, he might have wished Nic hadn’t as only some very generous umpiring ensured that he wasn’t still only half way through his over today!

Eventually the Parish managed to hold on to enough catches to put the game to bed and retired to the bar to prepare for a very expensive night out in the West End.

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
13nb 5w 16b 3lb 
for 5 wickets
37
256		        
Lee Burrows ct Bardsley 92 105 14 1 87.62
Daniel Wells b Malnick 2 5 40.0
Greg Hill Retired Not Out  101 51 10 6 198.04
Tanios Watfa b Malnick 9 15 1 60.0
Nic Hale ct Malnick 3 6 50.0
Basil Letts Not Out  10 6 1 1 166.67 1
Sam Webb  
Dan Morgan   1
Charlie Munroe   3
Chris Hewett  
Julian Knight  

Old Citizens Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Malnick11.0175237.506.82
Saldana6.004800.008.00
Bardsley5.0036136.007.20
Shannon4.004200.0010.50
Millet6.003100.005.17

Old Citizens Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 7w 8b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
21
131 (29.4 overs)		     
Saldanha lbw Munroe 6
Jordan ct Hewett 32
Malnick lbw Hewett 17
Ringer ct Letts 23
Bardsley ct Morgan 24
Rob lbw Morgan 2
Poulton b Hale 4
Millet ct Morgan 0
Harris Not Out  0
Shannon  
   

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chris Hewett9.0126213.002.89
Charlie Munroe7.0043143.006.14
Dan Morgan7.4130215.003.91
Basil Letts4.0116116.004.00
Sam Webb1.00800.008.00
Nic Hale1.01010.000.00