Scorecard

Coopers v Aldenham Cricket Club on Sun 10 May 2015 at 1300
Aldenham Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report After a night out on the town for most, drowning their sorrows from what can only be described as an under par performance, Aldenham CC were looking forward to restoring some pride against the familiar faces of Coopers CC, played in the beautiful surroundings in Ashridge, Berkhamsted.

A slow, lifeless pitch had been prepared for the 35 over/side battle ahead as Skipper Charlie Munroe, with a new shiny Dukes in hand, eager to have 1st crack with it, managed to win the toss and alas Coopers were sent in to bat.
After a quick head count, we noticed we were a man down…who could it be??? None other than Michael “Esther RANTSEN” Ward, who had managed to overlook the 13:00 start time after all the controversy and a belly full of Gammon!!!

So 10 men took to the field at 13:10, with 3 potential wicket-keepers on show but Pete wasn’t going to give up the gloves easily so Tanios headed straight to 1st slip (where he stayed for the whole innings) leaving Itty to do all the running….and run he did.

The new ball was handed to the slightly hung over, aging (once upon a time Fast Bowler) “Maltese Falcon” looking to hoop the dukes in all directions with Chewett (just as hung over) taking the other end.

After a few looseners from both bowlers and with the Falcon getting minimal sideways movement, he decided to dig 1 in short for old times’ sake, pitching the ball well in his own half that sat up beautifully for the batsman to cream over the square leg boundary, who managed to middle it straight down fine-legs throat for what could possibly be the worst wicket of the day. Understandably, the celebrations were pretty low key as we all looked at where the ball pitched on the track.

Chewett with a decent catch under his belt was struggling with the “hooping” much to Pete’s disgust as ball after ball went down the leg side. A little tweak to his pace (basically he was tired) soon had the batsmen in trouble as ball after ball were gunning for the stumps. The next wicket was his as the batsmen’s middle stump was knocked back.

One more chance came the Falcon’s way as he found the top edge of Wallis’ bat but sadly the catch went down, ending his 3 over spell. By this time Esther had arrived so we were now at full strength.

Skipper, Charlie Munroe took over and found early success with 1 of his many slower balls by cleaning up their in-form number 4 bringing the Wallis brothers together at the crease.

With Chewett’s tank on empty and consolidation on the batsmen’s mind, Chris Munroe was given the nod to “spin his web”. More early success for the A’s as Wallis Jr fell for one of Chris’ many variations (the long hop) as Chewett took a great catch diving forward in front of 3 spectators to the sounds of “what a catch”. This was the beginning of a match winning spell as Chris found his rhythm and took a further 3 (proper) wickets, 1 caught, 1 Stumped and his favourite of all trapping the other Wallis brother LBW for 31.

Spin was the way forward as bowling in tandem was Wardy with his tidy spell of 7 overs for 23 including 1 absolutely plum LBW.

This brought Dave Arnold to the crease and the Falcon was now ready for another burst. Cries of “Helmet Please” from the batsmen as the short run up was marked out. The batsman now not knowing what to expect managed to guide a thin bottom edge to Pete 1st up putting the A’s in a commanding position with only 1 more wicket to find.

Coopers’ last remaining batsmen blocked and left their way through the next 6 overs and a mis-calculation from our Skipper meant a 6th bowler was needed – enter Sachin “Property Tycoon” Sanghvi who managed to finish off the innings with his only ball that didn’t bounce 4 times as Charlie held onto the catch. Scenes of jubilation (from the bowler) followed as we all walked off restricting Coopers to 108 all out.

A short walk into the Castle/Fortress for a well-deserved cuppa. A very nice spread was on offer including hot starters, sandwiches, fancy looking pastries and fruit. Normally a time to relax and reflect but as most of us “under performed” the day before, some had thoughts of “Can we chase this?” Naturally the Chairman and Itty were 1 & 2 and as Tanios had little to do in slips was given the nod to go 1 down. On a king pair for the weekend and with various “childish” comments like “What’s in the spring Rolls Tan??? Duck!!!” (Classic Minty) un-eased our Lebanese Run Machine slightly.

With Wardy keeping score and Umpires/Oppo on the field, out walked Letts/Haque to get the run chase off to a good start. Both playing their usual games as Itty raced onto 18 off just 15 deliveries before going for 1 too many in the 5th over… out caught – 22 for 1.

Out walked Tanios, squeaking his way to the crease in his £80 pads to join Simon, who believe it or not was still on 0. Nervous times ahead for both as they were both looking to get off the mark. After 24 balls Simon managed to do so with a quick single and soon a much relieved Tan followed suit after being stuck for 10 deliveries.

A slow but steady partnership was building, as Coopers certainly knew where to bowl on their own track, setting a solid platform for the rest of us. Simon’s 61 ball innings FINALLY came to an end in the 21st over as he found himself stranded out of his crease as his bails were whipped off by Arnold. (No hesitation from the umpire as by this stage had had enough)

This brought Karan “I’m a number 4 batsman” Barot to join the not out Tan with the score on 58 for 2. Tan’s innings ended the very next over as he was now looking to step up the tempo gifting a catch to the oppo (hard fought 23 off 52).

Sachin strutted out, still jubilant from his earlier wicket, putting on a 17 run partnership with Barot of which he scored 4 of them but gifted a ct & bowled chance to Wallis. 76 for 4 after 28 overs.

With 31 to win from 42 deliveries, in walked/squeaked an out of form Naudi, desperately looking for a run. Thankfully it came and together with Barot stepped it up a gear and polished off the run chase with 3.1 overs to spare.
Aldenham won by 6 wickets and we managed to restore some pride after our shocking defeat from Saturday.

A quick change in the car park and straight to the bar for a pint of Magners overlooking the croquet green. Joined by the Wallis’ and Arnold and the old chap who sledged the Chairman by saying “we shouldn’t have got you out!!!”
Many thanks to all those who came down to support (Jerry / Lee / the Slaque Clan / Jane / Hannah / Katy / Louise / especially Sen & Nish who kindly offered me a ticket to watch the Gunners!!! (apologies if I missed anyone)
MOTM – goes to Chris Munroe for his 7-1-19-4… and his classic comment during tea.


Coopers Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 29w 2b  
for 10 wickets
32
108 (34.4 overs)		     
Harison ct  Naudi 2
Lambert b  Hewett 6
Wallis ct  Chr. Munroe 10
Alexander b  Cha. Munroe 0
Wallis lbw  Chr. Munroe 31
Bell ct  Chr. Munroe 2
Emberson lbw  Ward 0
Arnold ct  Naudi 6
Rasheed st  Chr. Munroe 5
Benbow ct  Sanghvi 12
Harper Not Out  2

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Andrew Naudi7.001326.501.86
Chris Hewett7.0230130.004.29
Charlie Munroe6.0017117.002.83
Chris Munroe7.011944.752.71
Michael Ward7.0023123.003.29
Sachin Sanghvi0.40212.003.00

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
12w 3b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
16
109		        
Simon Letts st  Benbow 12 61 1 19.67
Itty Haque ct  Alexander 18 15 3 120.0
Tanios Watfa ct  J. Wallis 23 52 3 44.23
Karan Barot Not Out  28 31 5 90.32
Sachin Sanghvi ct  I. Wallis 4 17 23.53
Andrew Naudi Not Out  8 15 1 53.33
Chris Munroe  
Charlie Munroe   2
Chris Hewett   2
Michael Ward  
Pete Munroe   1

Coopers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alexander7.0224124.003.43
Bell4.02600.001.50
J. Wallis7.0213113.001.86
Benbow7.0126126.003.71
I. Wallis4.5017117.003.52
Harrison2.001900.009.50