Scorecard

Aldenham Cricket Club v Coopers on Sun 18 Sep 2016 at 1300
Aldenham Cricket Club Won by 74 runs

Match report Aldenham took ten wickets to beat Coopers by 74 runs with three overs to spare in a high quality match at the home of cricket.

Tanios 'Nearly at 1000 runs' Watfa and ACC debutant Ubaid 'E-bay' Khaliq got the A's off to a solid start before Karan 'The Master Blaster' Barot and Minty 'Pubic Hair Head' Munroe blasted the home side to a huge total with some spectacular hitting.

Coopers made a good fist of reaching the total but in the end fell short thanks to a good bowling display and a couple of wickets from an unlikely source.

Watfa, closing in on 1,000 runs for the season, opened the batting with the unknown quantity of Ubaid, a Bushey resident who found Aldenham on some sort of web page reportedly relating to the club.

The debutant, having not played for eight years, gave a good account of himself, striking some good shots despite limited foot movement that will no doubt loosen up with some winter net sessions in January.

He was eventually bowled on 23 whilst Tanios, chasing 1000 runs for the season, built a strong foundation for a big innings that might just take him over the milestone with a week to spare.

Controversy arose though when Tanios, hoping to achieve more than 999 runs for the year, appeared to nick one behind to the keeper, cueing a big appeal from the visitors. Jovial boos rang out from the pavilion as neither umpire nor batsmen were moved and the 1,000-run-chaser was allowed to continue his quest.

Tanios, who is close to scoring 1,000 runs in 2016, failed to cash in on two further drops in his innings (despite encouragement from Karan Barot) and was eventually caught on 61 - 6 runs short of 1,000.

Aldenham went from 74-1 to 144-3 as Don Bradman Cricket 2009 expert Danny Morgan came and went for a 25 that included a 6 which cleared the back end of the car park.

In came a very well-preened Chris Munroe and an ever-confident Kuz Barot who took the attack to Coopers, pinging fours and sixes for fun and blatantly ignoring the opportunity for singles that were repeatedly pointed out by Hewett Snr, reviving his 'Brittas' nickname of old.

Karan reached his 50 in just 15 balls and was soon followed by Minty, his heavily-gelled hair now gleaming under the brightening conditions.

The pair continued the assault to tea with Kuz and Chris finishing on 72 (off 32) and 89 (off 45) respectively.

A DIY tea from the well-coiffured Minty was enjoyed before ten-man Aldenham took to the field requiring ten wickets to secure the win.

A dispute over which end the openers would take was settled by rock, paper, scissors as the mentally-weak Tim Hale fell hook, line and sinker for Chewit's mind games and repeated insistence that he knew Timbo was going to choose paper.

Aldenham's very own Derren Brown then picked up a quick couple of wickets from his favoured end as the yet-again hungover Hale toiled up the hill without reward.

Coopers had roped in a ringer, Mr Akhtar, a quality bat who has a combined 2,000 runs for the season for his two league sides and faced Aldenham whilst playing for Bourne End in the area final in the Herts Village Trophy.

In that game he was bowled by Hewett Jnr and in he came here looking for revenge against the psychologically talented bowler.

A good battle between the big-hitting batsmen and Aldenham's opening pair ensued, Akhtar both being pegged back and hitting some huge boundaries in equal measure.

He passed 50 with regular visitor Dave Arnold holding his own at the other end as Coopers put themselves in a good position.

A change of angles brought the breakthrough however as Akhtar was clean bowled in Chewit's first ball over the wicket, once again becoming the victim of his little-known nemesis.

With Coopers at 100-3 though, Aldenham still required 7 wickets and so skipper Minty, his hair now glistening like a well-manicured pubic region, turned to Hewett Snr and run-out specialist Sachin Sanghvi.

The pair bamboozled the new batsmen with some (slow) drift, guile and even a hint of turn, proving that Danny Morgan's bowels weren't the only thing capable of movement out on the pitch.

Brittas quickly made an impact with two wickets bowled, as Sanghvi probed several lines and lengths from the other end in search of success.

His reward came in his third over when Karan Barot snared a catch at mid off that was spooned in the air by the bamboozled batsman.

Sanghvi - putting on his greatest ever ACC display with the ball - then incredibly got another, this time LBW, despite Dave Arnold attempting some dirty tactics and bulldozing the Goa-born all rounder during a quick(ish) single.

One more for Hewett Snr allowed skipper Munroe to add to his already envious bowling average with two wickets for just five runs in two overs to take Aldenham comfortably over the line.

So ended a well-fought out match which leaves a mouth-watering prospect this Saturday where three batsmen have the opportunity to reach 1,000 runs in the same game...or fall agonisingly short!!!!

Get down to ACC this weekend to cheer them over the line at the last Saturday home game of the season.

Requirement for 1,000:
Watfa: 6
Minty: 25
Kuzza: 31

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 4w 13b  
for 3 wickets
18
287		        
Tanios Watfa ct Arnold b Benbow 61 83 10 73.49
Ubaid Khaliq b Benbow 23 44 3 52.27
Dan Morgan ct Harper b Rashid 27 32 1 2 84.38
Chris Munroe Not Out  89 44 8 5 202.27
Karan Barot Not Out  72 32 6 6 225.00
Tim Hale   2
Itty Haque   1
Chris Hewett   1
Charlie Munroe  
Sachin Sanghvi  
Colin Hewett   1

Coopers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R. Nichols7.003700.005.29
Shastry 7.012200.003.14
Benbow 10.0082241.008.20
Cotterill 7.004700.006.71
Rajaeed 4.0033133.008.25
Masood 4.004800.0012.00

Coopers Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 6w 1lb 
for 10 wickets
9
211 (31.1 overs)		     
Arnold ct & b Col. Hewett 37
Harrison lbw Chr. Hewett 12
Benbow b Chr. Hewett 7
Ahktar b Chr. Hewett 53
Rajaeed b Col. Hewett 28
Nichols lbw Sangvhi 25
Benbow ct Barot b Sanghvi 1
Cotterill ct Hale b Munroe 24
Emberson ct Hale b Munroe 9
Rasheed ct Haque b Col. Hewett 1
Harper Not Out  4

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chris Hewett10.0070323.337.00
Tim Hale6.004400.007.33
Colin Hewett9.1154318.005.89
Sachin Sanghvi4.0037218.509.25
Chris Munroe2.00522.502.50