Scorecard

Aldenham Cricket Club v Spartan on Sun 30 May 2021 at 12:30
Match was Drawn

Match report Aldenham v Spartan

Match Drawn

After the high of a thumping win the day before, the Aldenham Sunday team ventured back to our home of cricket to take on the mysterious Spartan.

All set up ready to go 15 minutes before the 12.30 start, Aldenhams very own ‘Team selector/the guy that sends the meet time round’ casually rocked up wondering why the team were sat around and all pre match jobs were done. The confusion of the start time must have filtered out around London as Keith and co. also rocked up post match start time which meant an extra hour for the two teams to debate over which type of game to play. Who knew a timed game was sooooo complicated……

The increasing heat meant Spartan won the toss and fancied watching the hosts melt in the bank holiday sun. Recovering from his 200-mile trip and previous 500 games for his boy hood club, it was Char ‘Did you know I have played 500 games for the club’ Munroe to take the new ball. With a Duke in his hands, it was business as usual. Another stone-dead plumb LBW shout turned down as apparently you can’t give a batsman out first game of the innings! Meanwhile, the better all rounder Sheikhdog (soon to become wolf like) was looking far more dangerous howling his way to a cheeky 2fer at the other end.

In true Sunday village culture, the two openers were removed from their duties earlier than expected which allowed debutant Ramesh (Ubaid stop calling him Rakesh) to trundle his way up the Aldenham slope and Adam ‘should have been opening’ Haque to tackle the very difficult Charlie Munroe End. Both bowled well with little to show as the visitors batted through the tricky Aldenham hour setting foundations to build on.

Those middle overs……

With batsman Sham and Imran growing in confidence, the opposite was happening with the hosts. Maybe the heat got the better of them as the standard of fielding, general chat and the arrival of Aldenhams bare chested new boy band was an hour everybody is likely to forget. Drops from the boundary from Rag and Ward were a sign of things to come, good effort though lads. The same couldn’t be said for skipper Itty ‘I don’t catch easy chances’ Haque dropping a skyer and Mikey getting a second chance to redeem his earlier mishap, only to be denied by obviously singing to many nursery rhymes, trying to perform the okey cokey at Deep backward square!!!

It was getting hot and the pitch continued to flatten out.

Skipper looked round looking for inspiration. He couldn’t find any so asked Aldenhams 501st cap Munroe to get him a wicket. Inspired by the then the rowdy boy band crowd found some energy only to be dispatched by Spartan top scorer Sham for 4 4s in a row, which only gave the crowd ammunition to give some verbals back to the Liverpool Lip!!! JUSTICE.

Spells from Ward, D Panditt, Joe Rogers and click and collect golden arm Khaliq all had effort but little reward meant it was back to the openers to finish off the allotted time

Although most fielders seemed to be fixated to the match clock (not sure if they were hungry, wanted a bat or were worried about their dinner plans) the declaration never came so after Munroe’s 33rd visit from Michelle, the hosts dragged themselves off the field for a well-earned drink and Tea. Thank goodness that was over……204-7 off 40. A score most players and spectators felt was more than enough if you look at the home sides individual averages. The opposition however had other ideas. Obviously not knowing the rules, not wanting to field/want to play in a fair game and probably never welcome back to the Parish, the oppo skipper thought it would be a good idea to continue to bat on. After some consideration and some gentle persuasion from the viewing public, Spartan declared.

Ubaid and D Pandit were tasked to get the hosts off to a good start against a tricky looking Spartan attack. 14 off the first over (10 wides) The win was on!!!

The match simmered nicely with a decent 50 partnership off the first 10 overs. Ubaid being the aggressor, smashing boundary after boundary meant Dush needed to just stay in. His Caribbean roots meant this was going to be difficult and soon needed a sit down going for 9 off 35.

A ‘blink and you’ll miss him’ J came and went which meant a nervous looking Mike Ward entered the fray. Aldenhams new number 4?! This was a man on a mission. Running down the track, hitting the ball off the square and even smashing the odd boundary. It was a joy to behold. All until the pressure of a half 7 dinner reservation at the Giggly Squid meant he had had enough. Retiring earlier whilst running out Rag who looked good on his Aldenham debut, watching Ramesh hold his own and Joe Rogers….bat for a short period of time. Hope it was worthy it Mikey. The depleted Aldenham batting line up meant umpires and scorers changed frequently. It was left to AJ and Ubaid to take a fair amount of abuse from the fielding team when they umpired having already listening to skipper Haque take his fair share. Surely we won’t see them again at the Parish!!!!

Back to the game and it was left to his 5th century game Munroe, the howling Sheikh, skipper Haque and Adam to get something from the match. The former wasted everyone’s time for about ten minutes running the wolf ragged and getting bowled. Energy sapped Sheikh smashed a few boundaries before he had to leave early, which left the Haque duo to bat out the best part of 5 overs. I think we all had the same thought…Please please please let Adam face most of the balls left!!!

The field came in and the pressure increased on the young lad. Could he deal with it?

The boy turned into a man! Over after over, Adam resisted the chance of playing like his Dad and bravely batted his way through the opening bowlers playing a brilliant innings whilst coaching his Dad what to do the other end. Dad Haque inspired by his oldest son, resisted his usual urge (apart from one ball which nearly reached Radlett) faced the remaining balls left to ensure Aldenham were unbeaten over the weekend.

Well done Adam!!

MOM – the guy that has played 501 games for the club

More players needed for post-match jobs/beer drinking


Spartan Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 29w 10b 4lb 
for 7 wickets
45
204 (40.0 overs)		     
Ali lbw  Munroe 3
Mujahid b  Munroe 2
Ahmed b  Ahmed 4
Imran Not Out  37
Mintu b  Munroe 5
Sham ct  Khaliq b Ahmed 94
Romy b  Munroe 14
Malicit lbw  Munroe 0
   
   
   

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charlie Munroe9.0150510.005.56
Sheikh Ahmed8.031929.502.37
Ramesh Pralaya3.001600.005.33
Adam Haque3.002200.007.33
Michael Ward6.003000.005.00
Joe Rogers4.002500.006.25
Ubaid Khaliq4.001800.004.50
Dushant Pandit2.001100.005.50

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 25w 8b 6lb 
for 9 wickets
42
159		        
Ubaid Khaliq b  Romy 30 36 4 83.33 1
Dushant Pandit ct  Ibrahim 9 35 25.71
Andy Jackson lbw  Romy 0 3 0
Michael Ward Retired Not Out  20 44 2 45.45
Raghavendradas Ameechand Run out  5 14 1 35.71
Ramesh Pralaya ct  Sham 10 25 1 40.0
Joe Rogers b  Sham 0 1 0
Sheikh Ahmed lbw  Romy 20 22 2 90.91
Charlie Munroe b  Sham 8 13 61.54
Adam Haque Not Out  1 12 8.33
Itty Haque Not Out  11 12 1 1 91.67

Spartan Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mintu5.004100.008.20
Romy14.0335311.672.50
Ibrahim5.0117117.003.40
Mujahid5.001700.003.40
Sham9.0134311.333.78