Scorecard

Little Berkhamsted Sahibs v Aldenham Cricket Club on Sat 08 May 2021 at 12:00
Aldenham Cricket Club Won by 8 wickets

Match report The most enjoyable league victory (demolition/ humiliation*) in ACC’s History

Venue: Next to the Bakery (no- not Vik’s house)
Weather: Wet- however the Pitch was bone dry according to the groundsman
Kuzza: Turned up

A very wet and windy Saturday set the scene for one of the most eventful games in our short lived league history. The story really begins at around 8am when Captain Side hats received a call from the oppo’s captain explaining how he was at the ground already and adamant that the game would go ahead.

The A’s rocked up to the away ground to see three rather loud opposition, one being ACC legend “Greeno”, one being Kuzza’s best friend and the other the groundsman, huddling around the “covers” exclaiming that the pitch was absolutely bone dry. After some fruitful debates and discussions it was concluded that we would play a reduced 30 over format starting at 2pm. This delayed start time allowed for the Tetnus to show off his ultimate team and ensure we all knew he was the Fifa King.

Chrissy won the toss and elected to field hoping that later in the day would provide some more solid batting conditions. Char “The Scouser” Munroe and James “The Pimp” Bazeley got us underway with the ball. Both bowlers received a fair bit of tap with Mr Mehmood who was producing some shots which should not be physically possible. Whilst James was going for the back of the length option, Char decided to constantly place the red cherry nicely into Mehmood’s slot which was only going to have one outcome… “He misses you hit Char”. After some encouragement from DKD at long on, Char pulled out his masterpiece of a slower bowl to deceive Mr Mehmood. This worked with the batsman mistiming it into the air and straight down captain’s side hats throat. Surely only one outcome here? As all the fielders were about to start to celebrate, the nervous and shaking legs of sidehats led to the ball popping out of the hands; chance missed. Would we regret that? The neighbour certainly did as the next slower ball was crushed into the roof of a rather expensive looking house leading to the roof tiles cracking.

Both openers ended their spells with 6-0-57-0 and 6-0-37-0 respectively.

Whilst the absolute destruction of the surroundings was taking place, Kuzza was having a “friendly” catch up with his best mate from last year; the contents of said discussion cannot be included in this match report for legal reasons.

In the need of the wicket the A’s turned to Slick Vick and Mike “The TT” Ward. Both bowlers received their fair share of tap however were both impactful with figures of 6-0-44-2 and 6-0-37-2 respectively. A note for the end of years award ceremony; Mike Ward was the only individual to not be hit for a 6. An achievement he was incredibly proud of and I believe should be recognised.

To counteract the drop from sidehats, Vik took a caught and bowled from Mehmood to end the onslaught; just 85 runs later. A superb diving catch from DKD also to note; whilst AJ was done by the “spinning, hard, round cricket ball” to add to the drops.

Kuzza, Chrissy and Ebay all bowled tidy overs towards the end of the innings to bring us to the tea break. Within which, Uncle K decided to run out his best mate from cover with a direct hit which sparked celebrations. Were people believing this could be done or was this false hope? LCS finished on a rather large 218 off their full 30 over allocation.

Everyone brought their own tea and tucked into a range of tasty snacks; whilst Kuzza opted for Chars leftover “ripe banana”.

The order was read out, Chrissy and Needs opening up, DKD following at number 3 and then Kuzza at #4. At this point I don’t think any knew what the next 26 overs had in store. Wardy got Chrissy M pumped up with a side line chat and then the boys went out. A quick shoutout here to The Pimp and Char for a solid umpiring session which went on for the duration of the innings. Im sure the likes of Ebay, AJ, Pichy, Vik will repay this by doing your next umpiring slot for you.

The opening bowlers for LBS were tidy in the first two overs with Needs and Sidehats taking it steady scoring singles and 2’s and putting the A’s at 12 for 0 off 2. At this point, there were discussions of how many runs we could get. With the average vote on the sideline around the 180 mark- could sidehats and Sanga prove us wrong??

Roll on the absolute carnage of sidehats and Needs. Chrissy’s sublime hitting over the next few overs, coupled with Needs perfectly executed on drive took the A’s to 43 for 0 off 7. There was suddenly belief in the cheap seats, and a fair bit of pad rash already starting for DKD. From here on the A’s showed LBS who the real cricketers were in town with Sidehats pummelling all bowlers to all areas of the ground; to the amusement of a very loud horse in the neighbours garden- Nic Hale what were you doing in Hertford?

With a continuous shout for a new ball after sidehats dispatched them into various gardens and roofs the A’s were becoming more confident. The LBS chirp had rightfully shut up as they were being shown how to execute one of the great run chases in history. LBS’s left arm around bowler was giving the A’s some trouble; not the batsman but the umpire- Charlie Munroe; potentially the most hated ACC player at that time by LBS. At the other end Greeno came onto bowl for LBS, however was clearly more keen for the pub and other illegal activities (with offerings to captain sidehats for his extreme hitting) after bowling long hop after long hop. One over was enough for Greeno; well bowled.

Needs moved onto 50 before piping one down deep backwards square legs throat. DKD was finally in the middle and hit a quick fire 24 whilst sidehats finally made it to that 100 mark. I am sure his biggest fan at the league (check out my UCS old boys match report for further details on this fan) will take extreme pleasure over this sensational knock. Char received further torment from all fielders after more agro with a little nibble from Char.

DKD gloved behind to bring in Kuzza (AKA the most hated man in league cricket according to their keeper) who, with Chris, sealed A’s massive win. Chasing down 218 in 26 overs; who needs paid players?

The A’s dealt LBS some of their own medicine and enjoyed watching all 11 of their team meltdown in the debrief. Although, not sure Greeno was present, assume he was already in the toilets getting pumped up for the pub visit.

The beehive was the choice of pub for the aftermath, with all 11 A’s players turning up in case a scrap was needed. I choose a seat by ACC heavyweight champion Mike Ward just in case punches were thrown. However, instead of punches, a mystery £5 for chips was handed to Chrissy; do we need to buy them chips at ACC? Deliveroo? Uber Eats?


Little Berkhamsted Sahibs Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7w 4b 5lb 
for 7 wickets
16
218 (30.0 overs)		     
Boyce ct  Knight b Ward 24
Mehmood ct  & b Chudasama 113
Barrell b  Chudasama 7
Awais lbw  Ward 0
Jaggers run out  (Barot) 31
Khan st  Pich b Chr. Munroe 14
Iqbal b  Chr. Munroe 0
Singh b  Chr. Munroe 11
Shahzad Not Out  0
Green  
Ahmad  

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Charlie Munroe6.005700.009.50
James Bazeley6.003700.006.17
Michael Ward6.0037218.506.17
Vikram Chudasama6.0044222.007.33
Karan Barot3.002200.007.33
Ubaid Khaliq1.00800.008.00
Chris Munroe2.002036.6710.00

Aldenham Cricket Club Aldenham Cricket Club Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 11w 5b 2lb 
for 2 wickets
19
220		        
Chris Munroe Not Out  126 82 14 7 153.66
Mark Needham ct  Barrell 50 52 4 1 96.15
Dan Knight ct  Jaggers 24 16 5 150.0 1
Karan Barot Not Out  1 1 100 1
Steve Pich   1
James Bazeley  
Andy Jackson  
Ubaid Khaliq  
Charlie Munroe  
Vikram Chudasama   1
Michael Ward  

Little Berkhamsted Sahibs Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shahzad5.003700.007.40
Singh4.003300.008.25
Bilal3.001900.006.33
Amir5.003400.006.80
Green1.001500.0015.00
Barrell4.0032132.008.00
Jaggers3.2043143.0012.90