Scorecard

Wheathampstead 2 v Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI on Sat 18 Jun 2022 at 1300
Pinner Cricket Club Won by 8 wickets

Match report Match report - Pinner 1s vs. Wheathampstead 2s at Wheathsampstead CC
Skipper Daniel Langan only just having relieved himself from his role as chief organiser of a boozy Pinner CC tour to the Isle of Wight, spent the morning biting his nails and checking the flight radar to track CE-Ro on his way back from Toronto. Daniel and three other tour party members, James Baker, Felix Hoh and I all arrived feeling like partially functioning alcoholics.
The 1s welcomed back the Hoh family’s favourite child, John Hoh and the planet’s second best friend after David Attenborough, Nicholas Lawrence who also had less than 12 hours rest following his carbon neutral holiday to Montenegro. Daniel chose to bowl on winning the toss, on a pitch that was left uncovered all through a light drizzle. Despite Dan's warnings to the opposition skipper about the weather forecast for rain around the 1pm scheduled start, the hosts seemed lackadaisical about getting the covers on. The drizzle relented soon enough and we got underway in the field with 10 men - Rohitesh yet to arrive from Heathrow after having overslept in business class. Felix, back from his duties as punisher of heinous crimes on tour, shared the new ball with Kunal Gandhi. Although they both started well Pinner didn’t find the ultra quick breakthroughs that we’ve got used to this season. Wheathampstead’s openers respected the bowling and the first four overs cost only 3 runs. Around this time, Rohitesh was dropped off by his Uber driver, becoming the first CEO to ever travel in a Prius. He was unhappy about Priti Patel’s lack of focus on fast track facilities at Heathrow - quite baffling this ‘issue’ isn’t prioritised. Back to the field and the host batters started to open their shoulders, reserving most of their aggression to attack Felix - 36-0 after 7 overs. In the 8th over, Kunal got us the first breakthrough forcing a big shot from their No.2. Nick Lawrence took a terrific ‘run & tumble’ catch at cover and even more impressively avoided the backwards retreating Daniel Langan. The very next ball, the hosts’ skipper was caught plumb in front and suddenly it was a different game. Felix made way for Salman 'allergic to cash payments' Moeeniddin after a short spell. Kunal removed the other opener in his next over and rattled through the rest of his spell ending with standout figures of 8-5-7-3. The runs had by now really dried up and the score had only moved to 66 in the 16th over when the next double breakthrough arrived - Sal and Nick sharing the spoils by rattling the stumps. Nick, who has had a surprisingly difficult start to the season, found better rhythm and picked up two more wickets to end with figures of 8-1-16-3, easily his best effort of the season so far. Dan (8-1-12-2) picked up two wickets during a tight spell that kept runs to a minimum. Refreshed after a week of playing online Solitaire in the Isle of Wight, Leeroy Rogers sent the final batter on his way, trapped in front by Sal. The batter was very upset with the call and walked off mumbling a mouthful of choice words (clearly he hasn’t been to a fines meeting) insisting that he had hit the ball, which he clearly hadn’t. Wheathampstead were all out for 121 leaving us in a strong position at the break.
The rain clouds were hovering and the team's decision was to stay ahead of the asking rate at all times. Manish ‘may I step out of my crease’ Babar, and Rohitesh Dhawan provided us with a solid start, Ro being more of the aggressor. Both batters gave nothing away and run by run built Pinners 1s’ first 50 run opening stand of the season. A win was starting to look like a foregone conclusion when Manish (20) was out caught off a leading edge at point with the score on 64. Three overs later, Ro’s (40) forward defensive shot trickled on to the stumps with just enough momentum to push over a single bail. 80-2. I joined James ‘potty mouth’ Baker, who was looking in fantastic touch. At 87-2 in the 24th over, rain arrived once again and Leeroy took the players off the field. Since Pinner was already well ahead of the required rate, the only downside of coming off was that the team were at the mercy of James’ nonsense for about half an hour. Play did resume eventually but James (18*) and I (9*) were able to put the game to bed chasing the adjusted target of 106 in just a further seven legal deliveries to give Pinner a commanding win.
The win keeps Pinner in third, ahead of a top-of-the-table clash vs. Aldenham at Montesole next week. Thanks to Leeroy for umpiring and Alan Kay for scoring and not spelling my name wrong on the scorecard for the second time in a week.
Dick of the day: Daniel Langan for harping on about how his batting average this week is the same as mine. One of us hasn't batted all week and the other hasn't been dismissed all week.
Player(s) of the match: A difficult game to pick a single contribution so I’ve decided to go with Kunal, Nick and Rohitesh as joint picks for sterling performances that saw us to a comfortable win.

Wheathampstead 2 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 11w 5b 9lb 
for 10 wickets
28
122 (38.3 overs)		     
Nad Abeysekara b  Ghandi 20
Akila Jayamanah ct  Lawrence b. Ghandi 12
Josh Danbury-Nolan lbw  Ghandi 0
Todd Noulahan b  Moeenidden 12
Steve Dorey b  Lawrence 6
Baba Ali b  Lawrence 10
Eamonn Keane b  Langan 7
Abid Khan ct  Ramachandran b. Lawrence 1
Tom Sarrau Not Out  21
Tyler Blackwood b  Langan 3
Steve Cresswell lbw  Moeenidden 2

Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Felix Hoh7.014300.006.14
Kunal Gandhi8.05732.330.87
Sal Moeeniddin7.3029214.503.87
Nick Lawrence8.011635.332.00
Daniel Langan8.011226.001.50

Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 11w 2b 2lb 
for 2 wickets
19
106		        
Manish Babbar ct  Dorey b. Blackwood 20 62 44 3 45.45
Rohitesh Dhawan b  Blackwood 40 86 72 7 55.56
James Baker Not Out  18 39 24 4 75.00
Hari Ramachandran Not Out  9 13 11 1 81.82 1
Raj Vernekar  
John Hoh  
Felix Hoh  
Nick Lawrence   1
Sal Moeeniddin  
Kunal Gandhi  
Daniel Langan  

Wheathampstead 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Sarrau2.001800.009.00
Abid Khan6.011400.002.33
Steve Cresswell8.032100.002.63
Josh Danbury-Nolan4.002000.005.00
Tyler Blackwood4.0021210.505.25
Nad Abeysekara0.40800.0012.00