Scorecard

Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v St Albans 4 on Sat 01 Jul 2023 at 1300
Pinner Cricket Club Won by 38 runs

Match report Intro:
Another dreary and overcast morning (much worse than last week), the Seconds were finally playing back on home territory. We hoped we would be returning to the usual road that we are used to playing on at Montesole but the council had other ideas. My journey this morning was disrupted by a quick trip to Tesco as our captain extraordinaire, leading wicket taker, handsome and all-round swell guy (please don’t drop me) had asked me to buy him some orange juice, being the team player I am, I had inconvenienced myself and set off a bit early just to complete this task. I imagine you can picture my disgust as he walked out of the bar with a big glass of OJ just minutes after we had arrived at the club. The bottle is still sealed and sitting with me as I write this.

Everyone had arrived in a timely manner for once and we had our usual pre-game net and then rolled the covers off to uncover Saturday’s ‘playing surface’. On seeing the dry and cracking condition of the neighbouring pitches, our hopes were high, but our faces quickly dropped when we saw what was waiting for us. The pitch was nicely divided up into three different grassy sections, leaving two corridors of uncertainty (thank you @NIK for this description) on either side of the strip. There was also a distinct moistness about the pitch screamed bowl first.

Rachit and the captains (have I mentioned how swell our captain is btw?) set off to toss up and from the quick drop of the shoulders from @SIMRAN, we knew we were going into bat first. Any chance of buying some trick coins and getting Rachit some sleight of hands lessons @ROB? Just before we get into the details, I want to apologise to anyone if I get any figures wrong today, it seems our dear scorer, @CHIVAN, has gone on strike and has used even worse colours in the book this week. Please have a look at St Albans’ batter no.4 and @JAMIE’s bowling figures, in case you were wondering, the batter was out caught by @KUNAL/daddy and bowled by Jamie, being dismissed for 0 off 4 balls.


BATTING:

We had a new look opening partnership today with @KAVIT, making his Second team debut, and the ever-present @ALAN. The pair strode out as the senior opening player, Alan put Kavit in to face the first ball. On a very dodgy pitch, the first ball rose up and caught Kavit on the glove and two balls later, he chipped one up to midwicket, trying to glance a sticking ball down to fine leg. Top start with a one’s player trying to begin our usual collapse in the first over. Unfortunately, if he had read the pitch like our other one’s player today, Jamie, and scooped the ball instead, a very easy 50 could have been there for him. In came a bemused Nik, who was playing on a pitch that is quite dissimilar to the astro pitches he is used to back home in New Zealand. Nevertheless, in he went and got off the mark with a four on his third ball (unlike Kavit). The pair refused to let Kavit’s collapse attempt hinder them and steadied the once again rocking ship, batting sensibly until our next wicket fell in the 12th over, when Alan picked out midwicket on a ball so slow and short that not even @SACHIN could have bowled it. He was sent back for 8 runs and only having 2 scoring shots off 35 balls. At this point the rate was not ideal, as we were only on 31, going even slower than usual with our new look top 3. We knew that we needed to push on as the sun was threatening to come out and give St Albans a decent batting track. Next in was our hero from last week and late call @OMKAR. Fresh from his 3am shift from the airport and his nap during the first 12 overs, I think groggy was a good way to describe him. It took him 7 balls to properly wake up before he hit the next two to the boundary, continuing his fine form from last week. The pair got a move on from here and put on a great 66 partnership hitting boundaries left, right and centre. This included an over/spell from their captain where he came on for a singular over and was smashed around by a rampant Omkar, collecting 18 off the over, including a lovely flat 6, which would have taken AK’s head off if he was scoring. Nik was also doing his best superman impression with his tiny cape soaring through the wind behind him as he kept up with the pace with his quick running between the wickets. Unfortunately, Omkar spooned one up to mid off and was sent packing for 42. @NEEL, coming back from his one-week hiatus, came in next and picked up where I had left off against Great Gaddesden a couple weeks ago, after he dusted off the cobwebs. He made a quick 20 including some clean lofted drives over the bowlers head, before he was caught behind to a ball that he apparently didn’t hit. However, the highlight of his innings was his selfish antics when he was hogging strike from a well-in Nik. Nik had very selflessly dropped a quick single on the 5th ball of the over, giving Neel a ball to have a swing at, instead of this, he returned the favour and dropped a ball, that should have been hit for 12, down to point and insisted on a quick single. Once Nik, who had a very sensible innings (a rare sight in the Seconds), was finally able to get back on strike, brought up his maiden 50 with a beautiful slog sweep that cleared the long boundary for a huge 6. It’s worth noting that Nick was giving Simran lip for beginning to film Nik on 44. @NICK also umpired for a record time of just 2 overs as was quickly hooked after fear he might trigger another one of our batters. Jamie went in to replace club sponsor Neel and went in to practise his range hitting, unfortunately, they quickly sussed his plan out and dropped everyone back meaning he could only score 22, with only one boundary being hit. Nik was castled shortly after Jamie came to the crease, ending a superb innings on 59 (59 times more than @JAMES as I have been told by a certain super skipper). With 5 overs to go, in I came to try and push us towards the 200 run mark, this didn’t go exactly to plan as I did my best Chiv impression and called ‘yes, no’ meaning Jamie was stranded halfway down the track with the bowler with ball in his hand. Seeing this, I thought that this might have been my fault and darted down the track to make sure I sent myself back rather than Jamie, but the bowler had missed the stumps from about 2 metres out and I got back for the double. By this point in the innings, we were running everything in doubles, with the sun now out, it was getting pretty hot. After I had been caught out at long on for 4, Jamie requested his cap to be brought out on a number of occasions, but being u21 he was shut down by daddy (not Kunal) and Simran. Nick was in next and joined Jamie in running doubles on almost every ball, leaving them both as red as Fongy’s trousers after shining the ball all day in the field (this is known as foreshadowing, but it won’t actually be mentioned later). Jamie was soon caught and bowled after he had forgotten to follow through with his shot and fired it back at the bowler. In went Kunal/daddy to face the last 4 balls of the innings, oh wait, sorry, supreme chancellor had overruled and put himself in to go and be a hero. Shock!!! He got off the mark with a quick double and keeping the strike for himself, rather than giving it to NICK LAWRENCE. The second ball was a very ugly swing and miss, he then came to his senses and took a single on the penultimate ball to give Nick the last ball of the innings, who hit another double to bring our total to a very respectable 200 – our highest total of the season (mainly because we are a chasing team and no one can post these kinds of numbers against us). Nick ended up on 9, not out and Simran on 3, not out. This was hugely helped by our sensible batting, from our 2s players, allowing our mid order to come in and tee off to push the total. Some key points from our time in the hut that need to be mentioned are: Rachit asking Chiv how many balls left in the over, Chiv gave him the wrong number. Kunal/daddy thinking that PCC is very tight and asking if other clubs had match fees for the players. Jamie referring to me as the Aldi @JACK as I had been asked to put my pads on from the start as I was due to go in at no.5 had Kavit stayed in (thanks for that bud) and was then asked to step aside for Jamie to go in and hit big, leaving me at no.7 for the day. If I am the Aldi Jack Tucker, does that make me the Poundland Nick Lawrence, if so, I don’t mind it at all. Anyway, a solid 200 on the board, we came in for lunch, very happy with our work given the torrid batting conditions.










BOWLING:

As the sun had been out for the last few overs of our innings and over lunch, the pitch was now more what we have become accustomed to at Montesole. Back bowling on home turf, our supreme leader took the new ball and elected to bowl from the top end. With a new look, more aggressive field (no midwicket and a gully in), Simran managed to finally keep the first over to just 6 balls! We’ll gloss over the full toss that was hit for 4 as he didn’t give away an extra! This new field did not last long as Simran didn’t get the memo of not bowling short half trackers on the legs when there is no midwicket in! 4 runs! Nick was given the job of opening from the other end and did so very tidily and kept his opening spell to just 6-1-14-0. He was very unlucky not to get a wicket as there were two inside edges that, one going for a four and the other cannoning into Kunal/daddy’s ankles. Simran got the breakthrough on his first ball after drinks after the batter edged one and Kunal/daddy took it with ease, funny who he’s willing to take catches for (I don’t think he wants to bat at 10 next week). You might find yourself thinking ‘why is Simran bowling after drinks?’ Or ‘why has it taken them so long to get a wicket’. WELL! The first drinks break actually took place after 6 overs as clearly the heat had taken to the batters as they requested water to be brought on. Of course, this resulted in a lot of sledging directed at this bat, who ended up on a decent 103, leading their one-man chase. Simran ended his opening spell with 6-0-26-1 after Neel had done a pretty poor impression of Simran’s failed fielding last week when he made a genuinely good effort to stop a ball that was racing to the boundary but was unable to flick it back successfully. Simran then turned to Rob and asked if this is how he felt last week, as to which he just got an abrupt yes. Simran saw this poor attempt and decided to show Neel how it was done, although it was not as bad as last week, it was still a pretty tragic thing to watch. After 6 overs each, our first change bowlers of Jamie and Rob came on who both bowled to a pretty high standard. Jamie’s first spell saw him keep great figures of 6-1-9-1, keeping a consistent line and length, swinging the ball away from the bat, he was causing the batters all sorts of issues. He finally caught the batter’s outside edge in his third over where a thick edge was taken behind extraordinarily by the big daddy. Once again Rob bowled well *yawn*. Please see last weeks report for more details. He did, however, triple his wicket tally this week during his eight over spell giving him remarkable figures of 8-1-24-3. His first wicket came about in his second over where he bowled a flatter ball and beat the no.3 bats and knocked the bails off. His next few overs consisted of low scoring and both batters going back to everything, this was to mine and Simran’s delight where we spent then next 22 deliveries heckling the batters, pleading them to go forwards for their own good. Finally, they caved in, came slightly forward to a ball and Rob bowled him round his legs, I think we can share that wicket between the three of us, I believe this takes Simran’s wicket total to 12.3 now? The new bat came in and was sent back straight away after he chipped one back up to a backpedalling Rob who called early, very much to Kavit’s relief. ‘There was no way I was letting anyone drop that off my bowling’. Rob, now on a hattrick, kept the field the same and was confident in beating the bat. Naturally, we were worried about him getting hit for 4 through midwicket given our other hattrick opportunity this year. However, the batter stood strong and inside edged it along the floor, keeping Rob at just 3 wickets. After Jamie’s first spell, he was replaced by his fellow one’s player, Kavit, who was enjoying playing for a captain that let him bat and bowl. His first over started well, going for just 2 runs, but he soon should he would have no problem fitting in with the 2s as he produced an 8 ball over for the next. I would love to sit here and say Kavit bowled consistently but I unfortunately cannot as he cycled through his variations every other ball, extremely ironic given his advice to Jamie of keeping it the same and not changing a thing, making sure he ignores Alan’s calls of ‘make him sniff it’. From the other end, Nick was finally given a second spell where he was, and I quote from our supportive skipper, ‘pumped’. Despite this, he managed to pick up a runout from a combined effort of himself, Jamie and Kunal. Jamie pinged it in from deep cover and picked out the hole in Kunal/daddy’s glove, the batters took this opportunity and tried to take a quick single, however, Kunal/daddy quickly pirouetted and dashed the ball into Nick who took the bails off, somehow, we weren’t done for false fielding here. His first ball back was also his standard head high no-ball which beat Kunal/daddy, giving him his 5th bye of the day, costing him a £16 jug. He finished his bowling day on 8-0-32-0. The runout meant batter no.8 came to the crease, the beginning of the tail, so you know what this means. The dictator quickly removed Kavit from the bowling attack and brought himself back on, unfortunately, with his two favourite wicket types standing at the crease (opener and tail ender), he was still unable to add to his earlier wicket and ended his day on 8-0-40-1. Neel was brought on to replace Nick and just like his predecessor, he began his spell with a no-ball, by pitching it rather short and letting it bounce 4 times before reaching the gloves of an unimpressed Kunal/daddy. He soon bucked his ideas up and took a wicket on his fourth ball after solely appealing for an LBW which hit the 15-year-old bats-child on his thigh, Rachit reluctantly raised his finger to save Neel’s blushes. His justification for this was that he was 4 foot nothing, despite him being taller than Neel. On the topic of Neel’s height, he also managed to record the only other drop today when he got a hand to a ball that was firmly driven over his head on his last delivery, perhaps if he was an inch or two taller, he could have held it, who knows? Anyway, another tidy spell from Neel left him with figures of 8-0-17-1. Jamie also came back on to finish his eight overs and after more tidy bowling, he ended his day on 8-1-21-1 (as stated before, you cannot see this in the scorebook). Our final wicket of the day came when their number 1 bat was finally dismissed by a wicket-seeking Kavit as the ball was chipped up to none other than our skipper, standing at extra cover, who had taken me out of there just a few balls before, meaning for the 20th time this season, a catch had gone there whilst I was not there – sorry to any of my faithful fantasy lot but please send your complaints to simran.walia@me.com. Anyway, as the ball looped through the air, cries could be heard of ‘SIM, PLEASE! PLEASE SIM!’ from a gagging Kavit, who was relieved and as shocked as the rest of us as the ball nestled safely in our ever-trustworthy skipper’s hands. This left Kavit with more wickets than runs! 4-0-23-1. This capped off a brilliant day in the field, we were very as a whole, very tight in the field which was led by Nik’s usual high intensity in the field and Nick’s Aaron Ramsdale-esque performance at mid-off where he got down quickly and saved multiple powerful strokes destined for the boundary – a certain Jack Tucker would never be able to do this as he would still be sitting in the hut with his pads on in the Isle of Wight. Sandwiched between the two Nick’s, I was also inspired to stop a few boundaries. Backed up by solid fielding, including successful dives and clean pick ups from Simran and Alan, we saved around 30-40 crucial runs in the field, which turned out to be crucial as we kept them down to 162 after their 40 overs, with them batting on a more favourable track. However, it would not be a second team performance without a sprinkle of fielding calamities. Along with the before mentioned attempted dives, we also have Omkar diving over the ball at gully after being warned the ball before about the ball coming to him, then proceeding to fake a hamstring injury. We also had superstar one’s fielder, Jamie, show us the high fielding standards of the ones by going to dive for a ball rolling to the boundary at less than 5mph and then completely missing it due to a ‘bobble’… there would never be any such thing at Montesole! He also did have time to get up and retrieve the ball, but he had already hung his head in shame and let the ball treacle over the line for 4.

Overall, another very positive day out, overcoming the odds and posting a great score after a sensible batting performance, great spirits, high intensity, backing up and great hands in the field. Unfortunately, just on week 2 of our new segment of ‘Did our skipped drop a catch today?’ The answer was no, as described above. Another big thank you to Chiv for scoring and Rachit for umpiring for us once again. A final thanks to Alan for stepping in for usual regular duck giver and providing Kavit with a rubber duck during our post-match brief. Until next week where we will go get another 30!

Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
24nb 1w 7b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
34
200		        
Kavit Dixit b A. Dean 0
Alan Carter ct T. Winfield 8
Nik Fong b P. Khatavkan 59
Omkar Xetenarvencar ct P. Khatavkan 42
Neel Panchal ct N. Arit 20
Jamie Carter ct A. Dean 22
Sam Davies ct N. Arit 4
Nick Lawrence Not Out  9
Simran Walia Not Out  5 1
Kunal Choksi   2
Rob Bonneywell   1

St Albans 4 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A. Dean8.0237218.504.62
T. Winfield7.0315115.002.14
T. Banks5.012900.005.80
S. Suryawanshi8.002600.003.25
A. Sanders1.001800.0018.00
P. Khatavkan8.0150225.006.25
N. Arit3.0023211.507.67

St Albans 4 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 5w 5b 1lb 
for 8 wickets
14
162 (40.0 overs)		     
A. Dean ct K. Dixit 103
M. Nisar ct S. Walia 4
N. Khan b R. Bonneywell 8
N. Thomas ct J. Carter 1
P. Deshpande b R. Bonneywell 6
S. Suryavanshi ct R. Bonnewell 0
P. Khatavkar Run out  9
T. Banks lbw N. Panchal 11
T. Winfield Not Out  8
N. Arit Not Out  0
A. Saunders  

Pinner Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Simran Walia8.0040140.005.00
Nick Lawrence8.013200.004.00
Jamie Carter8.0121121.002.63
Rob Bonneywell8.012438.003.00
Kavit Dixit4.0023123.005.75
Neel Panchal4.0017117.004.25