RNVR Cricket Club

Scorecard

St Albans CC v RNVR Cricket Club on Sun 21 Aug 2022 at 1pm
RNVR Cricket Club Lost by 35 runs

Match report Match Manager and skipper for the Reza Maroof struggled to get a side out due to holidays and very close to being called off, so thanks to all those who made themselves available and special thanks for Walshie -St Albans CC who fortunate to benefit from extremely tight bowling from RNVR bowlers and excelled in taking 4 wickets for 3 runs. Reza lost the toss and St Albans skipper Rory Law decided to bat first on what looked like a nice batting strip and expecting loads of runs. Vinay opened up the RNVR bowling and immediately took their opener who scored a century a couple off years ago, with an unplayable in-swinger which moved off the seam as well, totally bamboozled. Dav at the other end also miserly from the other was unlucky not to get wickets as bowled a tight line outside off and left St Albans with 32 off the first 10 overs. Once Dav finished his 7 over for 26, Will joined Vinay for the next 10 overs with the total being 66 after 20, still a very tight line outside off, which enable to move fielders across to the offside only 2 remaining onside. Once Vinay finished with 10 straight overs for 1 for 30 , Gordon carried on with similar line and very tight bowling finishing with 8 overs 35 runs and 1 wicket. Will finished his marathon spell of 12 overs 3 wickets for 46 runs latter overs being slightly expensive as he began to tire, so skippers fault apologies ! As mentioned earlier, Walsh from St Alban bowled accurately and benefited from previous tight bowling effort when his own team mates in opposition had to put runs on the board and who better than their own, but Walshie didn't buckle and took no prisoners and St Albans were all out for 150 off 42 overs - a very good effort considering it look like a batsman's paradise.
After teas, RNVR opened with Reza and Tim and soon Tim was back being bowled in the 3rd over, Reza back in the hutch soon after in 6th over for 18. RNVR were 46 for 2 after 10 overs, with Charlie and Fergie steadying the ship until a change of bowling brought MoM Pelham to remove Charlie for 15 LBW. Bertie and Fergie steadily moved the RNVR total to 81 for 3 off 20 overs with sum glorious cover drives by Fergie who looked impressive against his own St Albans side. 4 quick wickets falling mainly to Pelham and RNVR were 94 for 7 off 25 over his slow spin casting a spell. Only rearguard action from our bowling hero Will who came in, complained he could not see any balls scored 4 fours to end up with 19, sadly falling to a deep boundary catch and we were sadly bowled out for 115, a game which we thought was a relatively easy target considering the amazing bowling and field effort. No catches dropped.

Some kind words from the opposition:

Sunday 2XI (150) won by 35 runs against RNVR CC (115) – Friendly Notable Performances – George Pelham (5-18), Peter Melling (49)

On arrival to CP (the skipper late to his own meet time thanks to finding out someone mysteriously spent over £100 pounds on his card in town last night), the Sunday 2nd XI made their thoughts on the toss clear, letting it be known in no uncertain terms that batting first was essential on such a good wicket. There was a bit of green but it seemed true, win toss, bat first. We were playing a declaration game, with no over limit for bowlers and playing 90 overs in the day, with the possibility for a draw if the team batting second weren’t bowled out (much to the delight of Pelham, who boldly declared that he should bowl all the overs from the top end, with the rest of the bowlers rotating around his spell).

Tarrant deemed himself confident enough to open, and joined Manny at the crease. Both opening bowlers found a lot of swing in the early overs, and Manny was dismissed early with an excellent in-swinger. Melling joined Tarrant and both scored fairly fluently, finding gaps nicely with no silly shots played. There were plenty of singles out there, and they found them well. Tarrant was dismissed for a very commendable 23 on quite a low pitch. Rayden scored 10 before a somewhat comical dismissal, hitting a full toss from the medium pace bowler straight up in the air. On realising the ante needed to be upped, Law came in and did not die wondering, hitting the change bowler over his head for four before trying to repeat the shot, outfoxed by a slower ball.

Dulon Ahmed seemed to have decided that he was Liam Livingstone, and came in with some of frankly enormous heaves, connecting with 3 before missing another. Among all the carnage of the wickets that followed, Melling stood tall (yes, I am talking about Peter not Andrew here), sticking in while others attacked around him. He wasn’t at his fluent best, but his knock was incredibly important in the context of the game. After being “bowled” on 49, he was called back in given doubts that it was the ball that knocked the bails off, with the opposition skipper gracefully admitting that it could have been his gloves. Surely he hits 50 this time. Alas, Melling chipped the next ball straight to mid- off, spectacularly avoiding a jug on two occasions. We ended up somewhat limping to 150 thanks to a flurry of wickets from opposition bowler Walsh, who gave Andy Melling a send-off on dismissal and ended up taking 4/3 (who made the decision to take him out of our team...), and at tea felt like we were around 25 runs short.

On reflection, the fact that we scored just 12 boundaries made it clear that it wasn’t too easy. Other innings highlights were Sud stumped after the ball ricocheted off the keeper’s pads into the stumps, Law trying to recreate his shot from the weekend before only to miss the ball by an incredible distance and the shot of the day from Tarrant, punching it through the off-side.

After some kebab rolls (and some shandies), the Sunday 2s took to the field anticipating a close chase, with opening bat and skipper well touted as a very good bat and the whole team badgering the skipper to bring them on when Ciaran Walsh was batting.

Sud took the new ball, immediately finding shape in his first over, and soon bowled the opening bat, a perfect setup with 5 balls over the wicket, then coming round and beating him with the change of angle. After a wayward first over, Killner found his lengths well, swinging it in to dismiss their gun bat LBW, a very good ball that highlighted a spell of good control. Sud dismissed the number 3, attempting a booming drive off a wide ball, but Law flew in the slips to take it, likely saving some of Andy Melling’s facial features in the process (maybe the slips were a bit too far forward, but one can never make a catch look too difficult..).

After an excellent start, tails were up and Sri Harshith Yendapally was introduced. Despite not taking a wicket, Sri bowled with excellent control, giving almost nothing away and finding some shape, a spell that impressed skipper and opposition alike (as well as showing great maturity in knowing where to put his fielders). At this point, Fergie was at the crease looking ominous, playing some very good drives (including what was definitely the shot of the day over both innings), so the dice was rolled. George Pelham came into the attack, looking to exploit the famous CP dustbowl. He took a wicket with his first ball (a long hop keeping low and hitting the batter’s back pad), and told the skipper to bring all the fielders up (“let them try to hit me over the top if they can”). Effectively, they couldn’t, and Pelham tossed it up well, finding turn and flight, regularly beating the bat, taking an extremely commendable 5 wicket haul. He grew into his spell well, challenging the front foot well on a slow pitch, and had a field set to choke the easy single, and bowled well to it, keeping tight lines.

Andy Melling came on at the other end, admitting that he “doesn’t have a clue where it’s going”. Regardless, he took two wickets, including the dangerous

number 10 caught well by Sud. Walsh was given somewhat of a guard of honour when he came into bat (confusing given his obvious attempts to sabotage the Saints in the first innings), and the skipper immediately put 3 square legs in, with a leg gully and two fielders on the off-side (aware that Walsh only has one shot). After missing 4 by a considerable margin, Pelham bowled him, wrapping up his 5fer in the process. An excellent win for the Saints, with skipper and Pelham both getting jugs in.

The second innings was definitely the highlights, and honourable mentions go to Tom Rayden for keeping excellently as usual, Andrew Melling’s feet (which did a surprising amount of fielding, notably one ball popping up on the foot causing him some discomfort...), Pete Melling being gun in the covers and Rayden pestering the skipper to bowl him in every over of the game (apparently, he has the best googly in the club).

Everyone contributed well, and the opposition gifted a jug afterwards as a late tribute to their 75th anniversary. We all sat around the table afterwards and had a beer together, Saints and opposition, and they were a credit to the game. We all look forward to welcoming them back next year.

St Albans CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 9w 9b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
27
150 (4.2 overs)		     
N Nisar b  Vinay Kumar 1
Z Tarrant b  William Buckland 23
P Melling ct  Shipley 49
T Rayden ct  Gordon Kennedy 10
R Law ct  William Buckland 20
D Ahmed ct  William Buckland 12
A Melling b  Walsh 4
S Yendapally st  Walsh 1
S Suryavanashi st  Walsh 0
G Pelham Not Out  0
F Killner b  Walsh 1

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Vinay Kumar10.0030130.003.00
Davinder Ranu7.012600.003.71
William Buckland12.0246315.333.83
Gordon Kennedy8.0035135.004.38
A.N. Other3.10340.750.95
Brian Shipley2.01212.001.00

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 7w 6b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
18
115		        
Reza Maroof lbw  Killner 18
Tim Hardman b  S Suryavanshi 0
Brian Shipley ct  S Suryavanshi 1
Charlie Crichton lbw  G Pelham 15
Steve Ferguson lbw  G Pelham 23
Bertie Miskin b  A Melling 9
Vinay Kumar lbw  G Pelham 6
Gordon Kennedy ct  G Pelham 0
William Buckland ct  A Melling 19
Davinder Ranu Not Out  5
A.N. Other b  G Pelham 0

St Albans CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
S Suryavanshi5.0023211.504.60
F Killner6.0128128.004.67
S Yendapally6.021500.002.50
G Pelham9.021853.602.00
A Melling4.0025212.506.25