Harpenden Cricket Club
2023 Weekly Update 15
Hat Trick Hero Garrett Keeps Harpenden in Title Contention
I think this is about the eighth weekend in a row where there has been rain. This week, at least, all games were finished, even if there were interruptions. It's been a mixed bag of results to be honest. Whilst the men's first team and our women's team continue to fly, both our seconds and thirds had a bad day at the office, and will be hoping for better fortune next weekend.
The 1st team were at home to North Mymms after last week's washout. The captain James Latham won the toss and chose to bowl with rain around (once again!). Will Latham and Chris Swanson bowled nicely up top taking early wickets nicely followed by Harry Seagrave and Arthur Garrett which restricted Mymms to 100-5 with 25 overs gone. A few good partnerships from the opposition allowed them to score reasonably freely to make a recover and in the end reach 243 off their 50 overs. Arthur Garrett ended on figures of 4-37 with three of those wickets being a Hat Trick! (editor’s note – not only is Arthur a serious cricketer, but he provides our first team reports too – well played sir)
In normal fashion, we went off quickly with both James Latham and Scott Galloway batting exceptionally well. We were 106-2 when the first batch of rain came, with only 15 balls more needed to be bowled to constitute a game (DLS). Luckily, we managed to get back on the pitch for an exactly 15 more balls before the heavens opened. Due to the quick start we were ahead of the Duckworth Lewis score therefore meaning another Harpenden win and we still only 5 points off the top of league!
(Picture: Dark clouds over the Common couldn't hamper Harpenden's title charge with just three games to go in the league season)
Our women’s team made the short trip to Redbourn Common for a local derby on Sunday.
We bowled well and dismissed them for 86, pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets apiece, were Izzy Bates & Willa Stanley. 2 great catches from Kelsey Toner & Sammy Renwick.
Hannah Stobbs & Millie Hitchen got us off to a solid start, with a 40 run opening stand, and after both perished, Kelsey Toner & Lucy Bell saw us home in the 11th over and to the top of the table with 2 big games to go.
The 2s travelled to Radlett and chose to bat after winning the toss. We thought runs on the board might put our hosts under pressure, but had counted on getting more than 55 of them. Dan Bradley top-scored with 11 in bowler-friendly conditions.
Aiming for a smidgeon of pride when we took to the field, we nearly got more than that, reducing Radlett into a panicky 23-5. Another wicket or two at the point would have made things really interesting, but some heavy blows ended our chances. We battled hard in the field, despite the apparent futility of our half-time position, with new ball bowlers Will Downes (2-21) and Jack Doyle (3-16) performing brilliantly as ever.
Special mention to Harry Cheney who did an admirable job scoring for us. The five points we secured in the game would’ve been lost but for him helping us out, which I think officially makes him man of the match.
The third team welcomed Stevenage 2s to The G and opted to bat on what looked like a good batting track. It soon become apparent that this wasn’t the case. The only innings of not was Michael Voigt with a belligerent 28. We struggled to 102 all out in 44 overs.
We could never put enough pressure on with the ball and ended up losing by 6 wickets. Harry Robinson again doing well with 3 for 20 from his 6 overs.
Another must win fixture saw Harpenden IV’s travel to Belmont school to face Totteridge Millhillians III. Some pre-match drizzle soon gave way to bright sunshine and with the toss won, we decided to bat first on what had been a covered strip. We started steadily but none of our top four really got going and at 81-5 we were struggling to reach what we thought would be a par score of 150 ish.
Fortunately, we then witnessed two great innings from Belal Hussain (40) and Krish Kalathil (42), full of sensible running and some colossal sixes! Special mention to Krish who was playing his first game in over a year. By the time we were all out on the last ball of the 40th over we had reached 166, which we were confident we could defend. With a well balanced opening bowling attack of Jo Gill and John Kerley we starved them of runs and JK (rolling back the years) dismissed their top 3 in his 8 overs for just 23 runs. This was followed by more tight lines from Messrs Hughes, Talbot and Belal, Talbot finally finishing with 4-34 and Belal 2-10 as we reduced our opponents to 122 all out.
Although points are still close in Div 8b, we have now moved up to 5th, but are not yet totally safe. We look forward to going again next week!
A tough day for the 5ths with the visit of Berkhamsted IIIs who are top of the table and undefeated this season. With a few rain showers expected and a couple just before the start of play, winning the toss Harpenden chose to field targeting early wickets.
Aryan R struck early pinning the opposition captain lbw early on, but batters 2-4 all struck half centuries and pushed Berko to a commanding 262-5. The bowlers all stuck at it and kept going despite some aggressive hitting and the fielding standards were high throughout with the rarity of 2 run outs both with direct hits seeing the end of 2 of their stronger batters.
In reply they struck in the first over and despite a solid stand of 35 for the second wicket and some powerful late order hitting by Toby S and Waj R we were all out for 97 in the 30th over.
While it was a heavy defeat, there were a number of positives with good performances from all of our youngsters, leg spinner George W generated prodigious turn and caused the batters problems, Aryan R bowled with pace and aggressive, Ben S troubled the batters with accuracy and movement and Lucy B ran out their best batter with a very smart grab and throw from cover.
Onwards to next week.
Our sixth team was away at St Margaretsbury 4s, and the best word to describe our game was frantic! An incredible coin toss win and we decided to bat. A quick scoring pitch saw us race along in both columns (runs and wickets), some fine shots followed up with less fine ones! Andy Elledge was top scorer with 26, and we were all out for 137.
They took their time and played sensibly, and although there were several close misses as more aggressive shots found the gaps. Sadly we also gifted them a few leg side boundary balls and they reached their target in 30 overs for the loss of only 2 wickets.
In summary, we should aim to knock some more singles and accumulate….and use all the overs, rather than just 30 of them! Back home next week after four away games on the bounce.
The Week Ahead:
Next weekend – Saturday 19th August
- First team away at Radlett
- Second home to Stevenage (12 noon)
- Third away at Northampton Exiles
- Fourth team home to Dunstable III (1pm)
- Fifth team away at Kimpton
- Sixth team home to North Mymms III (1pm)
And on Sunday 20th August
- Women’s team home to Luton (1pm)
And Finally
Claridge & Hall Bros Ltd, long term supporters of the Club, are currently offering all club members reductions on roofing & external decorating works for any orders placed by 1st September 2023.
https://www.claridgeandhall.com – Call them on 01582 840201 or email them at enquiries@claridgeandhall.com
- Senior Awards Evening after our final league games on Saturday September 2nd
- Junior Awards Day on Sunday September 3rd
Best wishes
David Josephs (Communications Director)