Harpenden Dolphins C.C.

Scorecard

Reed III v Harpenden Dolphins C.C. on Sat 04 May 2013 at 1pm
Harpenden Dolphins C.C. Lost by 104 runs

Match report Dolphins Stranded in Reed Bed; Precocious Children Merrily Add to Suffering.

An unusually sunny day greeted Harpenden Dolphins for the opening league fixture of the season. Having ventured out to the extremities of the county to take on Reed III, a mixture of faces old and new took to the field after Skipper Roche lost the toss. A short boundary and two ‘staggeringly capable batsmen for a third eleven’ faced the Dolphins opening duo of Van Der Merwe and Lacey Jr, and promptly began to connect with the ball with timing and panache that belied the vernal greenery of the season. With runs coming at an effortless nine an over, despite the introduction of the normally economic Giovanni, the Reed 100 came up in the twelfth over and, with the exception of a couple of half chances which didn’t stick, it looked like an afternoon of heavy one way traffic lay ahead.
The break through did eventually come when Captain Tom took a simple caught and bowled to see off the larger framed Reed opener for a brutal and brisk 70, leaving the scoreboard on 121-1 inside the fourteenth over. The introduction of Jason Guest in his new guise as Overseas Off Spinner Extraordinaire helped to stem the flow of runs, and when he removed the other Reed opener LBW and the youthful number four came to the crease it looked as if the Dolphins might be able to take some control back. However, some pretty sloppy fielding combined with too many loose deliveries meant that the runs kept coming, and despite a brace from Giovanni the total briskly passed first the 200 and then the 250 mark. Riz Hamid came on and bowled a good line, but by this time the pernicious blade of the young Reed number four was in the full flow, and despite Van Der Merwe returning late on to pick up a couple of wickets there was little that could be done to reverse the damage, with Reed declaring early on 270-6.
After an excellent tea the Dolphins were lead out by contrasting styles of Guest and Lacey Senior. An explosive eight ball 22 from Guest got things off to a stunning start, and for the brief time it lasted the large Reed total looked vulnerable; however the young Reed attack persevered, bowling with excellent line and length and soon had the Dolphins reeling at 34-4. Perhaps with a trace of sympathy in his heart the Reed skipper briefly opened up the buffet with some fairly palatable pies on offer. Both James and Barrett began to find the boundary with relative frequency putting on 52 before a ghastly cross batted swipe saw James return to the pavilion for 27. Van Der Merwe came to the crease and started to strike the ball with confidence, and although victory was never in sight some well needed batting points were up for grabs. Sadly the wickets kept tumbling, with Barrett and van Der Merwe perishing for a tidy 35 and 32 respectively leaving the Dolphins adrift on 142-7. Riz Hamid came in and plundered a brisk 28 but all too soon the duo of Bolt and Lacey Jr were at the crease, facing the unlikely task of scoring 106 off the remaining 16 overs. With the excellent opener Walsingham returning to the attack it was soon all over, despite Bolt racing to season standard setting unbeaten 3. Dolphins finished 164 all out, somewhat chastened by a very capable Reed XI.

Reed III Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 16b  
for 6 wickets
18
270 (47.0 overs)
     
J Curtis lbw  J Guest 54
R Johnson ct  + B T Roche 70
I Fulk b  R Giovanni 23
R Lancasters Not Out  74
R Kingsholt ct  (R James) R Giovanni 16
R Liebenberg b  S Van Der Merwe 3
M Baker b  S Van Der Merwe 8
   
   
   
   

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Schalk Van Der Merwe11.0252226.004.73
Ollie Lacey2.001900.009.50
Ron Giovanni13.0271235.505.46
Tom Roche9.0236136.004.00
Jason Guest7.0130130.004.29
Rizwan Hamid5.004100.008.20

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1w 6b  
for 10 wickets
7
166
        
Mike Lacey ct  T Walsingham 3 30 10.0
Jason Guest ct  T Fynn 22 8 4 1 275.00
Tom Roche ct  T Fynn 0 9 0 1
Roland James b  M Naeem 27 49 5 55.10 1
Paul Bonney b  T Fynn 5 16 1 31.25
Graham Barrett ct  M Naeem 35 42 6 83.33
Schalk Van Der Merwe lbw  M Naeem 32 25 2 3 128.00
Rizwan Hamid ct  T Walsingham 28 15 6 186.67
Ron Giovanni ct  M Naeem 4 11 36.36
Neil Bolt Not Out  3 5 60.0
Ollie Lacey ct  T Walsingham 0 7 0

Reed III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
T Walsingham10.061434.671.40
T Fynn7.032839.334.00
R Fitzgerald6.003500.005.83
M Baker3.002000.006.67
M Naeem8.023849.504.75
R Liebenberg3.002400.008.00