Harpenden Dolphins C.C.

Scorecard

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. v London Colney II on Sat 18 May 2013 at 1pm
Harpenden Dolphins C.C. Lost by 63 runs

Match report As I'm sure any member of the New Zealand test team would tell you it is important to realise that in a game of cricket a good fielding performance represents a job only half done - and sadly we learned that to our cost at Rothamstead on Saturday.

With plenty of cloud cover it was always going to be a day for the bowlers and the London Colney batsmen found the going tough against our opening pair of Riz and Ron, the former generating good pace from one end and the latter purveying his usual mix of cunning and accuracy from the other to keep the batsmen on their toes. As is often the way they didn't necessarily get their just results - instead Zippy came on and thanks to three excellent catches from Riz ended up with three wickets. Our fielding was good and Jason, Tom and Amit kept things tight in the latter overs but they managed to get to 138 for 9 and there was always a nagging feeling that any total over 100 wasn't going to be as routine as it might sound to overhaul in the conditions. Credit to their No 3, who didn't have many shots but stuck around for a patient 45 which held their innings together and turned out to be the top score of the match.

We were in good spirits as we partook of an excellent emergency tea, provided at quite literally no notice in miraculous fashion by the Bonney family (for whom feeding is clearly a speciality as the ample girth displayed by young Paul on our website home page illustrates). This was the spirit of the blitz and Dunkirk shining through as loaves and fish were combined in a miracle of near biblical proportions into tuna sandwiches and the masses were fed.

Then it was our turn to bat and the opposition unveiled their secret weapon in the form of a young Mr Vanarkadi who produced an excellent spell of fast, full, skiddy out-swingers that left him with figures of 12 overs, one maiden, 7 (yes, seven) for 21 and us in what can only be termed disarray. Two members of the team will have to arm-wrestle for the yellow cap next week after golden ducks and only Jason, who produced his customary fireworks, really troubled the scorer with 35 before the opposition belatedly realised that skyers should be caught, rather than discussed heatedly as they tumble to earth.

So what can we take from this (apart from marvelling at the miracle of tea)? We were undone by a good bowler who bowled an excellent spell in helpful conditions, and our loss of early wickets meant we never put their bowling or fielding under any pressure. At least some of us (yours truly very much included) should probably try to take a leaf from their number 3 who stuck around and ground out what turned out to be a match-winning score.

Onwards and upwards!

London Colney II Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
16lb 
for 9 wickets
16
138 (53.0 overs)		     
J Gibbons ct  (G Barrett) R Giovanni 11
R Blackman ct  (R Hamid) G Downes 25
T Ray st  (R James) A Mathur 45
A Stuart ct  (R Hamid) G Downes 8
T Blackman ct  (R Hamid) G Downes 4
T Shennan b  J Guest 0
A Seron ct  (R James) J Guest 18
K Laurence b  A Mathur 6
S Rouse run out  (P Bonney) 5
J Ray Not Out  0
M Gadara Not Out  0

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ron Giovanni14.0521121.001.50
Rizwan Hamid12.023200.002.67
Graham Downes5.002638.675.20
Jason Guest8.0024212.003.00
Tom Roche9.041700.001.89
Amit Mathur5.00824.001.60

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
6
75		        
Roland James b  S Varnarkadi 4 8 1 50.0 1 1
Jason Guest ct  S Varnarkadi 34 30 4 2 113.33
Tom Roche b  S Varnarkadi 0 1 0
Graham Barrett b  S Varnarkadi 1 13 7.69 1
Paul Bonney ct  R Blackman 7 29 24.14 1
Duncan Lewis ct  R Blackman 6 17 1 35.29
Amit Mathur lbw  S Varnarkadi 9 15 1 60.0
Rizwan Hamid ct  S Varnarkadi 3 2 150.0 3
Ron Giovanni Not Out  5 15 33.33
Chris Lang b  S Varnarkadi 0 4 0
Graham Downes ct  S Varnarkadi 0 1 0

London Colney II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
S Varnarkadi11.322182.631.83
M Gedara5.022800.005.60
R Blackman6.011929.503.17