Hertfordshire on Sunday League Match Reports

RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 83 runs

Stevenage lost the toss and were made to field first. Mark Sinclair opened the bowling for Stevenage and took 3 quick wickets with Kevin (The Pigeon) Jones providing good support bowling uphill and into the wind at the other end. However, with Letchworth in all sorts of trouble Stevenage's two U13s were brought on for a combined 6 over spell from Sinclair's end. Although both Chris Whitworth and Scott Davies acquitted themselves well Letchworth's numbers 4 and 5 made the most of what was on offer and shared a partnership of about 100, both making 50s. John Mould and Albert Sodhi bowled reasonably economically at the other end during this period but the Letchworth batsmen had got themselves in on a decent pitch and proved difficult to remove. It took the return of Sinclair and his remaining 6 overs to dismiss both batsmen and resulted in the impressive figures of 12 overs 3 maidens, 5 wickets for 37 runs. One of the wickets falling to a stunning diving, one handed, catch by Gary Brown at first slip. With the lower order exposed David Carr came into the attack and took the last four wickets in the space of 3 overs and 5 balls to restrict the Letchworth total to 179 all out.

Stevenage's reply never got off the ground, with only Carr's innings of 49 and Sinclair's 12 not out reaching double figures.

Man of the Match - David Carr

RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 17 runs

Information on this one is very limited, so its simply a case of just the facts. Cricketers 137 - 8 in 45 Overs beat Stevenage 120 all out in 44 Overs. The Stevenage side, ravaged by previous days injuries, failed to chase an average home side total.

(Man of the Match - Barry Turner

RESULT - Match Tied

An incredible match that was full of incident from the start, ended with the scores absolutely level, both sides reaching 197 for 8 from their 45 overs. The match began in controversy as WGC tried to con Stevenage's Captain Barry Turner into letting them play 12 men, with one sitting out of the fielding but batting and another fielding but not batting. Had the 2 players involved been Colts that WGC were wanting to get a game Turner would have obliged, but it happened to be Ben Frazer, a Hertfordshire County player who had just the day before scored a league 100. So Turner quite rightly took the view that they WGC were trying it on and refused the rather cheeky request.
Stevenage batted first and it was perhaps this pre-game disagreement, albeit an amicable one that was the reason for a heated first 10 over session, which resulted in some interesting verbal jousting (read between the lines) between just about the entire WGC team and opening batsman Russell Hann. The catalyst was Hann, who quite within his rights, was waiting for movement behind the bowlers arm to stop before taking guard to the 5th over of the game. Despite the distraction, Hann and David Carr made a decent start and while Hann departed in the 20s, Carr made a brisk 64 before falling with the score in the 90s. The middle and lower order all chipped in with Graeme Duff striking the ball particularly cleanly and by the close of the innings the tension in the middle had dissipated.

Stevenage's defence of their score was characterised by contrasting spells of bowling. Rajeev Rajacopal was the outstanding bowler completing a 12 over spell of the reel picking up 2 wickets for just 26 runs and tidy 9 over spells were also recorded by Mark Sinclair and Kevin Fisher, however, Joel Hippolyte and Adil Zagar had what could most kindly be described as Jeckyl and Hyde spells. Hippolyte bowled 3 overs of off-spinners as he tried to protect a sore arm but went the distance with WGC's 1st XI Saturday captain Tony Skeggs being particularly brutal, before returning at the end to bowl an excellent spell of seamers. Zagar on the otherhand seemed to be undergoing some kind of schizophernia from one over to the next. In one over in his first spell he was hit to all parts of the ground, but in his next over he took the highest quality caught and bowled to dismiss Skeggs and give Stevenage a glimmer of hope. The caught and bowled was arguably the best caught and bowled that anyone present at the ground is likely to see, as diving forward and in the opposite direction to his follow through he scoped up a straight drive literally inches from the ground. With Stevenage probably one bowler light, Zagar was entrusted to bowl two of the last 3 overs. The first of his two overs went for somewhere in the region of 15, including a number of wides and boundaries as it looked as if the pressure was getting too much for the Doctor from the Lister. However, his next over and the last of the match was the complete opposite. With 6 runs needed to win, Turner set the majority of his fielders back just far enough to prevent a boundary and save two and the first 3 deliveries only yielded singles and the fourth a slightly streaky 2 to leave the scores levels and 2 balls remaining. The field came in to save the single and Zagar held his nerve, rapping WGC's Bridgewater on the pad with one delivery and knocking back his off-stump with the final ball of the game to leave the scores identical and honours even.

(Men of the Match - Dr Zargar and Dr Rajacopal. Which just goes to show that the NHS isn't all bad)

RESULT - Stevenage lost by 37 runs

A valiant 10 man Stevenage side made a much stronger St Albans side work suprisingly hard for a victory. St Albans won the toss and elected to bat first despite a request from the Stevenage captain to allow his weakened side, because of two late drop outs to bat first in anticipation of a rather swift conclusion. But even the explanation of one of the players that dropped out being taken to hospital over night cut no ice with the St Albans side. Nevertheless the Stevenage bowlers slowly but surely dismissed St Albans never ending supply of antipodian batting, with good spells from Sinclair (8/0/25/1), Roberts (9/0/30/1), Bayes (9/1/41/1) the wicket taken that of St Albans new 1st XI skipper for 15 and Gary Brown (7/0/42/1). However, the exceptional spell was that bowled by Adil Zargar who completed 12/4/38/2 and was pretty much unplayable for large periods of the match and who had the pleasure of dismissing former Stevenage player Ricky Gill caught behind for a duck. It was only a chancey innnings from Aussie born Divich 91 not out that gave St Albans any hope of victory, enabling a total of 181 to be set in the 45 overs. Divich had a few close shaves hitting the ball in the air and was very lucky to survive a runout appeal in the 40s. Then having sprinted a 3 and a quick single in one over he was unbelievably allowed a runner having previously claimed to have pulled an arse muscle, whereas in reality he was probably just knackered. Stevenage's captain Carr protested heatedly with the St Alban's umpire and captain, but to no avail.
In reply Stevenage began comfortably with Carr and Brown progressing to double figures, but were brought to a juddering halt by a couple of early season umpiring decisions, the first an LBW, the second a bat pad catch. St Albans rather took their foot of the pedal after those dismissals and were almost made to pay for their arrogance thanks to a splendid 43 from Dylan Slater and contributions from Sinclair, Zargar and an amazing 13 ball over full of wides. However, the home side got their game back together and thanks to 5 catches from former Stevenage player Dattani and some sharp outfielding from Divich; you remember, the one that required a runner; St Albans achieved the victory they so badly wanted.

(Man of the Match - Adil Zargar, but honourable mentions Kevin Jones and also Scott Reid (14yrs old) who was very vocal in his sledging of two of his school teachers that played for St Albans.