RESULT - Stevenage lost by 7 wickets
Stevenage 2nds 178 - 7 in 53 Overs lost to Potters Bar 2nds 179 - 3 in 31.2 overs
A weakened Stevenage batted first and failed to take advantage of a flat wicket. Only Albert Sodhi batted with any freedom and his 69 only underlined the frailty of the rest of the batting.
Stevenage bowling made little impact, but Malcolm Slawson and 14 year old Scot Davies both took a wicket, but most of the bowling had with little penetration.
MOM: Albert Sodhi
RESULT - Stevenage lost by 3 wickets
Stevenage 2nds 112 - 10 in 52.4 lost to Sawbridgeworth 2nds 114 - 7 in 36.0 overs
After a week of wet weather batting was difficult and runs scarce and in the end the result was probably affected most by ECB rules restricting the number of overs bowled by under 19 fast bowlers.
Stevenage's Gary Brown (Hertfordshires under 17player) is limited to six overs at a time and this let the visitors off, when the game was in the balance.
MOM: Russell (50 overs!) Hann
RESULT - STEVENAGE WON BY 6 WICKETS
After last weeks wash out Stevenage were looking to maintain their form and secure 30 points against Wormley who were only 2 places above in the league. Following the heavy rain late
on in the week, the wicket was going to play a big part or so Roberts thought. However with the track being covered the wicket looked hard and dry, the toss and batting first should have been the order of the day.
But with a lost toss and Wormley batting first a big score could have been in the offing.
But with the new look opening attack of father and son, Ian and Gary Brown really troubling Wormley as they crumbled to 37 for 5 inside 12 overs. Gary Brown bowling with pace and control taking a wicket in his first
over even though he was not happy with skipper Roberts decision on ends to bowl from, during the break between Gary Brown's spells Wormley consolidated their position. But with the re-introduction of Brown taking a
further 2 wickets giving him a well deserved 5-32 of 12 overs and coupled with some excellent fielding Wormley never looked comfortable, Seeming to struggle and post a score but with some dogged resistance they
appeared to be hanging in to see out their overs But with the spin of Cooley and the safe hands of Ian Brown at gully taking his second catch of the game finished off the innings with Wormley all out for 134.
In reply Stevenage set about the total steadily, suffering a couple of early scares as both Hann and Brown were dropped. Then Brown pulled up with cramp and had to retire hurt, this then bought Palarakan to
the wicket and in characteristic manner he set about the Wormley total working his shots and crashing boundaries, he too suffered a scare as he was dropped at cover but went on to record his third 50 of the
year for Stevenage. With Mahesh and Albert Sodhi at the crease Stevenage then started to build momentum and even with a tumble of wickets towards the end it was left to Sodhi to see the side home inside 36
overs on an unbeaten 31 to secure the 30 points.
MOM: Gary (bowling) Brown
RESULT - Match Abandoned
Stevenage 92 - 2 in 21 overs v Dunstable 2nds MOM:
Rain forced an early end to this match with Stevenage 2nds handily placed with Gary Brown 35 not out
RESULT - Stevenage Won by 71 runs
After last weekend's wash out the 2nd's were looking for a win against Bushey who like the 2nd's were in the bottom half of the table. The wicket looked good at the toss and after
losing the toss Roberts was surprised when Bushey asked Stevenage the bat first. The first bit of luck for the game not only was Roberts going to bat first, Bushey putting in Stevenage meant they would have to set
the pace and get the minimum of 6 wickets to get in the points. Stevenage's opening pair of Gary Brown and Russell Hann set a steady pace with Hann playing the watchful role and Brown finding form and playing some
excellent shots on the off and on side, with Both Brown and Hann recording 50's before Hann was bowled by Khan shortly followed by Brown. This bought the in form Nevill to the crease, but with wickets falling in
quick succession at the other end a couple due to outside influence Stevenage were reeling. But with the arrival of Zargar to support Nevill they stroked the ball to all parts both undefeated Zargar 48 and Nevill
30 enabling Stevenage to set 228 to record maximum batting points. With their confidence high Stevenage came out on the attack and with Ian Brown taking a wicket with the first ball of the game, Stevenage were
confident the score would be enough. This brought the Bushey skipper to the wicket punishing the bad ball scoring a 39 in quick time and with support of N.Khan 31 Stevenage were having to re-think and wit the
wicket flattening out, risks need to be taken to push for the win. With the new ball available Roberts took the opportunity and Zargar responded in taking the wicket of Foley, this then out Bushey on the back
foot and with some excellent fielding particularly a run out by Nevill, Stevenage were back in the hunt and with the introduction of some crafty spin from Cooley taking 3 wickets for 9 runs in 3 over Stevenage
were well on top but some dogged resistance from the tail meant Bushey held on the last over before Brown trapped Mahmood in front to record the win for Stevenage.
MOM: Adil Zargar
RESULT - Match Abandoned
Stevenage had the cruel luck when poor weather ended play early with the visitors in a strong position.
A 2nd wicket stand of 203 between Martin Nevill ( 62) and Mahesh Palihakkarra (110) had totally dominated the play with Palihakkarra scoring a superb ton. Stevenage amassing their highest score of the season only for a freak storm ending play just before tea
MOM: Mahesh P
RESULT - Stevenage lost by 4 wickets
Following last weeks win, Stevenage 2nd team were looking to continue a run of good form. All started well with skipper Roberts winning the toss on a grassy wicket but hard wicket.
Once the game started however the decision looked to be wrong with variable bounce and movement making scoring difficult, many batsmen taking evasive action or taking the ball on the gloves or body from length
balls. With the loss of Brown, Hann and Palarakan for low scores contributed by the wicket. The rest of the innings was about stubborn partnerships with Nevill playing patiently and Roberts trying to attack at
every opportunity trying to build momentum. Once Nevill had gone for 38, Roberts continued to attack with Zargar playing some flowing shots taking Stevenage into the point's zone. Roberts then fell for 45 and
a mini collapse followed and once Zargar was out for 43 Stevenage limped to 197 all out.
In reply the Stevenage bowlers were upbeat after seeing the variable bounce, movement and turn so apparent in their innings and knowing that the Stevenage wicket usually gets more variable after tea expectations and confidence were high. But strangely after tea the wicket flattened out to a batsmen friendly wicket allowing the Stortford batsmen to play their shots. Stevenage fielded well and a run out from Malcolm Slawson gave Stevenage the breakthrough they deserved, but with the wicket now playing well and Fishpool playing his strokes scoring 63 before falling to Cooley. Wickets were getting increasingly hard to come by but, on taking the new ball Ian Brown found some life taking 3 wickets but this couldn't stop Stortford reaching the Stevenage score.
MOM: Simon Roberts
RESULT - STEVENAGE WON BY 5 WICKETS
Following last weeks close game Stevenage second team made the trip to Wheathampstead looking for a second win in the league. On arrival at the ground Stevenage were faced with a very green wicket with dusty ends still being rolled and prepared.
Stevenage were still looking to bat and be positive but with Roberts losing the toss and being asked the field the side seemed positive as the wicket could prove helpful to both seam and spin.
Stevenage then got off to a flier with some hostile bowling by Gary Brown and father Ian rolling back the years to show number 1 son how it is done forcing Wheathampstead to collapse to 35 - 5 in 10 overs.
It wasn't until Bush came to the wicket and playing some unorthodox shots and knowing his strengths he started to add runs to the Wheathampstead total. Bush continued to strike the ball well in the face of the pace of the Brown's
and the spin of Palarakan who eventually dislodged Bush for a dogged 94, helping Wheathampstead to 170 all out.
In response Stevenage started positively with Hann and Gray Brown scoring freely but after Hann's dismissal and some excellent catching from Wheathampstead notably Bush taking a lowe one handed catch to dismiss Palarakan who looked dangerous
the wheels appeared to have come off the Stevenage innings. But with the arrival of Nevill and Zargar at the crease Stevenage began to re-build and with Nevill (41) and Zargar (40) pushing singles and despatching the bad ball for four they
guided Stevenage to a worthy victory.
MOM: Martin Nevill and Adil Zargar for the match winning partnership
RESULT - Match Drawn
Stevenage second team continued their league campaign badly needing a win on Saturday against top of the table side Clarendon. To Stevenage's benefit Clarendon captain won the toss and
requested Stevenage bat first, which fitted with the team strategy. The new look opening pair of Hann and Duff set about setting a firm foundation. Stevenage continued to score runs steadily until Mahesh Palarakan
made his way to the crease in his return game for Stevenage, in true Mahesh style he made the most of bad and dispatched it to the boundary scoring a hard hitting 69. The rest of the Stevenage line up chipped in a
played a smaller part except for Simon Cooley fondly know as Ug who took the assault to the Clarendon bowling scoring a cameo 46 not out taking Stevenage passed the 200 recording maximum points.
In reply Claredon set about the target with aggression and hard hitting, this was making fielding positions difficult to set but with some team thinking and some unorthodox positioning of fielders to compensate
the unorthodox batting Stevenage started to pick up wickets. All of the Stevenage bowlers keep a tight line and length and with some excellent fielding they pushed Clarendon back behind the run rate and with the
departure of Wise (41) the Clarendon batsmen started to shut up shop making wickets hard to come by with Brown (2-33), Palarakan (2-35) and Wilkey the pick of the bowlers picking up 4 wickets for 18 runs off of his
9 overs keeping Stevenage in the hunt for a win and maximum points but try as they might they couldn't dislodge the last man for the 4th time this year allowing Clarendon to hold on for the draw.
MOM: Ged Wilkie
RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 8 wickets
Hemel overpowered a lacklustre Stevenage side
MOM: -
RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 117 runs
Stevenage two's made the away trip to Totteridge and on arrival found a very wet wicket which they thought would help the bowlers. After weighing up the options and views of some of the senior pro, Roberts elected to bowl first.
This appeared to be a good decision until Ali decided he was going to play the ball on length and punish the Stevenage bowling. In particular Mould and Roberts being despatched to ropes with brute force rather than classic stroke play. Ali went on to score a rapid 60
before a wonder catch from Martin Neville on the boundary possibly ranking as catch of the year leaving Totteridge on 114 for 1 in 14 overs. All appeared lost and Stevenage were thinking more of when the declaration would come then when the next wicket would fall as
the Totteridge batsmen just tried to hit the ball out of the ground with every shot. Roberts then began to ring the changes in the bowling and with his sides ground fielding stemming to flow of runs and taking some excellent catches they began to pull things back with the bowling
of Cooley 5-59 and Jed Wilke making his return from a year long injury. Wilkie's bowling, yielded 4 wickets for 64 and proved a handful for the batsmen finally restricting Totteridge to 233 all out rather than the declaration they thought would come. With the wicket conditions
worsening thought-out the Totteridge innings this was always going to be a challenging total but Stevenage were confident. However, with the loss of Hann and the inform Roberts for nought, all hopes were dashed. Only Martin Nevill following up his wonder catch with a solid 32 not
out and a hard worked innings from Andy Armstrong proved the only highlights as Stevenage slumped to 116 all out their heaviest defeat of the year.
MOM: Martin Nevill
RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 5 wickets
Despite sixties from Andy Burroughes and skipper Simon Roberts Stevenage 2nds collapsed on a good Hoddesdon wicket from 170 for five to 186 all out.
The home side showed the true worth of the wicket cruising to victory with plenty of overs to spare
MOM: Simon Roberts
RESULT - Match Drawn
Following last weeks loss at County Hall, Stevenage 2nd's were looking to secure a win in the local derby with Letchworth.
All looked good as skipper Roberts won the toss and elected to bat and although Stevenage started slowly on a slow wicket with some sideways movement Hann and Brown worked their way to a stand of 63 before Laurie Brown was bowled. This allowed Hann and Gill to push the ball round before Gill
was unluckily given out. Hann, unaffected by this set back, went on to score his second fifty of the year before being caught out for 57. After loosing a couple of quick wickets Gane (25) and Hussain (21) went on to score freely helping Stevenage set a challenging 192.
In reply Stevenage bowled well keeping a tight line and length with Moin Moynal fairing best in the opening overs claiming 3 wickets for 34 off of 12 overs and Ian Brown bowling an excellent line and length and proving his hunger for wickets claiming 3 for 43 from his 24 overs.
Brown was also ably supported by Zargar and Cooley who picked up vital middle and lower order wickets. Unfortunately though the Letchworth tail-enders put up some stubborn resistance managing to hold out for the draw.
MOM: Russell Hann and Ian Brown
RESULT - Stevenage lost by 9 wickets
Stevenage 2nds were well beaten at County Hall. The batting was held together by opener Russell Hann who hit a composed 57, while others struggled. A last wicket stand of 43 between Martin Nevill & Moynul Islam pushed Stevenage's above 200
to earn maximum bonus points. However, a disappointing display of bowling and fielding resulted in the home side winning comfortably.
MOM: Russell Hann
RESULT - Match Drawn
Following the previous weeks wash out the 2nds resumed their league campaign on what looked a good batting track at Stevenage. Simon Roberts won yet another toss and elected to bat hoping to put a large score on the board, but the wicket
was a bit slower than anticipated and proved a testing surface. The Cockfoster's bowlers applied themselves well and Hayden in particular prospered taking 5 for 73 runs. Of the top order only Andy Burroughes got a decent total making 35, but was dismissed by a ball the leapt from
a good length. However, it was a weekend for the wicket keepers union, with Martin Nevill providing dogged resistance with 25 not out and an Andy Armstrong cameo 30 full of left handed stroke play, otherwise known as slog sweeps, raising the total to a defendable 180. Stevenage made some early
breakthroughs taking 3 early wickets but the Stevenage fielding hit the skids with a number of dropped catches letting Cockfosters back in the game. It was down to Moin Islam and Steve Cooley to put Stevenage back on track and with a tidy spell from Roberts his Stevenage team had turned the corner.
Cooley finished with figures of 3 for 56 from 13 overs and Moin, who took a wicket with the last ball of the game claimed 4 for 36 from his 12 overs, leaving the scores level on 180 for 9 each at the end of the game.
MOM: Andy Armstrong (a cameo 30 and 2 quality stumpings)
RESULT - Stevenage Lost by 7 wickets
The second team suffered their first defeat of the new league season. The game started well with Roberts winning the toss and electing to bat, however he was caught out by the Broxbourne bowling attack namely Bradley (7-37) who tore the heart out of
the Stevenage batting line up. The Broxbourne opening bowler certainly made use of the bounce in the Stevenage track and Stevenage were looking at registering a very low score until Albert Sodhi and skipper Simon Roberts were paired together. With Sodhi working the ball round for a patient 52
Roberts took the attack to Broxbourne scoring a fluent 62. This partnership saw Stevenage add 110 runs for the fourth wicket and enable the home-side to set a respectable 183. MOM: Paul Berry
After tea Stevenage struggled with the ball, except for Paul Berry who returned to action with a top class performance of
17 overs 3 wickets for 58 runs keeping Stevenage in the game. Berry could have claimed more wickets as close decisions went against him and more significantly some woeful fielding let him down. It was again Bradley who proved to be the nemesis scoring a hard hitting 58 and Francis supporting who took
the game away from Stevenage.
RESULT - MATCH DRAWN
A much depleted Stevenage second team travelled to Botany Bay to continue their league campaign, leaving heavy rain in Stevenage they arrived to find a hard flat batting track. Following some bad luck in the week
resulting in the loss of some key players the luck continued to conspire against Roberts at the toss which he lost, although to his surprise Stevenage were asked to bat which would have been his choice. The innings got off to an unusual start, with Start (Tony)
bowled by the first ball he faced, only to be reprieved by a no-ball call from the umpire. Two balls and two runs later, Start was cleaned up again but this time with a legitimate delivery and with Laurie Brown following shortly afterwards, things looked a bit dicey.
But once Roberts joined Russel Hann at the wicket the runs began to flow with Roberts taking a liking to McCabe and Weddell the runs were amassed and Stevenage's total moved to 87 before Roberts fell for 37 and Hann followed shortly after for a solid 28.
The tide had turned though and Nevill (with no "e") and Gane continued to score freely with Gane stroking a cameo 38 and Nevill making an unbeaten 26. Stevenage finished on 175 a good score after their shaky start.
In response Botany Bay started strongly with Raymond (25) timing the ball well in company with Ingleby (21). The luck appeared to be going the way of the Bay until skipper Roberts and the all round nickname legend Adil Zargar were brought in to the attack.
Zargar's tight bowling saw him return figures of 11 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for 19 runs and Roberts 17 overs, 4 maidens, 56 runs for 2 wickets really applied the pressure. This, supported by some excellent fielding and catching meant the Bay were now losing wickets steadily
and falling behind the pace. With Zargar tiring, the spin of Steve Cooley was reintroduced into the attack and picked up 3 wickets. Stevenage now more confident moved in for their second win but they just couldn't dislodge the last man to secure the maximum points, their performance
returning them a credible 15 points.
MOM: Simon Roberts for his all round performance, but Adil Zargar's bowling and Ian Gane's batting also deserve a mention.
RESULT - STEVENAGE WON by 110 runs
Stevenage second team's league campaign got of to a flier with the skipper in good form with the coin at the toss, with Bayford calling heads and the coin landing tails allowing the Simon Robert's side
to bat first on a damp but good batting surface. The decision to bat was proved to be correct with all batsmen bar Hann getting in. Scoring was slow and difficult early on thanks to some tight bowling from Bayford and a lush oufield.
The notable performances with the bat were Graeme Duff scoring a classy 59, combining solid defence with some big hitting and Andy Burroughes fine 67 on his return to the 2nd team. This allowed Stevenage to set a demanding 189 for 5.
After the batsmen had put Stevenage in a strong position the bowlers didn't disappoint with Ian Brown chugging in to register another top drawer display, notching up 15 overs, 7 maidens, 4 wickets for only 22 runs. New recruit Moin was
also in fine form with 3 wickets for 20 runs and an impressive sliding stop/direct hit run out. The spinners, Steve Cooley and Ashley Bayes also kept the bowling tight, picking up wickets and with fielders playing their part Bayford struggled
to 79 all out, allowing Stevenage to get of the mark with 30 point win. Roberts was unable to pick his man of the match from Andy Burroughs, Graeme Duff, Ian Brown and Moin, so an impartial 3rd party was instructed to make the decision.
MOM: David Carr