Village show their class as league leaders are beaten

The MHV 1st XI visited the delightful Hoddesdon ground with a strong team, despite the absence of regular Captain, David Overton, who was resting a niggling hamstring injury. Stand in Skipper, Phil Smith welcomed back both Potter brothers and both Cara brothers into the line-up. His first action was to lose the toss and the Village were promptly asked to bat first, which is the decision the visiting side would have made in any case.

A sensational start followed, with Naz Asif in typically aggressive mood with the bat, dispatching the Hoddesdon opening bowlers to various parts of the large outfield. Daniel Potter was also settling in well against the pace attack. The opening partnership was broken on 94 by a sensational catch in the deep, which saw Naz dismissed for 58 in just the 12th over. No’s 3 & 4 departed swiftly and the Village had gone from a rock solid start to a wobbling 113-3.

Phil Smith (28) coming in at No. 5 provided some solidity to the innings and he and Dan Potter batted sensibly through the middle overs of the innings, while spin was operating at both ends. The partnership extended into the 35th over, by which time the score had moved on to a formidable looking 195-4. The field was set deep in defensive mode, so singles were coming easily. Dan was accumulating runs in serene fashion and hit a purple patch, punishing the tiring Hoddesdon attack and moving swiftly through the 60s and 70s. Felix Charles and Majid Asif also got themselves in and enjoyed the excellent batting conditions for a while before perishing in the teens.

Meanwhile Dan was continuing his steady accumulation, rotating the strike seemingly at will. Having been in the 80s and 90s many times without ever converting to a 100, it would have been natural to feel some tension but he showed none, and continued to punish anything too short or too full. The 100 was brought up with another imperious pull through the mid-wicket region. A shot which was one of the hallmarks of his excellent knock, along with his driving down the ground. Every one of his team mates were delighted to see the most consistent of all the Village batsman over the past 5 years, achieve the landmark.

After this elation, the only disappointment of the day came at the end of the Village innings which fell away rapidly from 249-5 to 261 all out, as the pursuit of quick runs cost the lower order their wickets. Once again the Village failed to use up their allotted 50 overs, leaving 15 balls un-utilised. On such a good batting wicket and against a strong and confident Hoddesdon batting line up, this might have proved costly and on other days it will.

As it was, the 261 runs accumulated proved to be sufficient but it was no formality. The league leaders came out fighting and kept coming. The Village bowling and fielding unit had to be at their very best to contain them. The bowling unit performed well on a pitch which offered very little margin for error. Majid Asif in particular, showed great control and his figures of 2-31 in 10 overs did much to build the necessary pressure on the Hoddesdon line up. Andy Potter also bowled an excellent unchanged spell of 10 overs, 4-42, benefiting from both some excellent Village catching and the pressure of the pair bowling in tandem. Although Saahil Mehra went wicketless on the day, he too bowled well at important times in the innings.

Pressure told and the Hoddesdon middle order succumbed, slumping to 115-6 in the 25th over. But no one told the home side’s lower order that the game was up. They brought a real counter attacking mentality to the middle and began to put the pressure back on the Village change bowlers. They recovered the run rate sufficiently to put a bit of a scare into the Village fielding outfit and cool heads were needed as the ball started flying to all parts, on a ground that is particularly difficult to defend. Wickets were always an issue for the chasing team though and the Village seem to have developed a happy knack of picking up a wicket just when they need one. Jay Nandha, the pick of the fielders (with Lee Cara in a close 2nd), in an excellent team display of ground fielding and catching came on to bowl in the 34th over. He delivered a really good spell under pressure. Bowling wicket to wicket, he was slogged away a few times but continued to put the ball into the right area, full and straight. It paid off in the end and he picked up 3 important wickets at the end of the match finishing with 3-34. Hoddesdon were bowled out for 217 in 43.4 overs. They remain top of the league having picked up plenty of bonus points but the gap has been closed to just 8 points. The 1st XI are back at home to struggling Flamstead next week. If they are able to bring the same intensity levels to the remaining games of the season, they will certainly be close to the top of the league when the business end of the season comes around.

Congratulations Daniel Potter!!