A comfortable start to the season

Here we go again. The 2’s 2013 campaign started with a home game vs St Albans IVs on a sunny but blustery day down at the Burtonhole Arena. The pitch was looking hard and flat and 550 runs had been scored on it the previous weekend.

The opposition captain won the toss and chose to bat, which they would have been doing anyway had he lost the toss. Darshan Raval opened the bowling attack from the Cowfield End and soon found his line and length, forcing the batsmen to play straight and defensively. At the Pavilion End Dan Penny also bowled a tight line, beating the bat with some lovely bowling. The bowling was tying down the batsmen, and the younger opener Matt Burman was looking increasingly impatient and had several aggressive swipes before spooning one from Darshan to Sanket at extra cover (8/1). Incoming batsman Faizan Nisar was looking to score square of the wicket on either side but also had limited scoring chances. A full toss from Dan Penny was driven straight and hard and put down by Flavell at mid off. The batsmen established an effective partnership and the run rate crept up to 3 an over. Lee Crocker, first change at the Pavilion End, had a sharp low chance dropped at second slip before having opener Clive Maynard caught behind for 31 by Steve Pullen (78/2). Nisar was put down again by Flavell to keep his 100% dropping record for the season before Crocker removed him for 40 in the following over with another catch for Sanket (83/3). Wingnut, having replaced Darshan at the Cowfield End, has reinvented himself as an off spinner during the winter, and also tied the batsmen down, though his occasional ‘mystery balls’ (aka leg side full toss) were punished on the lightning fast outfield. The new batsmen dug in until Nut had Kanchwala lbw on the back foot for one of the easier decisions that an umpire will have (102/4). The other batsman was caught at Mid On by Dan Butcher off the other ‘spin twin’ Sanket Shah (106/5) and youngster Tom Szczech was caught behind by Pullen off Nut (108/6). The opposing captain Tom Webber and Andy Saunders then attempted to rebuild the innings until the captain was bowled by Nut and Saunders was stumped by Pullen to leave St Albans on 144/8. The last two young batsmen were removed without further score with the twins getting one each. St Albans 144 all out off 45.2 overs.

The Village reply featured the contrasting styles of traditional opener Zaf Basit and pinch-hitter Lee Crocker facing a pair of youngsters. Crocker tucked into some looseners from Tom Townend and raced to 23 before he bottom edged another tempting ball onto the top of the stumps (28/1), with Zaf at the end on 1 not out. George Lee and Zaf then batted sensibly, punishing the bad balls before Zaf got a leading edge which looped back to leg spinner Nisar (82/2). Naz Asif had a few mighty swings, some of which connected, before missing a straight one from Zack West (103/3). Dan Butcher patiently defended two balls before also being bowled (103/4). Sanket also produced a few fireworks, including a six which bounced on the kitchen roof, until he was well caught by bowler Kanchwala for 21 (125/5). Captain Flavell then strode to the crease and together with Claw (35 not out) finished off the game.

Conclusions A reasonable start to the season. The bowlers shook off their early season rustiness and pressurised the opposition well, the fielding could have been a bit tighter but the fast outfield meant that almost any ball beating the ring went for 4. The spin twins took 7 wickets between them (Nut 4, Sanket 3) and Steve Pullen got two catches and two stumpings behind the stumps, plus at least one other where he was too quick for the umpire, let alone the batsman. Zaf (35), Crocker (23) and Claw 35*) all contributed according to their job descriptions. Sterner challenges will follow as the opposition are a development side with six youngsters who only won two games last year and finished 15th in the division.
If the weather stays this way there will be lots of runs scored this season.

Mill Hill Village 30 points, St Albans IV 11

Next week, Potters Bar IVs away