Crocker gets his maiden century but Flitwick hang on for the draw

The first big game of the season was against last years promotion battlers Flitwick. Skipper Flavell won the toss on his 50th birthday, and chose to bat. The innings was opened by Zaf Basit and Lee Crocker and got off to a good start with both Lee and Zaf scoring freely against the lively but erratic bowling of young openers Tom Brewer and Carl Peters. The openers progressed to 46 before Zaf edged to the keeper (46-1 from 12 overs). George Lee played himself in and looked in good form before surprisingly giving a simple catch to Matthews at gully for 30 (103-2 off 29 overs). At the other end Crocker had been setting about the bowling with his usual aggression and was living a charmed life, much to the frustration of the opposition. Graeme Burton had been promoted to 4 due to the late arrival of Naz Asif and the pair proceeded to put the Flitwick bowlers to the sword with a partnership of 147 from 13 overs! Crocker reached his first century with a six before tiring and finally being bowled for 111 by Josh Edwins. Naz came in and swiftly returned to the pavilion, well caught at mid off.

The only question now was when to declare – at 40 overs we were on 227, which would leave the opposition 50 overs to reach that score. The skipper eventually declared on 263-4 from 44 overs.

Flitwick opened their innings with the captain Sean Nicklin, who had dispatched Captain Flavell for 22 from one over in last seasons game and the veteran Bob Footer, who had held Flitwicks innings together in the previous game. Nicklin set about the opening bowling of spin twins Graeme Burton and Sanket Shah and the combination of left and right hander disrupted Sankets usually dangerous line. Footer was ran out by sharp fielding from Flavell after a classic Yes/No/Sorry call from Nicklin (19-1). Wicketkeeper Ian Pitkin batted steadily with Nicklin and the new ball was taken with the spinners being replaced by Darshan Raval and Lee Cara. Both of these usually excellent bowlers were a bit wayward, but a long hop from Darshan got an unjustified reward when Nicklin edged to keeper Steve Pullen (57-1). Number 4 batsman Shoaib Rashid looked unconvincing for a while but played himself in and established a solid partnership took the score to 100 before Pitkin was bowled by a beauty from Cara which clipped the top of middle stump. The quickies were replaced by Naz Asif and Dan Penny and Naz struck twice in one over, the first caught by Dan Penny who turned what should have been a routine catch into an excellent one handed dive by not sighting the ball until it was practically at his feet. Naz had the incoming batsman LBW for a second ball duck to leave Flitwick at 115-5 and a win was still very much on the cards. Opening bowler Ramsey was almost inexplicably dropped by Naz at second slip from a looping deflection off his glove which Naz had far too much time to catch. The batsman was already walking but returned to bash several boundaries off Dan Penny before holing out to a towering catch well held by Crocker at Mid Off. Rashid finally fell to another LBW for Naz but the tail defended well and the score crept to 155 and the 8 batting points before the innings was concluded at 46 overs.

Conclusions Lee Crocker exceeded his job description and batted superbly for a career high of 111 – the bad luck of the single nelson rearing its ugly head, though Lee had his share of luck being dropped several times. Zaf (22), Claw (30) and Nut (56 not out) supported him ably throughout the innings. Both Sanket and Darshan were under the weather and struggled a bit to find their usual penetration though Naz picked up 3 for 18 with his accurate line.

It would have been a great toss to lose as a weakened Flitwick would have had to bat and probably posted a chaseable total. If Skipper Flavell had been smart enough to look at the oppos team sheet he might have noticed the absence of Flitwick opener Michael Bodo, who batted well last season and hit a century in the first game of this season. With hindsight, the Flitwick bowling attack was much weaker than the last game too and an earlier declaration might have left enough overs to both tempt the opposition to chase and to get them all out….

Nonetheless, a good result against one of the better teams in the division. We are currently in 8th place, but would have been in second place had we played and beaten Potters Bar IVs the week before.

Mill Hill Village 17 points, Flitwick III 12 points

Next week, St Margaretsbury IIIs away