Blood and sweat but no tears for the Village as vital promotion battle is won

As we entered the decisive final third of the season, the first of three vital promotion battles was at home against Hatfield and Crusaders IVs. For once skipper Flavell won a toss he actually wanted to win and put the visitors in to bat.

Birju Lukka, dragged out of semi-retirement from the golf course, started as if he had never been away and bowled his metronomic corridor of uncertainty lines with some away movement and beat the bat three or four times an over. At the Cowfield End Naz bowled his straight and skiddy line to add to the opening batsmen’s discomfort. Both openers resisted well but were completely tied down and crawling along at about 1.5 runs per over. Naz finally took the wicket of Leigh Parkhouse (16), well caught by George Lee diving to his left at midwicket. Number 3 bat Krishnan Jay (0) swiftly followed caught at first slip by Graeme Burton and Naz was on a hat trick when he produced a beauty which nipped back and struck the top of middle and off to remove skipper Alex Digby first ball. Waqar Choudry (7) batted unconvincingly before Sanket Shah ran him out with a direct hit from point. And Birju finally got the wicket he deserved with Ganesh Malla (0) caught by David Flavell at mid on. Darshan Raval replaced Naz and ended the resistance of opening bat Mike Duvall who had attempted to hold the innings together with a battling 10 to leave Hatfield and Crusaders in tatters at about 60/6 from about 35 overs. The visitors finally managed to put together a partnership with batsmen 7 and 8 Joe Bigley and Gareth Edge taking the score to roughly 100 before Graeme Burton had trapped Edge with a plumb LBW. Flavell then bowled the final three batsmen to leave the Crusaders on 119 all out with only two batting points.

At this point we probably thought that we had the game wrapped up with a strong line up containing nine batsmen. Naz and Burger had showed that the wicket had something to offer the bowlers and Crusaders opening bowlers Joe Bigley and Paul Ward reinforced that view, giving openers Piers Jenkins and Matt Hawkes some uncomfortable moments. Matt decided that the best form of defence was attack and tucked into the youngster Bigley, hitting him for 10 off his second over before being bowled for 11 by a ball which nipped back to hit the top of middle stump (21/1). George Lee and Piers pushed the score along at 4 an over before Piers was out caught off Ward for 18 (41/2). Sanket Shah came in and hit another 10 from Bigley’s final over before first change bowler Ben Clark bowled George Lee for 13 (59/3). Sanket then played on to a rank long hop to leave the 2’s on 63/4. Zaf Basit then took a nasty blow to the cheek from a top edged pull and retired hurt to be whisked off to A and E. Dan ‘Trigger’ Penny was then himself triggered by Darshan Raval to leave the Village effectively on 66/6. Fortunately Naz Asif was batting down the order at 7 and struck the otherwise excellent Paul Ward out of the attack before forgetting to ‘take a look’ at new bowler Gareth Edge and playing round his first ball (82/7). Graeme Burton, one of the handier number 9 batsmen in Division 11, joined Dave Flavell at the crease. After Flavell had played himself in with his trademark Chinese cut and slip drive, the two tail enders bashed the remaining 36 runs without further drama to give the 2’s a crucial win by 4 wickets over promotion rivals (Flavell 31*, Burton 10*).

Conclusions It was a good toss to win, the Crusaders captain would have put us in to bat had he won the toss. Birju is wasted on the golf course, we just have to work out how to have him thrown out of his golf club. Burger and Naz’s opening spell (Burger 14 overs, 1-17; Naz 12 overs, 3-17) throttled the Crusaders innings and only the 7th wicket partnership of Bigley and Edge gave them a defendable total. What we thought should have been a straightforward chase was complicated by the tight bowling of the Crusaders attack and the unfortunate retirement of Zaf Basit. The deep batting lineup of the Village performed its job and not only gained 30 vital points but restricted promotion rivals to 8 points.

We are now in second place, 22 points off the top spot but more importantly 33 points above Crusaders, who are now out of the promotion spots in 5th place, but who have 5 relatively straightforward games left. We still have to play 4th placed Botany Bay (August 17th) and top of the table Cockfosters (August 31st). Flitwick, 11 points behind us in third place also play Botany Bay and Cockfosters, so this seasons campaign could go down to the wire.

Mill Hill Village IIs 30 points, Hatfield and Crusaders IV 8 points.

Next week, Letchworth Garden City V away