2’s let Datchworth off the hook in the field and fail to chase a large but achievable total

After last weeks concession by Parkfield and Headstone 2’s, fifth placed Mill Hill Village travelled up to the play on third placed Datchworth village green in glorious sunshine. Winning the toss, it was an easy decision to put Datchworth in to bat, the pitch looked firm but green and we had a strong team in both batting and bowling departments. The two Lee’s, Cara and Crocker opened the bowling and the pitch showed some uneven bounce though any loose balls were dispatched across the unusually fast outfield. Datchworth made slow but steady progress until Lee Cara surprised Stuart Warrington (10), bowling him round his legs with some assistance from the slope (26/1). Lee Crocker bowled the Datchworth captain Phil Nightingale (23) and Lee Cara bowled Lee Pybus (9) to leave Datchworth on 59/3. Crocker was replaced by debutant Ali Javed who used the bouncy pitch to good effect, bowling a tight off stump line and forcing the batsmen to play. Ali got several edges without reward until Pete Jaffe held a face high catch to dismiss Will Nash for 19 (81/4). Dropping Nitin Sahni proved to be expensive as Sanket Shah’s second and last over was dispatched for 20. Naz Asif got a thin edge to dismiss Martin Atkinson (4) caught behind by George Lee, keeping wicket for the first time in several years (106/5). Ali then bowled Rhys Pybus for 5 (123/6) and Naz finally bowled Sahni for 59 having an uncharacteristically dirty slog across the line to leave Datchworth on 143/7 from roughly 30 overs, an indication of how easy it was to score on the fast outfield. Numbers 8 and 9, Martin Bailey and Matt Budd then dropped anchor and succeeded in rebuilding the innings, with the Village opting for containment bowling from Naz and Pryank. Naz bowled Budd for 8 (174/8) but Bailey and Ben Childs (30*) continued the defensive efforts then hit out effectively against some tired looking Village fielding with Bailey bowled by the last ball of the innings by Lee Cara for an invaluable 52 to finish the innings on 244 for 9 from 53 overs, a total which had looked unlikely 20 overs previously.

Despite the relatively high total to chase, we went into tea feeling confident that just over 5 runs an over was achievable with our strong batting lineup and the fast outfield. Lee Crocker and reluctant opener Sunny Raval were greeted with a mixture of pace from Childs and spin from Sahni and Crocker quickly departed for 4 skying a long hop caught by bowler Childs (7/1). Sunny (3) followed shortly after, bowled by Sahni (21/2), leaving Naz Asif and Pete Jaffe with some repair work to do. They set about this and looked comfortable from the off, Naz batting vigorously but with more control than he sometimes shows and Pete defending well and punishing any loose balls. The pair swiftly progressed at 6 an over until Naz got a ball which popped up and was caught for 44 by keeper Bennett (81/3). Pete and Jonny Gahan continued the solid progress until Pete (39) was bowled behind his legs by a ball from Atkinson which moved a long way down the hill (110/4). George Lee (0) edged to keeper Bennett and an out of sorts Jonny was also bowled by Atkinson for 6 to leave us on 115/6 after 26 overs. Once more the innings was in disarray and Lee Cara and Sanket Shah set about this in their usual attacking style, producing 36 runs from the next three overs until Lee (13) was caught at mid off from the bowling of Martin Budd (151/7). This left Sanket (23*) and Dave Flavell with 18 overs to survive or score 93 runs, and they continued to push the score along until Flavell (18) was LBW to returning opener Childs (184/8). Budd then took the wickets of Ali Javed (0) and Pryank Patel (2) to end the innings on 197 all out from 41 overs, with Sanket not out on 39.

Conclusions We let Datchworth off the hook at 174 for 8, with some poor outfielding combining with well judged batting from Bailey (52) and Childs (30*). Sahni (59) was also dropped expensively earlier in the innings, and perhaps we left ourselves too large a total to chase. Lee Cara (3 for 51) and Naz (3 for 62) bowled well as usual and Ali Javed bowled a great spell of 10 overs, 2 for 30 and could have had several more wickets. Naz (44), Pete (39) and Sanket (39*) showed what could be achieved by judicious batting, but four of the top 6 failed to get into double figures. One more batsman producing an innings would have made the game very interesting, and had Lawrence Bird and Darshan batted at 10 and 11 we would not have lost the game and may well have won. Datchworth had 6 decent bowlers, a luxury which we are used to having but less used to facing! Datchworth have moved up to top spot and we have dropped down to 7th place with 8 games from 18 played. Next week we have Hitchin IIIs, who are currently in second, at home in what has become a must win game if we are to have any realistic chance of promotion.

Datchworth 30 points, Mill Hill Village II 8 points