3's lose to strong Berkhamsted side

The 3's were away at picturesque Berkhamsted 3's.

The skipper won the toss and decided to bat on a warm day.

James Thompson (15) and Piers Jenkins (1) opened the innings and got off to a steady start with the skipper finding the first boundary of the innings in the 2nd over. Piers was out caught at mid on in the 4th over which brought Farzan Dulker Nain (49) to the crease. Both players were watchful, making sure they both stayed in to see off the new ball and Farzan started to get a feel for the bowling and soon got into his stride. It was a good pitch and anything that beat the field ran away to the boundary and Farzan was able to score quickly but still play sensible with the skipper at the other end being determined not to give his wicket away. After 20 overs the Village were 61-1 and in a decent position, then in the next over Farzan hit 3 consecutive boundaries and with the score at 73-1 and with Farzan 1 away from a deserved 50 he holed out to mid off. Next in was Kudzai Makopa (6) to face the fast bowling of their number 3 bowler who was sharp off of a 2 pace run up but it was the skipper who fell next as his off stump was hit to leave the Village 79-3. Lawrence Bird (0) was next in but Kudzai was next out as he was caught and then 4 balls later Lawrence was bowled. Dan Penny (36*) and Mohamed Salahudeen (0) were the next men in but Mo did not last too long as he was caught off a top edge as the Village had gone from 73-1 to 83-6. Andrew Godfrey (5) and Dan then set about rebuilding the innings and Dan was able to deal with the number 3 bowler and allow Godders to face the spinner at the other end. The score had reached 100 before Godders attempted a big shot and was caught off the spinners bowling in the 32nd over. George Leggett (11*) joined Dan at the crease and looked very solid and he also looked comfortable against the quicker bowler and both were able to see him off before the opening pair came back on. Dan started to play some shots and George's first scoring shot was a boundary. The pair stayed in till the end and the Village had posted 136-7 off of their 42 overs.

George Leggett (0-19) and Andrew Godfrey (0-14) started the bowling for the Village and George was unlucky not to pick up a wicket as Chalky dropped one in the gully region and a few were flying through that area and just away from fielders. After 10 overs the score was 35-0 and the change bowlers of Dan Penny (0-29) and Chalky Cara (1-40) were brought on to see if they could take a wicket and in Chalky's 2nd over the first wicket fell after some good work from Farzan to run their skipper out after sharp work from Lawrence behind the stumps. Dan was bowling nicely and created some chances although nothing that went to hand as one fell just short of the skipper at 1st slip. Chalky's 4th over brought about the 2nd wicket as a ball with a bit of extra bounce was nicked behind to Lawrence who took a sharp catch and after 18 overs the score was 65-2. The number 2 batsman was living a charmed life and was scoring quickly to put the bowlers under pressure. The skipper knew he needed quick wickets and decided to try spin at both ends as Kudzai Makopa (0-17) was brought on to replace Dan. Tommy Smith (0-14) was also given a few overs but he did not manage to pick up a wicket and it was left to the number 3 batsman to hit the winning runs for a comfortable victory for the oppo.

A difficult game against a very strong Berkhamsted side who will be pushing Harpenden hard for the title. The batting had another wobble as 5 wickets were lost for 10 runs but it was good to see the side use up all their overs and there were also good contributions from James, Farzan, Dan and George with the bat. The bowling was hard work on a track that was made for batting with the Village total being under par and the opposition being ruthless but George again bowled nicely to open up. Thankfully all the sides below as did not win so we stay 4th bottom but will need to pick up points in the next few games so that we can steer clear of the relegation zone.