3's win tight game

The 3's were away at St Albans IV looking to get back to winning ways.

The skipper lost the toss and the Village were asked to bat.

James Thompson (3) and Roshan Dias (2) opened the batting and in the very first over Roshan was on his way back edging to the wicket keeper. Mohamed Salahudeen (12) joined the skipper at the crease but the skipper was soon on his way going the same way as Roshan. Joe Sheridan (26) was next in but it was not long until Mo was out LBW. Farzan Dulker Nain (7) joined Joe and the pair looked to rebuild the innings. Joe was playing nicely and the scoreboard was ticking along before Joe was bowled and then Farzan was bowled in the next over to leave the Village in all sorts of trouble at 50-5. Alam Khan (7) and George Leggett (46*) were the next men in and managed to stay at the crease and score some runs and were helped by an over of 14 runs which included 10 wides. Alam was the next man out as he was caught which brought Mathan Mahalingam (17) to the crease. He and George, who was looking comfortable put on 28 runs and were finding the boundary before Mathan was bowled. Tommy Smith (9) came in to support George and the young pair put on 20 before Tommy was caught at gully to leave the Village 118-8. Chalky Cara (10) then came in and he and George put on the highest partnership of the innings as the score crept over 150. The pair put on an important 39 before Chalks was bowled. Siddhesh Kuradkar (2) was the last man in with George edging towards a fifty. Siddhesh was out LBW to leave George stranded on 46* and the Village 171 all out.

Alam Khan (0-22) and Roshan Dias (3-40) opened the bowling and were both tight before Tommy Smith (1-21) replaced Roshan after 3 overs. Tommy struck first as the skipper clung onto a catch at mid-on. The pair kept the score down and Alam was deserving of a wicket for his opening spell and on another day would have picked up a couple. Mohamed Salahudeen (1-28) replaced Alam and with the number 2 batsman for St Albans playing nicely and scoring all of their runs a breakthrough was needed. That came just before drinks as Chalky Cara got the number 2 batsman out LBW as he tried to play a switch hit after scoring 60 runs. Mo was next to strike as the skipper clung onto another catch before good work from Roshan with an excellent caught and bowled effort had St Albans 117-4 off 30 overs. It was clear this game was going right to the wire. George Leggett (2-21) replaced Mo and straight away got into a nice rhythm. In his 2nd over, Alam caused a run out due to a mix up with the batsmen before George bowled the number 6 batsman to leave them 118-6. Roshan then bowled the number 8 batsman before George thanks to some excellent footwork kicked the ball onto the stumps to run out the number 9 batsman, 135-8. Roshan then bowled the number 10 before their number 7 batsman started to hit out but George finished off proceedings as he bowled the number 11 as St Albans were all out for 162 .

An excellent game in the end that went to the penultimate over with all results a possibility. George Leggett was impressive with the bat on his first start of the season and held the innings together lower down the order. Only Joe Sheridan really troubled the scoring but there were handy innings from the Mathan Mahalingam, Tommy Smith & Chalky Cara to get the Village to 171 after being 50-5. The bowling was good as the Village bowlers stuck to their task and never let the game get away. Alam Khan was excellent first up as was Tommy Smith but Roshan Dias & George Leggett were the pick of the bowlers as they picked up 5 wickets between them with George also getting a run out thanks to his football skills. A close game in the end but the difference was George Leggett who batted superbly in the circumstances and bowled brilliantly at the death to see the Village home.