3's get back to winning ways

The 3's were at home against St Albans IV.

The skipper won the toss and decided to have a bowl as conditions were cloudy.

Andrew Godfrey (2-28) & Tommy Smith (0-25) opened the bowling and after Tommy's 2nd over maiden, Godders struck in the next over as he bowled the number 1 batsman and he would soon get his 2nd wicket of the game as Farzan Dulker Nain took a regulation catch behind the stumps. Mathan Mahalingam (2-14) replaced Tommy and he bowled the number 2 batsman for the opposition in his first over and in the next over a smart bit of fielding by Mathan saw the next wicket fall as the batsman was run out. Mathan got another as he found the edge of the number 4 batsman with Farzan doing the rest to leave the opposition 68-5 off of 16 overs. Chalky Cara (0-15) had replaced Godders but the St Albans captain batting at 6 and the number 7 batsman then produced a 41 run partnership to frustrate the Village. Bilal Baree (1-25) and Dave Knight (4-25) were the next to bowl and it was Dave who got the breakthrough bowling the opposition skipper and then bowling the number 8 in the same over and then in the next over Bilal got the number 7 as he was caught by Farzan, 111-8. Dave Knight picked up the last 2 wickets as first he caught and bowled the number 10 before Pete Jaffe took a good catch on the boundary to get rid of the number 9 who had begun to hit out as the innings finished on 145 all out.

Pete Jaffe (4) and Mohamed Salahudeen (69*) opened the batting and after Pete had hit the first boundary of the innings he was out caught brilliantly in the covers. James Thompson (0) was next in and he only lasted 2 balls as he was caught by the same fielder as the first over saw the Village 4-2. Inthikhab Mazeez (40) was next in to join Mohamed to rebuild the innings and the pair were steady at first to see off the opening bowlers but still were able to score at a decent rate and after 12 overs the score had reached 50. The pair then continued to punish any bad balls as they were making batting look easy on a pitch which was getting easier to play on with the sun out and the wicket drying. At drinks the score was 96-2 and the 3's were heading to a comfortable victory, with Mo bringing up his 50 with a boundary and the pair bringing up a 100 partnership, it looked as though these 2 would see us home. Unfortunately, Inthi departed in the 25th over as he was bowled which brought Farzan Dulker Nain to the crease and he continued where Inthi had left off and in one over hit consecutive boundaries for 4 and 6 but it was fittingly left to Mo to hit the winning runs which he did in style by hitting a 6 as the Village got to their target in 29 overs.

A thoroughly good performance, first with the bowlers who continued to take wickets and stem the run rate with Dave Knight the pick with his 4 wickets equally aided by Godders and Mathan with 2 each. The innings started terribly with the 2 wickets in the first over but first Inthi and then Mohamed played exceptionally well to see the Village home with Mo getting his first 50 of the season.