3s beat Redbourn

The 3's were at home against Redbourn IV's on a warm day.

The opposition skipper won the toss and asked the Village to have a bat.

James Thompson (7) and Craig Atkinson (35) opened the batting and looked solid for 7 overs until the skipper was bowled to bring Sanket Shah (139*) to the crease. The two would start to hammer the ball to the boundary and up the run rate as the partnership developed nicely past 50 and into the 80s. Sanket would bring up a 50 himself with a boundary, but with the score on 105, Craig was caught to bring Inthi Mazeez (5) to the crease but he would only last a few overs before he was out LBW, 126-3 off 22 overs. Next man in was Mohamed Salahudeen (34) and he followed Sanket's attacking play and between them put on 77 runs in 8 overs as any bad bowling was punished. Sanket brought up a well deserved 100 with a single, before Mo was caught to bring Farzan Dulker Nain (0) to the crease but he only lasted a few balls before being bowled, 204-5 off of 31 overs. Andrew Godfrey (4) was next in and after hitting a boundary he was caught to bring in Tommy Smith (17). He and Sanket would put on 54 for the 7th wicket as Tommy scored a few boundaries and Sanket continued his destructive batting. Tommy would be next out as he was bowled in the 38th over before Alam Khan (0) and Mathan Mahalingam (0) would be caught and stumped respectively in the 39th & 40th over leaving Sanket not out and the Village on 278.

Alam Khan (0-19) & Andrew Godfrey (2-36) opened the bowling and started well. Alam was not giving much away and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket but Godders would get the first 2 wickets to fall in his 4th & 5th overs courtesy of bowling the number 2 and then by getting the number 3 out thanks to a good catch from Alam, 38-2. Then a big partnership between the under 14 opening batsman and the number 4 would see Redbourn start to seriously challenge the mammoth run chase. Both played superbly but the number 1 batsman was the stand out with his shot making. Tommy Smith (0-45) and Mathan Mahalingam (0-25) would have no joy so the skipper turned to Mohamed Salahudeen (2-49) and Inthi Mazeez (1-58) to see if they could break the partnership. Mo would get the number 1 batsman out bowling him in the 33rd over with the score on 179-3 before his 5th over would see 2 wickets fall. Firstly, Mo bowled the number 4 batsman, before a good bit of fielding by Alam would see the back off the number 5 batsman as he was run out, 228-5 off of 37 overs. Inthi would get the last wicket to fall as he bowled the number 6 batsman in the last over as Redbourn managed to get to 253-6 off their allotted overs.

A good win which was built on the back of a strong batting performance. Sanket Shah was the star with his unbeaten 139 but he was ably supported by Craig Atkinson, Mohamed Salahudeen & Tommy Smith. In the bowling Alam's 0-19 off his 8 overs was exceptional considering it was a run fest but Andrew Godfrey & Mohamed Salahudeen picked up 2 wickets apiece. The Village would end the day 4th in the league.