3s get back to winning ways

The 3s were at home against Berkhamsted III and the skipper won the toss and decided to have a bat.

James Thompson (19) & Craig Atkinson (43) opened the innings and the skipper started positively as he crashed 16 runs in the first 3 overs. The next few overs would see the bowlers tighten up their lines and the pair found it difficult to score freely especially with pace off the ball. Eventually the skipper was the 1st wicket to fall as he tried to sweep but got a top edge straight to square leg, with the score on 38. Sanket Shah (47) joined Craig and the pair started to accelerate the score as both were capitalising on bad balls to find the boundary. The pair would put on 64 for the 2nd wicket in 9 overs before Sanket tried to hit down the ground only to be caught by a running mid off, 102-2. Devraj Ray (22) was the next man in and he looked in good touch as he continued where Sanket had left off. Craig would be the next man to fall as he was stumped in the 32nd over with the score on 139-3. Mohamed Salahudeen (56) joined Dev at the crease but Dev would last until the next over as he was caught to bring Will Normington (16) to the crease. He and Mo would put on 58 for the 5th wicket in little over 4 overs as Mo started to target the short boundary and Will played some textbook shots to also find boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Will was caught which brought in Alam Khan (1) and he would see Mo reach his 50 with a 6 to the short leg side boundary before he was caught behind with what would prove to be a very useful cameo. Alam would follow Mo 2 balls later as he was trapped LBW with the score 216-7 off 38 overs. Zak Demetriades (13*) & Mathan Mahalingam (11) were tasked with the last 2 overs and the pair would score a useful 24 runs with Zak finding the boundary with a few nice strokes before Mathan hit a huge 6 over the tree. Mathan would be stumped on the very last ball looking to score another maximum but the score of 240-8 off of the 40 overs looked imposing.

Alam Khan (1-21) & Mathan Mahalingam (2-26) would open the bowling for the Village who knew they had a decent target to defend and although the outfield was quick the Village knew that Berkhamsted would have to play very well to get near the total. The runs were flowing and the opposition were always going at between 4 & 5 an over but the 4th over would see Mathan strike as he bowled the opener. Alam would get in on the act in the 9th over as he bowled the other opener and then in the next over Mathan would bowl the number 4 to leave Berkhamsted on 39-3 off of 10 overs. Mohamed Salahudeen (1-37) & Andrew Godfrey (1-34) would replace the opening pair but Godders was not his usual best and so was replaced by Will Normington (4-22). Mo would get the next wicket to fall as he bowled the number 3 batsman for 31 before Will would strike in his 2nd over bowling the number 6. Will was making the ball swing and in his next over we would see a double wicket maiden and the chance of a hat trick as the numbers 7 & 8 would suffer the same fate as they edge behind to the skipper to take 2 catches behind the stumps. No hat trick but his next over would see another nick behind this time caught by a diving Sanket at 2nd slip to leave the opposition 105-8 off of 26 overs. The number 5 batsman was playing nicely and got decent support from the number 10 who played some nice shots for her 28. The partnership and the number 5 batsman were reaching 50 before a brilliant bit of fielding from the skipper saw the number 5 batsman run out well short of his ground. It was left to Godders to wrap up the victory as he bowled the number 11 as the innings finished on 165 all out.

A very good all round performance with everyone chipping in with the bat, with Mo reaching his fifty and both Sanket & Craig unlucky not to do the same. Decent contributions from the lower order saw the Village post 240. In the bowling it was Will who stole the show with a great spell of swing bowling to pick up 4 and on another day could of got a 5 wicket haul. An excellent team performance would see the Village move up a place to 8th in the table and probably needing at least 1 more victory to be sure of survival.