Mill Hill Village 3rd XI
Matches
Sat 06 Jul 2019  ·  Regional Division A East
Mill Hill Village Cricket Club
Mill Hill Village 3rd XI
141/1
138
Old Haberdashers II
League leaders put to the sword

League leaders put to the sword

Phil Smith13 Jul 2019 - 13:08
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Village young guns impress!

MHVCC 3rd XI took to the field with 7 players under the age of 21, for their clash with table topping Old Haberdashers IIs. A delighted skipper, who has seen several of these players coming through the Colts ranks, was equally happy to win the toss for the 2nd successive week after a long run of losses at the start of the season. Phil Smith elected to play to the team’s strengths and bowl first on a dry but not overly hot day.

Pressure was exerted from the start with both Tommy Smith, 1-17 from 6 overs and Andrew Godfrey, 0-22 from 8 overs swinging the ball into the right-handed batsmen from decent tight lines. Tom Fees and young Sam Hare were first change bowlers and both kept the squeeze on the opposition batsmen with useful spells. They ended up with identical figures of 2-21 off 5 overs. Catching was of a decent standard, which always makes a big difference and whilst a couple of chances went begging the majority were held and some of those taken were of quite a high tariff. In fact, the fielding levels in general were excellent by 3rd XI standards. Ground fielding was sharp, exemplified by a good run out of the opposition skipper by the home skipper, before he had even got off the mark. The youthful outlook of the side certainly paid dividends.

The Leggett brothers were brought into the attack and the bowling standards were well maintained. Will’s flighted off spin, teased the opposition batsman, while George’s pace and swing also had them in trouble regularly. Wickets fell at regular intervals with the batting side never quite getting on top of the bowlers. At 78-6, the situation looked particularly precarious for the visitors. But the No.4 bat who had come out swinging from the start was riding his luck after a series of play and misses and a run of shots off both edges. His 38 was the top score from Old Habs II by some margin. He was receiving limited support at the other end. He lost patience in the end and hit a skier to deep long off, from another of Will’s well flighted off spinners and Tommy Smith duly pouched the opportunity. George blew away the tail with 3-21 but by this time the visitors had scraped together a respectable if not imposing 138 is 35,1 overs.

8 overs of the second innings were taken before tea and nerves were calmed as Phil Smith and Will Leggett negotiated them without alarm, taking the break at 28 without loss. Phil Smith (10) nicked off to the off spinner, shortly after tea, to an excellent catch at first slip. Thereafter is became the Will Leggett show. The talented young batsman bludgeoned the ball to all parts of the ground off a succession of bowlers attempted. A couple of catching chances were offered but they went down and the opposition were made to pay a heavy price.

Will rattled through the 50s, 60s & 70s and it soon became apparent that he could secure a league hundred despite only chasing 138. Sanket Shah read the script and began to take things easy, with 1s and dots only, allowing Will to take the bulk of he strike and do the vast majority of the scoring. Extras tried to intervene to prevent the century but this was Will’s day. He hit the final ball of the match for a big 6 to bring up a remarkable ton and win the match by stunning 9 wickets.

MHV 3s leapfrogged Old Haberdashers in the division and remain well in the hunt for promotion at the half way stage of the season.

Match details

Match date

Sat 06 Jul 2019

Kickoff

13:00

Competition

Regional Division A East
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Sponsor - PJ Financial Services