MHV 3rd XI hold their nerve to edge out close rivals

Regular skipper Phil Smith was back at the helm this week and true to form lost another important toss away against Potters Bar IV. The venue was Dame Alice Owen School which has excellent sports facilities and a decent looking cricket ground, far better than most clubs 2nd grounds and the vast majority of school wickets. The only drawbacks are the constant hum of the M25 traffic flow and the wind which whistles across the exposed fields to the south of Potters Bar and in the shadow of J23, M25s South Mimms services. The wind, the noise and the excessive distance between the wicket and the Clubhouse area makes communications somewhat difficult throughout the game.

Needless to say after heavy overnight showers, it was a definite bowl first wicket and so the Village were invited to bat first on a somewhat sticky wicket. The bounce, particularly at one end, was significant but as balls were cutting into the wicket, it was slow yet steep bounce that had to be overcome. Sanket Shah was first to fall victim to the slowness of the wicket as he played a cross batted shot to a short ball about 10 minutes too early and was adjudged LBW with the ball almost on the way down again by the time it struck his pads in front of middle.

Phil Smith (23) and Karan Chand (30) moved the score forward to 52 at a decent rate but then fell in relatively quick succession. Dan Penny followed them back into the pavilion and the Village were teetering somewhat on 72-4. It was critical to bat the full allocation of overs but scoring was not easy, as nearly all batsman had trouble timing the ball on the surface. Matt Hawkes and new member James O'Sullivan (21) hunkered down and battled through the next dozen or so overs. Hawkesy top scored with 35, with an uncharacteristically slow but very important innings. James was very unlucky to be run out, backing up at the non-strikers end when the bowler instinctively deflected a powerfully struck Hawkes straight drive onto the stumps. George Leggett gave the innings some useful impetus at the back end and the Village posted a modest but defendable 156 for 8. Tea was taken and both teams felt they had a good chance of securing the 30 points.

The pendulum swung firmly towards the Village when they reduced the opposition to 24-4 within the first 8 overs, Andrew Godfrey (3-19) ripping out the top order who all wanted to play a few too many ambitious shots on that kind of wicket. The wicket actually dried out significantly throughout the day and became easier and easier to bat on, so Potters Bar had the best of the batting conditions. But the Village bowlers stuck to their disciplines and all bowled good lengths. Potters Bar managed a couple of very useful partnerships. At 76-4 and then 99-5 the home side were certainly back in the hunt. but the Village squeeze meant that the run rate crept up to 5, 6 and then 7 an over. It was just not easy to score quickly on the deck if bowling was tight. Pryank Patel bowled nicely and his 7 overs went for just 26 runs, Tommy Smith bowled his 7 overs for 28 runs and picked up a couple of wickets. Alongside Godders, the pick of the bowlers was George Leggett, who picked up 3 crucial wickets at the back end of the innings. His 3-29 in 8 overs when PB were looking to accelerate and attack was an excellent spell.

In the end the pressure told on the Potters Bar chase. Two crucial run outs at key moments, some well taken catches and the quality of the bowling enabled the Village to remain just on top. There were some nervous moments as the runs to get dwindled to less than 30 with a couple of wickets in hand but it was pleasing to see the Village 3s hold their nerve.

This was a crucial 30 points in a 2nd vs 3rd contest at the top of the division and allows the Village to keep the pressure on the leaders Datchworth as we head into the 2nd half of the season.