Scorecard

Potters Bar v Radlett CC 1st XI on Sat 29 Jul 2006 at 11:30
Radlett CC Won 4 wickets

Match report An extraordinary game of cricket at The Walk in Potters Bar, as 16 wickets fell inside 50 overs for 133 runs, in the process Radlett remained clear at the top after collecting their 8th league win of the season by 4 wkts on a pitch that could generously be described as sporting, though the batsmen on both sides might have preferred other adjectives. Two months of hot dry weather had clearly taken its toll, as the teams were presented with a cracked uneven surface that was always going to make run scoring a difficult business, though its fair to say that some sloppy batting was a large factor in a number of dismissals.

Potters Bar skipper Len Cooper won what appeared to be a vital toss, and elected to bat expecting the pitch to be at its best early before deteriorating as the game progressed. However, Radlett's Shane Burger took the new ball, and sensing ideal conditions for his fast medium bowling, charged in and wreaked havoc amongst the top order, claiming the first 5 wickets. First to fall was Gavin Baker (1), superbly taken one handed at full stretch by keeper Steve Lowe off an inside edge, followed by skipper Cooper (11) clean bowled shouldering arms to a fast nip backer. In the same over Scott Fraser fell for a 4th ball duck, magnificently caught by Rob Smith diving full length to his right at second slip, and 22-3 became 23-4 when Mike Palmer was trapped on the crease and plumb lbw for 11. Potters Bar star man Kash Weeraratne came to the crease, and struck two lofted strokes to the legside boundary, but, after struggling to combat the inconsistent bounce, he fell for 12 to a sharp catch at mid on by Stuart Browne to give Burger another 5 wicket haul. Immediately after the drinks break, Browne joined the party to claim his first wicket as Burger ran round from short fine leg to catch Jarred Norman's top edged sweep, and Burger then nipped in for his 6th victim, Dean Dass splicing a short ball to silly point where Nick Fielden held the chance. The 8th wicket pairing of Paul Barker and Nesan Jeyaratnam took the score from 40 to 64 before the introduction of slow left armer Haydn Smith brought about a swift conclusion to the innings, Jeyaratnam caught and bowled, Andy Colquhoun taken at silly point by Fielden, and finally Paul Mcgee caught at backward short leg by skipper Dan Chippeck, Smith finishing with remarkable figures of 3 wickets for the concession of just 1 run. Burger bowled through the innings his 14 overs yielding 6-28, Potters Bar all out for 66 in just 28 overs.

Radlett's openers Fielden and Graham Dill survived the 2 overs until lunch without alarm, but on the resumption, Dill was immediately caught behind by Fraser off Weeraratne for a duck, quickly followed by Fielden who edged behind off Colquhoun to leave Radlett rocking at 8-2. The two Smiths combined to form an assured partnership taking the score to 39 with a mixture of positive stroke play and studious defence, before Colquhoun changed ends and got Rob Smith (19) to drag on a wide one and then claimed Steve Lowe second ball to a magnificent delivery that he was unfortunate enough to feather through to keepr Fraser. Haydn Smith kept his head and was playing a fine hand, dismissing every bad ball to the boundary with efficiency and ruthlessness, and he and Mitz Choksi took the score to 53-4 before Choksi and then Simon Gray fell in the same Colquhoun over , edging attempted drives behind to give Fraser his 4th and 5th catch respectively. Shane Burger joined Smith and the two destroyers in chief with the ball eased their way to the victory target, Smith wrapping things up with two glorious drives off Weeraratne to finish 29 not out, the only batsman on either side to even come close to mastering the difficult conditions.

Radlett skipper Dan Chippeck commented:" This was a vital win for us, all be it in somewhat strange circumstances, and you have to wonder whether the conditions were suitable for a big clash between first and third in this league. Having said that, our bowlers were absolutely superb in exploiting those conditions, and were backed up by some terrific close catching which in the final analysis made a huge contribution to the victory. Shane's form with the ball had dipped recently but he stormed back this week in fine style, whilst Haydn continued to show what a vital all round role he has in our team, and his innings showed what could be done with application and tenacity."

Next up for Radlett in their title chase is a home game against Stevenage, whose hammering of Sawbridgeworth saw them leapfrog Potters Bar into third place in the HCPL Division 2 (East), whilst Welwyn remained in second place, 13 points behind Radlett, after beating Hoddesdon.

Radlett CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
67
(0.0 overs)		    
Nick Fielden Caught  6 2
Graham Dill Caught  0
Haydn Smith Not Out  29 1
Rob Smith Bowled  19 1
Steve Lowe Caught  0 1
Mitz Choksi Caught  2
Simon Gray Caught  0
Shane Burger Not Out  4 1
Dan Chippeck   1
Stuart Browne   1
Stuart Browne  

Potters Bar Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Potters Bar Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
66 (0.0 overs)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Radlett CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shane Burger14.052864.672.00
Stuart Browne11.0436136.003.27
Haydn Smith3.02130.330.33

  • Umpire :
    Lew Hodgins & Chris Brown
  • Scorer :
    Doreen Browne