Scorecard

Radlett CC 4th XI v Ware on Sat 21 Jul 2007 at 1.30 p.m
Match was Drawn

Match report Radlett IV drew a rain-shortened game against third-placed Ware in Division Six without gaining their just reward. This was another occasion illustrating that the usually proactive Herts League have been far too slow revising the rules.

Radlett, put in to bat, reached 100 for two off almost 31 overs when rain halted the innings, and the interruption cut the maximum duration to 42 overs. A run charge, led by Shamit Nathwani, took the score up to an admirable 167-6, but for scoring at four runs an over on a tricky pitch and taking seven Ware wickets in 36 overs, Radlett gained only 11 points. The basic league points system is designed to reward this run-rate with maximum batting points, but because rain shortened the game, the required 200 runs was an almost impossible target through no fault of the batting side. In any case the side batting first is put under severe disadvantage, because they are much less unlikely to win, requiring 10 wickets in only 36 overs, probably with a wet ball – though it was nine wickets on Saturday because Ware actually had only 10 men.

The Southern League, for example, have a simple table for adjusting bonus points targets in the event of an overs reduction. The Herts League could, say, reduce the batting points maximum by 10 runs every three overs lost. On that system Radlett would have required 160, a fair figure for 42 overs, and some compensation for the (basically) unavoidable injustice of resuming an innings with fewer overs in hand than originally planned.

And so to the match, as EW Swanton used to say after such digression. Matt Bell batted fluently at the start, and Nathwani and Charlie Randall played well against tidy bowling, riding their luck at times, in a very good second-wicket partnership that ended the ball before the rain storm when Randall gave away his wicket. Richard Hardy snicked the first ball after the resumption, but the middle order piled on the runs expertly as the ball became wetter in light rain.

The odds were stacked in Ware’s favour when they started batting in sunshine, but all the Radlett bowlers controlled the wet ball extremely well. Bell’s fielding settings were shrewd and the pressure built on the visitors until a torrent of wickets fell to medium pacers Zahur Gitay and Chandana Meepagama, aided by sound late-night catching in deepening gloom.

For a high-flying side Ware were surprisingly flabby with the bat, apparently content with 138-7 in what should have been a do-or-die effort. Instead of 30 points from the match, they gained only one point. Nevertheless Radlett played with considerable skill in this game.

Radlett CC 4th XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
167
(0.0 overs)		    
Matthew Bell Bowled  21
Shamit Nathwani Not Out  65
Charles Randall Bowled  34
Richard Hardy Caught  0 1
Nick Tune Caught  17
Vishal Patel Caught  17 2
Chandana Meepegama Bowled  3
Zahur Gitay Not Out  1
Lloyd Paternott  
Neil Lederman   1
Jeremy Menzies  

Ware Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Ware Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
138 (0.0 overs)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Radlett CC 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Neil Lederman7.013200.004.57
Lloyd Paternott5.0116116.003.20
Chandana Meepegama13.0141313.673.15
Zahur Gitay11.0143314.333.91

  • Umpire :
    B Jones
  • Scorer :
    Laura Lambert