Scorecard

Radlett CC 2nd XI v Northwood Town on Sat 01 Aug 2009 at 12.30 p.m.
Match was Abandoned

Match report .
The selection committee met on 28.7.09 to choose the teams for the weekend of 1 and 2.8.09. The resulting teamsheet was circulated to the selected players and others by the usual means. David Hanson was a welcome inclusion as wicket keeper for the 2nd XI, making one of his now rare appearances. At the time of the selection committee meeting, Gareth Berg did not know that he would become available to play for RCC on 1.8.09. When he did find out, and informed RCC, he was placed in RCC's 1st XI. As a result, Atul Sachdeva was moved from the 1st XI to the 2nd XI, and Hardain Nandhra was displaced into the 3rd XI, which had previously lost a player.

The weather forecast for the day of the match predicted that rain would arrive from the west in the early afternoon. In the event, some light rain fell from the overcast sky before the match was due to start, wetting the outfield. The groundsheet over the pitch was removed after the shower had passed. Raj Ahluwalia, captain of Northwood Town, won the toss, and decided to field first. Normally, this would be regarded as a very aggressive or a very defensive approach to the match, and indeed, the relative league positions of the two sides suggest some difference in strengths. However, it seems possible that Raj A took the weather forecast into account as well as this potential difference. Certainly, his decision to field first gave RCC the extra problem of choosing the general shape of their innings, and, in particular, a target for its scoring rate.

More light rain began to fall as Lloyd Paternott and Nick Fielden opened the RCC innings, making slow and careful progress in poor light against tight opening bowling. Nick skied a mis-hit hook to fine leg in the day's third over, but the chance was dropped. Otherwise, NTCC's bowlers and fielders dealt with the damp ball very well. RCC reached 20-0 after 10 overs, and 49-2 after 20 overs. Light rain showers came and went.

John Barr, who had begun his innings during over 20, scored more freely, with Nick Fielden joining in. Nick reached his 50 at 14:53 hr from 96 balls faced, while John achieved his 50 four minutes later from only 44 balls. Nick and John had added 125 runs for the 3rd wicket in 58 minutes and 17 overs when John was caught for 75. Nick went on to score a further 42 runs from 28 more balls faced, failing to score from only six of these deliveries before falling to an LBW appeal. At this point, RCC had reached 196-5 in the 42nd over. Their 6th and 7th wickets followed at 197 and 215 as batsmen took risks in the quest for quick runs. At this point, with maximum batting bonus points achieved, Nick Fielden declared the innings closed eight overs early. This increased the potential length of the NTCC innings from 47 to 55 overs, weather permitting.

From this innings, RCC obtained 2 x 5 = 10 batting bonus points, while NTCC received 7 - 5 = 2 bowling bonus points.

As usual, Johnson Mafa and Stuart Browne opened the bowling for RCC. As is quite usual, they registered early successes, Stuart in his first and Johnson in his third over. At the end of over 6, NTCC had reached 12-2. Atul Sachdeva then bowled one over for the cost of a single to allow Johnson and Stuart to change ends. With rain falling more heavily, Johnson, Stuart and then Johnson again bowled a total of three more overs before the umpires decided to suspend procedings. NTCC had reached a score of 19-2 by this stage. The groundsheet was placed over the pitch, the rain fell and later stopped, and play was resumed after a wait of about 39 minutes. In this situation, the League match rules specify that one over must be deducted from the length of the second innings for each full 3.5 minutes of time lost. This resulted in a loss of 11 overs from the teatime allocation of 55 overs.

After the restart, Lee Fortis took over from Stuart, and bowled a maiden. Johnson then prepared to bowl over 12, but the umpires seemed to raise objections,possibly because of the poor light, or possibly out of concern for Johnson's safety on the slippery runup. Instead, Stuart bowled the over, trapping Raj Alhuwalia LBW with his first ball. NTCC 19-3. Lee continued at the Tabard end, followed by Atul's second over of tempting leg spin. This proved to be very exciting, as NTCC's batsmen appeared to choose a policy of death or glory, or indeed anything but a long innings in the bad light and increasing rain. The result was a mixture of boundaries and wickets, with Johnson completing a good sideways catch at deep mid-wicket on one knee, and NTCC's current top scorer departing LBW. NTCC 33-5. Atul's third and final over continued the pattern of excitement, boundaries and a wicket. After three successive lofted drives for four, Mike Lister hit a hard return drive along the ground. Atul managed to get a hand to the ball, deflecting it onto the stumps at his end. NTCC's non-striker, backing up out of his ground, was left high and dry. Run out, NTCC 49-6. Atul disappeared under a hail of congratulatory backslapping from the close fielders.

During Lee's over 4, over 17 of the innings, the umpires again decided that the rain had become too heavy/the light had become too bad, so play was suspended, and the groundsheet was deployed for a second time. Conditions improved after about 25 minutes, and RCC's players removed the groundsheet. Umpires and batsmen took the field, and everyone found their previous places. A further 7 overs would have been lost, reducing the innings to a maximum of 37 overs, but more heavy rain began to fall before Lee could continue the over. This time, the covers were put over the pitch, and the game was formally abandoned about 25 minutes later, at 18:50 hr. By then, the square had acquired sheets of standing water, the outfield was squishy, and a large, deep puddle had formed on the top boundary beside the scorebox. Extras conceded by RCC were B 2 LB 1 NB 3 W 2.

10 points, or bonus points if they are greater, were awarded for this abandoned match. So RCC obtained 10 batting plus 6 bowling bonus points, and NTCC obtained 10 points. From NTCC's viewpoint, that totally vindicated Raj Ahluwalia's decision to field first. If RCC had fielded first, it seems quite likely that the NTCC innings would have ended in time for RCC to pass their total before the heavy rain prevented any more play. As it was, faster scoring in the early overs of the RCC innings could have allowed a slightly earlier declaration, which might have affected the result.

WM
.

Radlett CC 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
215
(0.0 overs)		    
Lloyd Paternott Caught  Phil Costard Bowled David Bushnell 13
Nick Fielden Lbw  David Bushnell 92
David Robinson Bowled  Johannes van Ee 10
John Barr Caught  Raj Ahluwalia Bowled Dominic Whyley 75
James Lewis Caught  Veer Vagdama Bowled Dominic Whyley 1
Lee Fortis Bowled  David Bushnell 1 1
Nish Selvakumar Stumped  Phil Costard Bowled Dominic Whyley 16
Atul Sachdeva Not Out  3 1
David Hanson   Did not bat
Johnson Mafa   Did not bat 1
Stuart Browne   Did not bat

Northwood Town Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
David Bushnell17.0173324.334.29
Johannes van Ee13.0244144.003.38
Veer Vagdama6.013500.005.83
Dominic Whyley8.5061320.336.91

Northwood Town Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
52 (0.0 overs)
Phil Costard + Caught  Lee Fortis Bowled Stuart Browne 1
Brendan Heaney Bowled  Johnson Mafa 2
Rohan Lee Lbw  Atul Sachdeva 14
Raj Alhuwalia * Lbw  Stuart Browne 3
Johannes van Ee Caught  Johnson Mafa Bowled Atul Sachdeva 7
Mike Lister Not Out  15
David Bushnell Run out  0
Veer Vagdama Not Out  2
Dominic Whyley   Did not bat
Viraj Manek   Did not bat
Jack Daly   Did not bat

Radlett CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Johnson Mafa5.0113113.002.60
Stuart Browne5.02723.501.40
Atul Sachdeva3.0021210.507.00
Lee Fortis3.51800.002.09

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    B.Marshall