3’s Nearly Snatch Victory Against High Flying Flitwick
The Third eleven nearly pulled off victory against second placed Flitwick III as they lost by just one wicket. The 3’s posted 194-8 off their 47 overs in which Daniel Willoughby (65) starred with yet another half-century as the team batted around him to build there total. They battled away in the field and nearly snatched victory with Joe Festa taking two wickets in two balls to reduce Flitwick III to 193-9 but with the hat-trick ball he slid down the leg side and gave away the byes that ended the game. That result gave the three’s 19 points and moved them out of the relegation places, more performances like this will see the three’s to safety.
Two out of Three isn’t bad!
Old Elizabethan’s first XI got off to a fling start this weekend with a victory over Broxbourne II in Division 5 of the Hertfordshire League. After winning the toss and inserting the opposition, skipper James Heavey was probably having second thoughts when Broxbourne raced to 77 without loss off 12 overs. Following the breakthrough, OE’s slowed the run rate right down and were able to restrict Broxbourne to 207-7 off their 53 overs, this was largely thanks to a marathon spell from off spinner Navaid Akhtar who ended with figures of 19-1-36-3 and some excellent ground fielding to back up the bowlers on a pitch that offered very little.
The OE’s top order felt very confident in chasing down the target and this was helped by a superb innings of 85 from Matt Holland. After losing an early wicket, Holland was pushed up the order from 7 to 3 to get some quick runs in a pinch hitting role, at the end of his innings he had staked a claim for a slot in the top order. The win was sealed with Navaid Akhtar (48*) and Rob Gibson (28*) seeing the side home for a six wicket win with four overs to spare.
Summary
Broxbourne II 207-7 (D.Smith 74 N.Akhtar 3-36) Old Elizabethans 208-4 (M.Holland 85, N.Akhtar 48*) Link to Scorecard
Elsewhere, it was victory as well for the second as well with new skipper Rob Dunn getting off to the perfect start, having won the toss and elected to bat, Dunn couldn’t have been happier with openers as they amassed 165 for the first wicket with opener Paul Lissowski (95) and Andy Vernon (73) putting the Sandridge II bowlers to the sword. The innings finished with the total of 266-3 with Captain Dunn afforded the luxury of declaring in 47 overs. The OE’s bowlers made light work of the opposition batsman dismissing them for a mere 134 with Rob Jones the star of the show finishing with figures of 4-29.
Summary
Old Elizabethans II 266-3 (P.Lissowski 95, A.Vernon 73) Sandridge II 134-10 (R.Jones 4-29)
And finally, the third XI nearly snuck victory from the jaws of defeat as they lost by two wickets at home to Shenley Village IV, having been dismissed for just 121 the third XI made early forced victory taking 8 wickets to at least take 10 points from their opening game.
Summary
Old Elizabethans 121-10 Shenley Village IV 125-8
League Averages 2010
The Hertfordshire League have published there annual averages for the 2010 season. It is again pleasing to see players from each eleven making it into the divisional records rewarding those individuals for their exploits over the season, these will be published in the 2011 League Handbook.
There are five players from the first XI who make it into the Division 5 lists. Navaid Akhtar was included in both lists having scored 576 runs and taken 28 wickets, among his performances a special mention for his century against Knebworth Park. Matthew Heavey & Clive Collins are included on the batting list for the the second season running, both had indifferent seasons this year but it is good to see both our openers make the list. Harshad Patel capped an excellent year as leading wicket taker for the 1st XI with 33 wickets. Finally, new ball bowler Matthew Holland was rewarded for a great improvement in his control (and some excellent field settings from his skipper) to end the season with 27 wickets and an economy rate of under 3.5.
Javid Akhtar capped off an excellent season in the Second XI with 539 runs by being included in the Division 10 list. Also included was Glenroy Hylton in his debut season in League cricket in which he scored 2 centuries, and Tristan Smith was the the third batsman to be included, GET IN THERE!!!
In Division 13, Deshal De Silva finished the season with an average of 40.67 and top score of 134 to achieve a top 10 batting spot. The other batsman to be included was John Willoughby as he once again provided the foundations at the top of the order for the Third XI. The Third XI wasn’t always spoilt for choice when it came to bowlers, but those it did have regularly excelled. Young Player of the Year Jack Willoughby led the way with an average of just 11.15 and ended with seasons best figures of 6-36. Steve Moss had an excellent start to the season before suffering an injury which kept him out for nearly half the season, the highlight would probably be the hat-trick he took at Waltham X Rosedale. Finally Shane Millar was included as he provided his skipper with control from one end, he led the way with 30 wickets and season best figures of 6-71.
Its good to see our colts leading the way with 3 U18′s making it into the league handbook, a big thank you goes to those who run our colts setup for all the players it has nurtured through to push our senior teams onto bigger and better things.
Please click the below attachment to view the 2010 League averages.
90 Points
Last weekend saw all three sides record wins on the same day for the first time this season.
In the First XI it was not one of our tougher days as we gained regular breakthroughs against Leverstock Green II. Having won the toss Leverstock would have been dissappointed to lose wickets when they did and to be bowled out for just 96. The wickets were shared around with Matt ‘Dutchy’ Holland (3-36) dismissing the opening batsman with the third ball of the innings, Dutchy was backed up well by Alex Herbert (3-24) who finished of the tail with two full deliveries. Harshad (3-22) & Navaid both provided there usual economical spells not letting the batsman have any freebies, Nav was especially frugal in his spell of 10-5-5-1.
Matt ‘Cossy’ Heavey got the innings off to a flyer with a quickfire 37 including 3 fours & 2 sixes while Navaid also scored 29 and finally Dutchy hit the winning runs to secure our 3 win in our last 4 games.
The second XI had a tougher outing away to Abbott’s Langley, having won the toss Smithy decided to bat and was rewarded for his decision as the second XI posted their highest total of the season, 257 all out off 47 overs. This total included an innings of 99 by opener Javid Akhtar & having already hit 98 this season, a century must be on the cards sooner or later. It was over to the bowlers and they did the team proud, dismissing Abbott’s Langley for 160.
And finally the third XI had just an easy a day as the firsts as they inserted Waltham X Rosedale & bowled them out for 94 inside 35 overs. It took our boys just 20 overs to knock this total off and complete a second successive win.
First XI Scorecard – Second XI Scorecard – Third XI Scorecard
All Washed Out
This week the Hertfordshire League schedule resembled one more commonly see at SW19 with the majority of the fixtures being washed out, accounting for all three of the fixtures involving our teams.
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