Knockers Vs Hadlow

Win :: Played on Sunday 14th May 2023

Knockers
250-3

Hadlow
241-5

Match Report

2023 Season Kicked Off in Muggy Style. Runs, fines, singles & boundaries only, injuries, dropped catches, catches, injuries, badgery and tea. The purists engorged themselves on a firecracker to open the season.

Stand in captain Marsh set a fine precedent in arriving 15 minutes late to find a toss had been won and the Knockers were batting. Fuming, family name besmirched.

There was some moisture in the outfield so openers Boreham and Shah set to task with few 2s on offer. Some fine hitting from Boreham saw him sprint to 50, hole out and nip off for a beer; a Knockers template if ever there were one. Shah gave a few bat taps to incoming Matt and a fine partnership followed, both men following Oli’s example and finding gaps with enough regularity to set up an imposing total. Jai hit his shot of the day to get to 88, retired himself, and later questioned whether he ought to have stuck around. Matt showed exceptional hitting with some nudges down the ground, a very exciting glimpse of more to come. As the overs wore on, and with humidity rising, the hitting kept pace with Scott and Ted nipping a few at the death to take us to 250 for 2 after 35 overs.

Fast-forward some sandwiches and a very well made cuppa from the hosts, and we were heading back out to plot our defence. A man down owing to some elbow-related injuries in the Seldon household, we had 10 men to play with and some exciting fielding discussions ensued. Scott noted this might have been the best showing in Knockers gear as 9 of the 10 donned the top with a healthy fine being levied at Chris.

Opening bowlers Bogie and Dave kicked things off with a tantalising mixture of shoulder-height freebies and stone-dead seeds. Neil applied himself magnificently up against a tiny leg-side boundary but Bogie unfortunately succumbed to his frankly ill-advised delivery stride and took himself off after 2 overs (but yes, you will be bowling again Chris). As Neil continued from the bottom end, Chris’ white flag came as a masterstroke of self-doubt as it opened the door for el profesor to enter the fray. Johnny the Mitch, whose last appearance at this ground saw his forehead split asunder, took his revenge with aplomb and secured the wicket of their opener with his first ball of the match, a catch Akhil happened to take with consummate ease.

This was indeed a moment to be celebrated as wickets were hard to come by, and this game was marked by a great deal of graft and guile by both sides with the bat, ball and in the field. The following partnership fronted up against our attack nicely, with Millen finding gaps more often than Knockers were producing chances. Ziggy plowed about tying his end down with nagging deliveries that were occasionally too good for the oppo to hit, with several chances just out of reach for most fielding hands aside from a fumble from his likely competitor for total wickets this season, Anand. But strike he did, and it was a big one. Hadlow’s second-wicket partnership was really putting a dent in our total and taking out the slightly more aggressive Wilson tipped the momentum scales back towards Knockers and we tried to turn the screw from there.

Akhil drew the very short straw of bowling up the slope with a short boundary but produced 6 invaluable overs in the context of the high-scoring game. Bravely coming from round the wicket, he kept scoring shots down and was the victim of a few balls popping up for an oppo to thwack. The innings headed to a very marketable finish with the oppo just about matching the required 10 an over for the final 15 overs. Akhil, Neil, Prof M and Ted faced a nervy closing act and some energetic fielding from Bogie, Jai and Matt kept spirits high.

The death saw Mirren pass his 100 and not stop, Mitch questioned the exact total being chased and Boreham let 4 byes through in the last over as the required went from 14 off 4 to a precarious 10 off 3. A few ankle-high bouncers later and we were through, another brilliant result and a ground that has produced some very close encounters in recent times.

Post-match highlights included Ziggy parading his St Albans FC (a town he lives nowhere near) shirt, owing to his affinity for their shirt sponsor, Enter Shikari. They are on tour next year, Starman. In other news, Matt has kindly mooted the club could do with a more active social media presence so watch out; that plus him exploring providing match teas (via his heroic mother) is setting an early standard for clubman of the year.

Lovely to be back, can’t wait to see how the team fares next.

TM

 

Batting

Batsman	How Out	4s	6s	Runs
Jai Shah	not out	11	3	88
Oli Boreham	caught	5	4	54
Matt Landers	bowled	3	5	69
Scott Landers	not out	0	0	6
Ted Marsh	not out	0	3	23
Chris Bogie	dnb	0	0	0
John Mitchell	dnb	0	0	0
Akhil Anand	dnb	0	0	0
Neil Dave	dnb	0	0	0
David Bowen	dnb	0	0	0

 

Bowling

Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts
Chris Bogie	2.0	0	19	0
Neil Dave	7.0	0	41	0
John Mitchell	6.0	0	47	1
Ted Marsh	7.0	0	23	2
David Bowen	7.0	0	44	1
Akhil Anand	6.0	0	57	0

 

Match Photos