Scorecard

Hoddesdon III v Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI on Sat 02 Jul 2011 at 1.00pm
Northwood Town Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report Northwood Town II picked up a vital 30 points, their first since the end of May - with a hard fought, low scoring victory over fellow strugglers Hoddesdon III. Skipper Neil Cheesewright was absent so Sumeet Khetia took over the captaincy and was able to welcome back Adam Hills for his first game of the season following knee surgery whilst Ravi Ramawat and Prakash Tailor stepped up from the 3rd XI.

In the picturesque settings of Thundridge Sports Pavilion, Khetia lost the toss and the opposition chose to bat first. What followed in the first hour of the game can only be described as a fairly unique phase of cricket. On a slow track with variable bounce, opening bowlers Neal Furmenger and Conor O'Neill (nearly 30 years in age separating them) took Hoddesdon to pieces. Furmenger's nagging line and length were to prove a constant thorn in the home teams side as he picked up 2/19 off 16 excellent overs, while O'Neill's raw pace caused problems. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals and while a couple of the wickets were rather fortunate - Town stormed into a strong position and Hoddesdon crumbled to 36/6. O'Neill registering figures of 3/35 off 8 overs.

However a seventh wicket partnership of 62 between the experienced heads of Hoddy skipper Aidan McElligot and his partner in crime Peter Draisey restored some respectability to the scoreline. However Town's bowlers continued to plug away and runs were at a premium. The hosts did however manage to bat the full 53 overs despite Pradip Pandey coming on to skittle much of the tail with 3/25 and they closed their innings on 138/9, a total Town will have been slightly disappointed with given their early dominance.

The contrasting styles of Adam Hills and Dave Harding opened up the innings for Town and the pair grafted out a first wicket partnership of 39 before Harding looped one into the slips. Aidan McElligot, Hoddy's own version of Furmo bowled unchanged for 21 overs was always on the money and runs were hard to come from his end. He removed Hills shortly after Harding for a typically agressive 23 and Town then had their typical middle order collapse as Rukshan Senanayaka, Andy Burt, who had looked in fine fettle for his 20 - and Pradip Pandey all fell in quick succession.

That allowed skipper Khetia and debutant Ravi Ramawat to come to the crease with the score at 70/4. They both knuckled down well and Ramawat in particular was quick to punish the bad ball. Town slowly edged closer to their total and despite Khetia being caught at mid-on for 15, Havan Patel joined Ramawat to steer Town home for the loss of 6 wickets and with 5 overs remaining. Ramawat's innings showed much maturity, something that has been clearly lacking in Town's batting order in recent weeks and he closed with an unbeaten 29.

This was a game that Town will feel they should have won an hour or so before they actually did. But credit where its due and Town stuck to their task well. They host Parkstone & Headstone II at Chestnut Avenue next weekend and will be hoping to build on this win.

Hoddesdon III Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
138 (0.0 overs)		     
M Brooks b  C O'Neill 2
S Harrison b  Furmenger 0
H Brown b  C O'Neill 0
N Barlow ct  Tailor b C O'Neill 8
M Hayler b  Furmenger 1
A McElligot ct  C O'Neill b Khetia 45
S Dean b  Pandey 11
P Draisey ct  Khetia b Pandey 40
T McElligot b  Pandey 0
L Murray Not Out  10
J Gorton Not Out  0

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Neal Furmenger16.0101929.501.19
Conor O'Neill8.0135311.674.38
Pradip Pandey10.032538.332.50
Prakash Tailor5.011300.002.60
Adam Hills7.011300.001.86
Sumeet Khetia7.0129129.004.14

Northwood Town Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
139		        
Adam Hills lbw  b A McElligot 23
David Harding ct  Dean b Brown 12
Rukshan Senanayaka ct  Draisey b A McElligot 3
Andy Burt ct  Harrison b Brown 20
Pradip Pandey ct  & b A McElligot 5
Ravi Ramawat Not Out  29
Sumeet Khetia ct  Barlow b Gorton 15 1
Havan Patel Not Out  8
Prakash Tailor   1
Neal Furmenger  
Conor O'Neill   1

Hoddesdon III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Gorton9.0244144.004.89
A McElligot21.01031310.331.48
H Brown7.5125212.503.19
M Brooks5.002200.004.40