A Ray of Light

Match Report by Yusuf Waqar

Another week of poor, dark and miserable weather and after a tough loss the week prior to Northwood Town, Rickmansworth were looking to turn things around and find a ray of light from somewhere. Captain Ken was back this week, and after losing the toss, Rickmansworth were put in to bat on still a relatively damp pitch. This caused difficulty for the opening batsmen with the ball keeping low, however, the fore mentioned ray of light would come from opening batsman Ray Hibbert who looked in spectacular form with the bat. Along with the young Yash Ruparelia, the two got Rickmansworth off to a solid start with some nice strokes and good running between the wickets, instantly putting pressure on the bowlers and fielders. However, the solid start came to a halt when Yash was caught and departed for 9. In came Prasanth Subramanian. After a duck last week, Prasanth was determined to perform with the bat. His partnership with Ray accelerated Rickmansworth onto 73-1 off 18 overs putting the team in a great position nearing the half way point of the innings. However, Old Minchendenians managed to break the partnership after a pee roller took Prasanth’s off stump just before drinks. Neil R departed for 2 being given lbw and Ray was bowled shortly after for 33. Those fall of wickets brought Old Minchendenians back into the game.

Darshan Roy and Rushil Sharma were the new batsmen in and both seemed to struggle against the loopy spin bowling. The run rate was falling and a target of 150 was starting to look more like 120, however Darshan and Rushil began connecting and were soon adding on vital runs. Both batsmen were caught as they looked to attack which brought in captain, Ken Brown and vice captain, Yusuf Waqar, with around 5 overs remaining. Yusuf looked to attack straight away, however, with a slow pitch and long boundaries, it was all about grinding out the runs with quick running between the wickets. In fact, the ball only reached the boundary line 5 times during the whole innings. Ken was bowled for 0 as he looked to attack. This brought in Sahaj Patel. Along with Yusuf, the pair managed to push the team onto 145 with some excellent running between the wickets.

Yusuf and Prasanth opened the bowling, with both bowling excellently to restrict the opening batsmen. After the first 5 overs, there were yet to be any runs scored from the bat. The only thing missing was a wicket, until Prasanth managed to get a breakthrough with a beautiful delivery. A very solid start from the opening bowlers, restricting the opposition to 19-1 off the opening 10 overs. Yash and Neil R were the first bowling changes, and both continued the good work of the openers by applying further pressure on the batsmen. Neil picked up the second wicket thanks to a fantastic diving catch by star man Ray Hibbert. Yash built the pressure from the other end and picked up a further 3 wickets, leaving Old Minchendenians in big trouble. However, the batsmen managed to slowly creep their way back into the game with a couple of partnerships and all of a sudden, a game which Rickmansworth seemed to be cruising, was becoming very tight. A wicket was needed and quick. Yusuf was brought back into the attack, and in his final over, managed to pick up a wicket which just halted the momentum. Sahaj picked up another after taking a catch off his own bowling.

The game was still however, very tightly poised. Old Minchendenians required just over a run a ball. The bowling had to be tight and it was. A few edges from the batsman crept them back into contention. Another wicket was needed. Step forward, Darshan Roy! As the batsmen attempted a second run, Darshan gathered the ball and produced an underarm throw from deep that to the batsmen, poised no threat as he wondered back to his crease. However, the throw was perfectly accurate and knocked the bails, a loud appeal from the team and the settled batsman on 32 was dismissed! Crucial moment in the game as Rickmansworth regained control. This brilliant piece of fielding by Darshan was matched not long after by wicketkeeper Neil Burdett who noticed the batsman out of his crease and had him stumped. Prasanth then wrapped up the game with another wicket and Rickmansworth picked up a well-deserved victory. A strong performance by the team and a game in which every member played a big part in the win.