Not a great day with 10 men

Ricky 4s started off with only 10 players including young talents. It was a bright and sunny day for cricket at Wheathampstead. Ken won the toss and chose to bat first.
Prasanth and Callum who was given the opportunity opened the innings for Rickmansworth. Wheathampstead Opening blowers were quick to take wickets of Ricky youngsters. Callum and Ryann went without scoring any runs. Keshav came in as no 4. Before he could settle in, there was poor calling between batsmen leading to running out Kashav. In the first 5 overs Rickmansworth was down by 3 wickets with only 6 runs on the board. Prasanth was then joined by Hitemesh. The left right combination seemed to work as the pair put on a 40 runs partnership, but it did not last long. Prasanth got out bowled at 25. Yusuf Waqar and Awais were the next ones quick to go without scoring any runs. Yusuf got an edge to slips and Awais was stumped when he tried to come down the track and whack the ball. Hitmesh and Hanuman kept the score ticking when Hitmesh's big shot found a fielder at the boundary for a catch. Hitmesh added 23 important runs to the team. Ken joined Hanuman at no 9. Ken supported Hanuman and the pair added another 10 runs before drinks. Ken was caught behind just after drinks for a splendid catch. Neil B came in at no 10 remained not out and supported Hanuman to add 12 more runs. Hanuman scored 24 runs and was out caught at mid-on. Ricky's team only managed to put 87 runs on the board for Wheathampstead to chase.

Wheathamstead opened their innings with their best batting pair. Ricky had to defend a target of 87 so Ken decided to start the bowling attack with Hanuman and Prasanth. Prasanth and Hanuman kept tight bowling for 10 overs but no luck of wickets and scores kept ticking. Yusuf replaced Prasanth and bowled great swings but was unlucky to disturb the stumps or get a wicket. Young Rayyan and Keshav replaced the bowling pair Hanuman and Yusuf. Rayyan kept great line and length making batsmen’s job not easy. Keshav bowled a full toss beamer to get the opening batsman out bowled. Wheathamstead’s opening partnership was broken after 74 runs on the board. Keshav took another wicket in his following over, caught behind by Neil Burdett. It was a good effort by the team but the batting collapse and low score did not help...roll on next week where we start again.