Ricky’s 3rds 18-game unbeaten streak was ended by Plucky Old Albanians last week. This was followed by trip up to second placed Berko on a lovely sunny day . And just what the Dr. ordered in a customary fashion Gaurav lost the toss, and Berkhamsteds captain took a nano second to
decide to bat on what looked and would prove to be an absolute road. Angus struggled with the ball not swinging in his first over before setting well, and at the other end Ronesh was straight into his work with his tight line and length beating the bat of Lewarne a couple of times early doors. This was inevitably where the breakthrough would come, and Ronesh teased a thick outside edge taken smartly low and one handed by Stefan at slip. The passage of play up to drinks was fairly turgid, with the score moving on to 83 at the halfway stage. Angus and Syam were offered little help by the pitch or conditions, and both captain Flemming, and no3 Fisher were scoring runs off anything slightly off line or length. They ran well between the wickets and Fishers shot of choice was the legside flick down the hill. In fact this was to be his undoing. Gaurav had already had 6 strong LBW appeals turned down by the time the umpire raised his finger and he departed shy of his fifty.
Berkos middle order comprising largely of youngsters batted well but never got on top of G, Lekshay, Ronesh and Syam. What they did do was run singles well and keep the scoreboard moving at a reasonable but not breathtaking rate. Gaurav picked up the dangerous Brown lbw, and skipper Flemming bowled to end up with a tidy three wicket haul. Lekshays eight overs were unfortunate not to be rewarded with a wicket, and Ronesh finished with 4-40. Ronesh was upset that a couple of fours at the end blotted his runs column, however his first ball of the next match is a hat-trick ball! Most weeks a score of 198 from 40 overs, would be considered half decent, however we thought on that track 220 would have been a more realistic target, nonetheless chasing 200 odd is always tricky.

After an appalling batting performance the week before Rickmansworth knew that if they batted sensibly this total was very gettable. Owen and Snehal started solidly against White and Oliver Brown with White being the only bowler who Clarke, Berkos excellent young keeper chose not to stand up to. The scoring was ticking along nicely and two dangerous no balls saw Berko forced to remove White from the attack. By the time Snehal departed for 21, he had hit a six over backward square and a couple of nice fours. Owen at the other end was going well and with the score on 64 was joined by Angus. Berkos slower bowlers stemmed the scoring rate to a degree, in much the same way Rickmansworths had. Wale (snr) and Klosterman bowled tightly and Angus didn’t really get going. When he chipped one caught in two minds, the score had moved on to 78-2. Stefan joined Owen who was still batting nicely, and playing another really responsible innings, finding the gaps, and putting the occasional bad ball away. Drinks came and Ricky were in an almost identical position to Berko, scoring at four an over. With two experienced batters in the pitch, there was no panic at this stage although Stefan had yet to score in nearly 20 balls. Berkos youngsters were more than happy to keep reminding the Ricky batsmen that the run rate was going up. By the time Owen departed for 46 (from 75 balls and deserving of a 50 ) Stefan was flowing a bit more freely. Young Ollie Lightbourne like his batting partner was patient at first, but very calm under pressure. He manipulated the ball well, picked the gaps and thundered a couple of wonderful 4s. This partnership of 40 put Rickmansworth within 58 runs of victory and with Matt, Waheed, Gaurav, Lekshay, Syam and Ronesh left to bat it should have been a formality. When Ollie departed for 22 off 27 balls, Stefan was finding the boundary regularly, but went for a lofted drive too many to be caught on the boundary for 45(50 balls) Matt was yet to score and was joined by Waheed- one of Rickys finest finishers. Sadly on this occasion it
wasn’t to be and his duck sent a few nervous glances around the Rickmanswoth players. Gaurav joined Matt and the entertainment continued. Matt Greenland as we all know can hit a long ball, and his straight six in the 37 th over left Ricky needing around a run a ball. Gaurav wasn’t really finding the middle of one of his many bats, yet his attempted ramp was one of the most entertaining moments of the day. When he departed for 4, Lekshay joined Matt, and the game continued to entertain the growing crowd of Berko fans who believed they were going to witness an unlikely victory. Eleven runs required 6 balls to go and Greenland on strike . Ball one he smoked so hard the Berkhamsted captain chested it over the boundary for four. 7 off 5 required. Ball two was possibly shot of the day . Matt danced down and walloped a maximum over long on, sending the rest of the Rickmansworth team into raptures. The single required from four balls was a formality and Matt takes the plaudits for finishing off a really great team effort. The victory sees the 3s back on top of the pile in what is a very tight division. One game at a time and nothing taken for granted .