Langlebury toppled by Ricky young guns

For many years Langlebury senior sides refused to play Rickmansworth in friendly games citing that little Ricky were not good enough. Fortunately we do get to play each other in the Junior Leagues. And yesterday was one of those occasions when we could exact some small element of revenge against our bigger brother.

On a decent wicket, with short boundaries, the Langlebury batsmen settled in well, with some great cover drives, and pulls to the boundary. After George departed for 15 and Jesse for 1, both to ex-Langlebury player David Khan, Seb (25) and Harry Pettit (25) established a very solid base. Neither looked like getting out. Nathan Soames bowled tightly in the middle overs with 3 overs for 12, but Braydon and Robert both contributed decent knocks to see Langlebury to 95/3 with 2 overs remaining. However Charlie grabbed 2 wickets in his last over, and Ed Maling a wicket and conceded just a wide, as Langlebury surprisingly failed to top the 100 mark.

What Ricky needed was a solid start, but sadly Henry failed to capitalise and got bowled through the gate for 3. Benedict and Jiwan set about restoring some balance and kept the run rate going at almost the requirement. Eventually Benedict got caught for 9, and then when Owen departed for just 3, the match was evenly poised with 51 needed off the last 10 overs. Jiwan eventually retired on 26, but when Nathan (9), David (3) and Anaru (2) all left the scene with little to show, Ricky needed 18 off the last 3 overs. But Langlebury had rolled the dice too often and had bowled all their best bowlers. Karan Soar smashed 8 off the next over and then clubbed 7 off the next, leaving Charlie Green to crash the final ball of the over for 2 to win the game with an over to spare.

Played in great spirit, the boys did wonderfully well. Only 3 wides were bowled by Ricky, and not one no ball. Jiwan kept brilliantly behind the stumps as well as getting his second successive quarter- century. He won the MOM award. And Karan's cool-headed 18 at the end ensured what could have been a tight finish, ended up in a stroll down victory road.

Tomorrow the boys travel to Boxmoor. Another win please lads.