Hertford 2nd XI Am-Bushey-ed?

The 2nd XI started their league campaign far away from the summer-comforts of Balls Park and instead at Met Police Bushey – where grey skies, a persistent wind and freezing temperatures provided a dystopian amphitheatre for a cricketing thriller.

Upon arrival, the team checked the wicket and were welcomed yet again, with what one would imagine the fields of the Somme looked like in November 1916. New skipper Jamie Riddle however had a glint in his eye; he won the toss, batted and turned to his team with a wink and whispered the classical line; “well, it can only get worse cant it?”. Vice-Captain George Pavey thanked his skipper and the pair walked out to battle.

After two overs, everyone’s fears where confirmed – the pitch was doing all-sorts and Riddle and Pavey decided to drop the proverbial-anchor - this was a novel feeling for the destructive Riddle, for Pavey it was just another day at the office. Less than 19 runs came from the first 10 overs and batting was a struggle, vitally however the wicket column still registered zero and this riled the Bushey boys.

Bushey began to ring the changes and started launching the ball at the stumps with reckless abandon, this resulted in a much-improved score of 85-0 at the halfway stage. Riddle was out shortly after drinks for a solid 45 after being bowled by Abbassi, however the opening pair had succeeded in giving Hertford a fantastic platform to launch.

Bushey’s 12th man recognised the danger and felt compelled to enter the game – he quickly sent Pavey (40) packing for a less-than-adjacent LBW, and then removed Martyn Chandler (3) - caught behind off the elbow. Hertford’s excellent start was in danger of being ruined, however the wise-minds of Richard Linney and Cavener (Snr) amalgamated the sort of timely partnership that was required. They put together 60 runs at a good rate before Linney was out for an important 26, Cavener added a few more blows before also departing for an excellent 44. Cameos from Alex Carter and Max Lawrance helped Hertford set, what had to be an above-par total of 208-9.

Opening the bowling was the aggressive Carter and new boy Tony ‘Randy’ Rhodes, they formed a complimentary partnership of pace and control. Bushey, as expected, had sent Fiaz in with a license-to-hack – 20 frenetic runs later he was caught by Riddle in the slips, to give Tony Rhodes his first Hertford wicket. Bushey’s next 3 - Haider (44), Butt (55) and Abbassi (52) - all batted with unanticipated intelligence and solidity, taking them to 170-2, Bushey appeared to be chasing the score at a canter!

Hertford however, had other plans. The bowling had been tight throughout and the required rate was still 4.5 an over (no easy task on this deck) and Hertford knew a couple of wickets could lead to panic. Following on from the good opening spells of Carter (6-1-26-0) and Rhodes (10-3-25-1) came fellow OAP-Thompson who bowled his usual crafty stuff finishing with figures of 8-2-32-0. The tight bowling upfront allowed Riddle to shrewdly mix the rest of the bowlers in search for wickets, Cavener (jnr) provided the breakthrough, and owes much of his fortune to the well-controlled spells of Lawrance and Sharma at the other end, the latter of which picked up a well-deserved wicket, add all this to a Thompson run-out and suddenly Bushey were 173-5!

Hertford were in with a shot, a small partnership meant Riddle brought the field up to panic Bushey, and it worked – another Thompson run-out (indeed), another from Linney and two wickets for Cavener meant Bushey were collapsing under the pressure! Unfortunately, a couple of effective swings from keeper Ahmed saw the ball crawl to the boundary and they were over the line 8 wickets down, with only 3 balls to spare.

Hertford could feel justifiably aggrieved that they didn’t come out on top after a solid performance with the bat and then the ball in a tight game – but they need to recognise that drop catches really do cost teams matches! If Hertford can markedly improve in this area and continue the positive elements shown last week, then we can claim the full-30 against Knebworth at Balls Park this weekend!