2nd XI Lose Thriller at Home to Kings Langley

Ben Orchard returned to the team as skipper, he won the toss and chose to bat with the sun shining – everything was right with the world.

Sadly for Hertford, the Kings Langley bowling attack ruined things by reducing Hertford to 27-3. The opening spell from bowlers Sambrook and Joyce was particular useful on a pitch that was offering both steep bounce and sideways movement – batsmen Chandler and Harris found themselves falling victim to that good opening spell, Read dug in for some time and weathered the initial storm but was unable to go on either.

It was therefore up to Pavey and Reid to repair the early damage, and for the next 10 overs they did so by being resolute in defence and taking runs when they were available. The partnership begun to grow and Reid was able to capitalise on a wayward over or-two whilst Pavey continued to accumulate at the other end and manoeuvre the spinner particularly well. In a partnership of 81 they had taken Hertford into a far more comfortable position and were just looking to step on the accelerator when Reid gave it too much gas and was bowled by Sambrook for a well made 31.

Despite the loss of Reid, Pavey continued past his 2nd half-century of the league season and begun to play a few more shots, sadly he couldn’t go on and with the score on 127 Pavey was dismissed for a well-made 63 leaving Hertford 5-wickets down. Tom (27) and Ben Orchard (18) found themselves at the crease with Tom already settling in and as such were able to play positively with the slight platform that had been created. A useful partnership of 40 took Hertford to 164 before both batsman were dismissed in quick succession, but the lower order of Lyte and Murphy were able to scramble a few more runs and Hertford finished on 184 from their 50 overs.

For those of you who know Balls Park well, you will be forgiven for thinking that 184 might seem a good 60-runs (at least) light. The pitch however had demonstrated good value for the seam bowlers throughout, as well as considerable turn and bounce for the spinners. As such, Hertford were confident that they could defend 184 as long as they bowled and fielded well.

Hertford backed-up this sentiment up with Ruskin nipping one back through the gate of Dutta in the 3rd over as both he and Orchard looked threatening at either end. After some resilience from Langley who were trying to dig in against the opening attack, they lost 2 quick wickets both to Ben Orchard. Ryan replaced Ruskin and with the scoring rate now stalled, Tom Orchard came into the attack and was immediately successful, Hertford had reduced Langley to 36-4.

Tom Orchard and Ryan proceeded to bowled solidly in tandem and despite drying-up the runs were unable to bring wickets with them as a partnership between Forster (19) and Burnell begun to take shape. This changed when Ryan was eventually rewarded for his tidy spell with the wicket of Forster with the score 73-5. A game-defining partnership developed between Burnell and Sambrook, despite Hertford bowling solidly through both of the spinners and then through Murphy, this partnership continued to grow and steadily the runs came to as Langley moved on to 142.

However, the game was not over – Murphy was rewarded for the fuller length he had started bowling as he removed Burnell for 58 and despite a few batting flourishes Tom Orchard returned, as did brother Ben to reduce Langley to 167-8. By now the scoring rate wasn’t an issue for Langley but the wickets were. Unfortunately number 10 Clark was able to sneak a few boundaries and so by the time of the last over, Langley only needed 6 runs to win – however a well-directed short ball from Ben Orchard that was top-edged to Reid, left Langley still needing 5 runs with only one wicket remaining. Sadly Clark was still there and was able to get the ball to the boundary twice more as Hertford tried to squeeze the runs and so Langley won with 1 ball remaining.

The 2s boys were left rueing the small margins of cricket after faltering in the last over, knowing that a few more runs or another wicket in the middle of the innings might have been enough to secure an opening win. The twos play Flitwick IIs at home again this coming Saturday and should take confidence from elements of the first two performances and know that with some improvements that win isn’t far away!

Author: George Pavey