2nd XI Defeat Letchworth by Comfortable Margin

But the end of June had brought about a couple of bad losses and the team found themselves searching for a win against Letchworth 2ndXI at home to get their season back-on-track. As the sun was beating down on a fast, browning-outfield Letchworth won the toss and decided to bowl first on a well-used, dusty Balls Park wicket.

The first two opening overs were haphazard as the Letchworth bowlers struggled to find their line and length, Lyte found the boundary and Chandler found the fielders. Unfortunately for Chandler, not only did he miss out boundaries he then found his own stumps after dragging-on a wide one. Pavey came to the crease and for a short-while he and Lyte were able to find the odd boundary alongside regular singles as Letchworth’s openers found better areas.

As the ball got older a few variations in the pitch started to show, Clark was bowling a very tight length utilising some uneven bounce to turn-the-screw and wait for a mistake from the batsman. Whilst Lyte and Pavey were able to get a few balls away from the other end it did still prove tougher to score than expected. Lyte however, was playing anything short well and picked-up a few boundaries, looking good until he hit a wide-one up to gully on 30, leaving Hertford 60-2.

A platform had been set, Ray walked out and was immediately playing with excellent fluency, he was able to raise the run-rate and soon caught Pavey on runs. With two spinners operating at either end, variable turn and bounce made it difficult to manoeuvre the ball consistently and both Pavey and Ray struggled to rotate as they would like to, the odd big shot was attempted but to no real avail. Both batsman recognised that this was a key part of the game and once they got going they would be able to score quickly and as such looked to get through the passage of play before accelerating. They were rewarded with a pair of fifties and then looked to up the rate, firstly by managing to take some runs off the tiring-spinners and then by making their mark on the returning seamers.

Ray was the first to start finding the boundary with some clinical hitting and gap finding, unfortunately just as he was really starting to motor he went for one hit too many and was caught at cover for a fine 76 and ending a 130 run partnership which had put Hertford on course for 200+. Luckily Pavey then took over with his own boundary blitz, motoring with particular success after Ollie’s departure. Finding himself on 90 in the penultimate over he was then also caught at cover leaving Sharma and Tom Orchard to run hard before Orchard finished the innings with a six.

225 looked a solid score, but with a fast outfield Hertford knew they would still have to bowl very well to secure a win. Beardsley came bounding in and was moving the new ball nicely and Murphy also looked dangerous, picking up an early wicket in the process as Mullen was solidly caught by Sharma. Despite this exciting start, things suddenly died down for Hertford and a partnership developed for Letchworth. Bishton was the aggressor whilst Sprittles looked to survive, both assisted by dropped catches in the slips and the rapid ouotfield. At 60-1 Letchworth were looking good and Hertford desperately needed a wicket.

The introduction of Ruskin and Ryan into the attack brought about a change in pace – Ruskin looked threatening to both wicket and the batsman’s health as he mixed a good line and length with short-pitched bowling. He was rewarded with the wicket of Bishton who feathered an edge through to Lyte and Hertford gained the breakthrough they needed.

Murphy was in no-nonsense mood and immediately introduced spin from both ends and this largely concluded proceedings. Ryan had been plugging away from the pavilion end for a few overs and the introduction of Tom Orchard from the other reduced the run rate down to a crawl as Letchworth struggled to deal with the turn, bounce and consistency from the two spinners.

Hertford were flying through the overs and regular wickets were falling. Ryan was unlucky to finish with figures of 2-36 as he beat the bat on numerous occasions and saw a couple of catches go down. Orchard however was rewarded for his spell with excellent figures of 5-14 and Murphy returned to pick up number 11 with a casual caught-and-bowled which meant that Letchworth had collapsed to 114 all out and a comprehensive, 111-run win for Hertford.

Special mentions include; Tom Orchard’s spectacular one-handed grab at mid-off and also his catch off his own bowling; Ruskin for his key spell of bowling; Pavey and Ray for their partnership (under near-impossible batting conditions); and finally Reid for spending the whole day critiquing everyone. A fine performance from the team.

Written by George Pavey