Shenley Village C C First XI v London Colney on Sat 08 Jul 2006 at 1.30pm
Match was Drawn 18 pts
Shenley Village 280-7
London Colney 155 for 8
Saracens Herts League Division Four
(Match drawn)
In a very competitive match played in a good spirit, Shenley Village narrowly failed to defeat their local rivals in a match they dominated from the start.
London Colney won the toss and asked Shenley to bat on a good wicket. Although Dilesh Sangaran was dismissed early for eight, the London Colney bowlers soon began to toil as in form batsmen Rahul Gajjar and Craig Rawlings found the boundaries with regularity in a partnership of 149. Gajjar was particularly severe on any loose bowling as he dominated the partnership. Ian Prior eventually dismissed him for 119 but there was no respite for the Colney bowlers as Rawlings began to take charge of the innings.
With useful support from the middle order, Rawlings reached his own century (105 not out) before Shenley declared on 280-7. Rawling's innings was full of fine shots, but a reverse sweep for six he played will be remembered for a long time by those who witnessed it.
Prior, with 3-70 from 18 overs, was the pick of the London Colney bowlers.
The wicket was playing very well, but any intentions London Colney had of chasing down the target were dampened by the loss of four early wickets, three to the bowling of Jemile Al Darraji who eventually finished with magnificent figures of 6-42 on an unresponsive wicket. A fifth wicket stand of 80 between Matt Bristow and Tony Holloway rebuilt the Colney innings, but when Naman Saqeb dismissed Holloway for 55, the innings wobbled and three further wickets fell in quick succession.
Despite their efforts, however, the Shenley bowlers were unable to take the final two wickets needed to claim the win as Bristow remained unbeaten on 42 in a total of 155- 8.
A good performance from Shenley who claimed 18 points, while their rivals Colney collected just 4.
Shenley Village C C First XI Batting
280 for 7
London Colney Bowling
London Colney Batting
155 for 8
Shenley Village C C First XI Bowling