THE CLUB HOUSE
Balls Park
Mangrove Road
Hertford
Hertfordshire
SG13 8AJ
Thanks to Matt for this match report
One player can make all the difference….
This week’s double header saw one side at Totteridge and one side at Hertford. The team at Hertford were hoping to go one better than the draw from last year’s fixture.
With availability at a premium, Graces fielded only ten players and were very grateful to three debutants, father and son Patrick and Konnor from our friends at Great Oakley, and young Toby from nearby St. Margarets, home to our Tim.
Having lost the toss, Graces were asked to bat against a Hertford side comprising of plentyof youth with the mature experienced player also. The youth was considerably highlighted as 11-year old Bowen was tasked with opening the bowling against Northants pair Henry and
Matt. Initially wary of the lack of pace at either end and the little away nibble from Bowen,there was a slow start to the Graces innings in the early Autumnal sunshine. Eventually, as the bowling changes began, Henry would start swinging the bat more freely and the two were also increasing the intensity of the running. An early target from skipper Matt of a 50 opening stand was then met, having come with very few opportunities for Hertford and Henry
in particular lashing on to anything short of a length and punishing the legside boundary.
The introduction of young Stevenson into the attack found an immediate breakthrough, with Henry misjudging the second ball being bowled for 38 and the first wicket falling at 61. Tim, the most local player for Graces, was next in and also began his innings cautiously with many softer cuts shots finding the inner fielders. However, Matt was beginning to find his timing at the other end, also latching on to any short balls with some more legside boundaries. Similarly to the opening partnership, the intensity of the running was high,
especially given the larger boundaries provided by the hosts.
Shortly after drinks, Matt ticked his way over to his second Graces fifty of the season.
Another set of overs passed where the ball seldom crossed the rope as the batters had to puff their cheeks out to keep a high run rate going. With overs beginning to run out and Tim having passed his own half-century milestone, thoughts between the two changed to who would instigate a more attacking style, which then led to Matt whipping a low legside full toss
quickly to the chest of the mid-wicket fielder to depart for a well-earned 74, ending the first Graces century partnership of the season. 14-year-old debutant Konnor was in at four, and after taking a couple of balls to play himself in, got a couple of boundaries away to get himself going. With Tim continuing to push to aggressive running, the score quickly rose
above 200. Another few late boundaries hit and quickly ran twos, including a beautiful scooped two by Konnor, Graces completed the innings without losing another wicket, finishing the 40 overs with 231/2.
After a rare tea, comprising of sandwiches, hot sausage rolls and giant cubes of cake, Hertford began their chase. Ollie opened up from the pavilion end and perhaps suffered from a case of one or two too many cakes as he struggled to find a consistent rhythm and was duly put away by the Hertford skipper, Harris. It became apparent that Harris would be key to the Hertford innings, the 1 st XI Premier Division batter having already scored just shy of 1200
runs this season prior to this game.
Toby, another youngster on debut, opened from the opposite end and was finding strong amounts of away swing with the new Dukes ball, with Abell finding it slow scoring to begin with. However, with just 10 on the field, there was always a gap in the field. For Harris, he was quick to exploit this, being able to pull and cut both in front and behind square, finding the boundary with regular ease as the run rate began to spike in the hosts’ favour.
In an attempt to slow the stem of runs, Matt brought himself on, which brought about the first wicket, Abell trying and missing with a big straight drive to be bowled for 22 out of an opening stand of 97. It was hoped that this maybe could open an end up for Graces andDom was brought on at the other end, bringing about the second wicket, Shillito “playing down the Piccadilly” and bowled for 5. Colt player Adams came in next and played as a strike partner for Harris, who was able to manipulate the strike carefully and keep the score
ticking well for Hertford. A sight so incredibly rare then occurred, it almost warranted a David Attenborough narration, as Matt managed to turn a ball! Unfortunately for Adams, he shouldered arms to watch it spin back in and clip the top of the off stump.
Nevertheless, these were not the wickets Graces needed and with Harris still there, Bruce Butler was the next batter and threw caution to the wind, swinging hard against Matt and the newly-introduced Mark, safe in the knowledge that Harris was still there. Harris continued his barrage and managed to reach his inevitable century. More surprising to Graces was that
Harris decided to continue batting, perhaps suggesting the faith he had in the remainder of the lineup. Having completed his allocation, Matt was replaced by Pritesh, for his Graces bowling debut. However, it was Mark who got THE wicket. Harris charging Mark, only for it to spin pass him and Henry stump him to depart for 113 and the score now 196/4.
It became clear as to why Harris continued batting as his wicket would be one of four to fall for just three runs. Pritesh cleaning up the two Butlers; a smart caught and bowled to dismiss Bruce for 29 and then Bowen for 1, either side of Mark getting Welberry caught and bowled for 1. Bowen’s wicket being the biggest surprise of the day as Pritesh began the over telling
Matt that he “had a plan to bowl to”, which resulted in two no-ball beamers and a first warning in consecutive balls, immediately followed with the wicket! All of a sudden, from what looked like a one-man assault on the target had now become seven down with 33 more still needed, although it was a more difficult task to defend with one less fielder on the park.
The ever-present gap in the field was incredibly frustrating for Graces as Stevenson managed to sneak a couple of horizontal swipes into it, giving Hertford valuable boundaries.
Despite overs running out, the target was still within reach with gentle nudging if the field went out, so a number of fielders had to stay in the ring to search for crucial catches. Dom replaced Mark after he completed his 8, who could not quite find the much needed wickets as Hertford crept over the line with 9 balls to spare.
Graces had plenty to cheer, particularly with the standard of performance from the debutants and the strong togetherness which brought about the flurry of wickets to give the team a sniff. Thanks also to David, a neutral umpire who came specifically to umpire a Graces match, and to Martin, for umpiring the entire game. Eyes turn to the penultimate week before the Paris tour