Rocket Romit Ices the Cake at Datchworth

Highlights: McGiffin 75, Suckling 49, Patel

Full Scorecard here

After securing a place in the Watford Observer cup final with an emphatic win over division two side Abbotts Langley during the week, Northchurch travelled to third placed Datchworth, looking to make it seven out of eight in the league.

On inspecting the pitch, which looked as though it could only deteriorate during the day, Northchurch had to reassess their strategy of chasing and, on winning the toss, elected to set a total.

The innings went almost exactly to plan, with a partnership of 125 between Suckling and McGiffin forming the foundation for some explosive hitting to take the total beyond the reach of the home team.

Losing Liveing early, Meager and Garraway put together a fifty partnership for the second wicket by taking measured risks and executing well to release pressure when required . However, when they both fell in quick succession after spin was introduced and with the ball behaving unpredictably, Matt Suckling was promoted up the order to provide a foil for McGiffin and protect the in-form Mark Hobley.

The pair negotiated 27 overs and survived some near misses when deliveries either popped or kept low. McGiffin seemed to put the pitch out of his mind and managed to rotate well, while Suckling took the approach of waiting for the bad ball and rarely missed out when it came.
When McGiffin was dismissed for an excellent 75, caught on the boundary looking to increase the rate, and Suckling followed two overs later, tragically bowled one run short of a deserved fifty, Northchurch were 210 for 5 with six overs to go. This brought Hobley and Romit Patel together to start the fireworks and Church which would see Church take 65 from the last six overs.

Patel (pictured) timed the ball excellently and was very strong down the ground, hitting two sweet maximums back over the bowler’s head on the way to 42 from 20 balls. When he was bowled attempting to repeat the dose, Hobley picked up the role of lead aggressor to take 16 off the last over and help Northchurch post 277.

It is indicative of the way in which this Northchurch team is viewed by the opposition that the third placed team in the league never had any intention of trying to win the game, electing instead to limit their ambition to 200 and maximum batting points. However, Northchurch were confident of claiming 10 wickets, having created at least that many chances in every game so far this season. But it was not to be.

Datchworth opener Gregory carried his bat for a watchful 101 in an innings which was perhaps a microcosm of his team’s reply. With 91 dot balls and 21 boundaries, Northchurch were able to build some pressure but too often let Datchworth off the hook with boundary balls.

OJ and McGiffin offered some early hope as the former had Gregory’s opening partner, Stratton, smartly stumped by Suckling for a four ball duck, while the Aussie forced a mistimed pull to Liveing at short square leg by the number three, Atkinson. Otherwise, the home batters looked relatively untroubled by the seamers.

The introduction of spin had relatively little effect as the pitch seemed to flatten out, though Garraway did eventually sneak one under the bat of number four Bennett to make it 93 for three. When he struck again to have Thistlethwaite well caught on the boundary by Calum Lindsay, the number five had combined with Gregory for a partnership of 78 and, more damaging for Northchurch, sucked another 14 overs out of the game to kill hopes of a win. The Black and Ambers were left to wonder what might have been had they held onto an earlier chance.

Datchworth captain Tom Bennett supported Gregory to close the innings on 217 and earn his team a well-deserved 16 points, while Northchurch’s 14 points seemed an unfair return for a day of positive cricket. However, with nearest league rivals, Redbourn only taking ten points from their game against Southgate Compton, Northchurch increased their lead at the top of division three to 31 points.