Thames Valley Cricket League Divisions 1-3

What a difference a week makes. Having started the Division 1 season in the best possible manner last week, thumping Tring Park by 199 runs, Fleet stumbled upon a very useful High Wycombe 2nd XI on Saturday — and received a thrashing of their own, at home to boot, losing by eight wickets.

Fleet captain Tim Downes won the toss at Calthorpe Park and took the brave decision to bat. With the pitch offering assistance early on, to bowlers who were also extracting significant swing with the new ball, Fleet’s top order struggled.

After making runs last week, Andy Parker was out in the second over and many of his colleagues followed soon afterwards.

The only real resistance was offered by Simon Payne, who top-scored with 28, thanks to some lovely cover driving.

Fleet were eventually dismissed for  a paltry 107 but, given their bowling the week before, when Tring were bowled out for just 53, and the tough batting conditions, Downes’ men were not necessarily down and out.

Downes, needing wickets, attacked from the off and Graham Chalkley started his spell with the old ball in the best possible way, by bowling the opposition’s opening batsman with the first ball of the second over.

But High Wycombe responded and, while Chalkley picked up his second wicket of the day, Wycombe cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket victory, needing just 16.2 overs to reach 109-2.

Afterwards, Downes paid tribute to the excellent High Wycombe bowling performance and challenged his side to bounce back.

“After the terrific performance of last week, the reality of playing Division 1 cricket hit home today,” Downes said. “Hopefully the boys can show their character next week [away to Amersham, tomorrow].”

Eversley captain Ben Saville was delighted with his side’s comfortable victory away to Basingstoke & North Hants 2s in 2A.

While Eversley pushed Datchet’s powerful batsmen all the way last week, after two consecutive promotions, Saville admitted that it was important to prove that his side was good enough for this level.

“We need faith in our ability and this win will really help,” said Saville, whose side dismissed Basingstoke for 212 and then rattled off the target with seven wickets and as many overs to spare.

Overseas player Rhys Jones, from Australia, was to the fore again, taking 2-37 and then scoring his second unbeaten century in a week, making 113 at No. 3.

“Rhys just didn’t look like getting out,” said Saville. “He’s a very good player and batted to a really good standard. He didn’t get one century for us last season but has started with two unbeaten ones this season.”

Saville, who just missed out on a century against Datchet, made 53 this time around. “It was stupid to get out but it’s another 50. It’s good that the captain and the overseas player do well, it sets a good example to the rest of the team.”

Saville singled out 18-year-old Jack Sever for particular praise. The opening bowler returned figures of 14-2-41-3 and Saville was impressed with the teenager’s pace.

“Jack spent the winter playing for Rhys Jones’ club in Australia as their overseas player and he’s come back with an extra yard of pace,” said Saville.

The other wickets were shared between Jones, Edward Dixon (2-21) and Shane Green (3-79).
But Saville said that there was still plenty of room for improvement. “We controlled the game but let them off the hook when they batted,” said Saville.

“We had them at 40-4 and would have dismissed them for 150 or fewer if we hadn’t dropped catches. So, there’s something to work on for this weekend’s game, at home to Windsor.

“That said, we were happy to bowl them out for 212. It was case of being confident that ‘whatever you score, we can score more’ — and so it proved.”

Cove 2s also lost again, away to Datchet. They put on a stronger display in blustery conditions but were all out for 159, after losing the toss. Datchet have one of the best batting line-ups in the league and reached their target with six wickets in hand — and several overs.

Cove have made a superb start to the 2B season, their latest victory a low-scoring one at home to Falkland 2s.

After winning the toss and dismissing the visitors for just 145, Andy McNeil’s side endured a tense run chase but eventually made it home by four wickets.

“The wicket was very damp, so the obvious choice was to bowl and we also went with Steve Audsley as an opener as the conditions were perfect for him.

“He is tall, regularly hits the seam and moves the ball both ways,” added McNeil. “He was virtually unplayable in those conditions and bowled almost all the way through.”

Audsley went on to return figures of 7-37 as Falkland were dismissed for 145. With Andy Short and Vineet Sinha bowling with little luck at the other end, the visitors were fortunate to get as many as 145.

“We had them at about 90-8 but they had two good partnerships at the end,” said McNeil. “While I would have taken bowling them out for 145 before the start, we should have polished them off sooner.”

Those late runs made for a challenging chase in tricky conditions and while Cove had 47 overs to reach their target (the game lost a small amount of time to rain), they lost wickets regularly and were in trouble at 60-5.

But youngster Stan Marisa — ‘a key player’ according to his captain — made a vital and patient 27 and Audsley, in at No. 7 made 38 not out to complete a memorable day for him.

Sinha settled any remaining nerves with a rapid 27 not out, including two sixes.

“The spirit is good and it was another really good performance,” said McNeil.”

Aldershot lost out to an aggressive batting display from a strong Burnham 2s side.

Confronted with an imposing Aldershot total of 232-5, Burnham made it look easy, reaching victory by six wickets, with nine overs to spare.

“While they batted very well, we did not really bowl especially well either,” said Aldershot captain Dave Booton.

“We are a bit short in the bowling department and they managed to hit Neil Mumby out of the attack, which was crucial.”

Off-spinners Mumby and Amir Hameed had started the Burnham reply well, taking three cheap wickets between them with the old ball.

“We had had them in a bit of trouble at 30-3, having started with the old ball, but then, when we did take the new ball, it was lost after just three overs, having done a little bit.

“So, we lost out there and we dropped a few catches too. While their top five were clearly  more than decent batsmen and I take my hat off to them, who knows how far down they batted.

“Had we taken those catches we might have been able to get among them.”

Earlier Booton had made a bold declaration, ending his side’s innings on 232-5, on what was a flat pitch. That gave Burnham four extra overs to reach their target.

“Perhaps it was a mistake in that they were not overly cautious and would probably have taken on the chase even if it had been bigger and with fewer overs,” said Booton.

“But I took a gamble and, had we drawn the game, rather than lost, it would not really have affected the points we took, anyway.”

Aldershot's innings was anchored by Andy Taylor (102 not out).  Taylor completed the first century of the season for Aldershot, continuing his strong early season form.  Opening partner Cameron Bowditch chipped in with a quicker 64.

Tyalor is nominally the 2nd XI captain but will surely keep his place when Naeman Baig comes back into the team, when his university term finishes.

“Andy is a first team player,” said Booton. “Naeman will come in, as he’s a key player, but I cannot not drop Andy after his fine start.

“Cameron did well too; he’s a good little player,” said Booton.

The game was turned by the Burham batsmen Ali (111) and Khurram Saba (72 not out).
 
Ali’s innings hard-hitting knock was the highlight of the game. The most spectacular moment was when Ali hit a six hit into the adjoining grounds of the Lido from the bowling of the unfortunate Aldershot seamer Andy Summers.

“We batted well and thought we were ahead in the game, but their hard-hitting was too much for us to handle,” said vice-captain Hammed afterwards. “In the final third of the game they completely dominated and there was nothing we could do.”

Thames Valley Cricket League Divisions 4-9

Odiham & Greywell are still searching for their first win of the season, after another excitingly close finish in Division 4B.

Last week they tied with Yateley and this week they lost out to Maidenhead & Bray 2s, by three wickets.

Odiham, put in, made a good fist of things with the bat,  reaching 245-6 off their 52 overs. But Bray timed their chase to perfection, easing home to 246-7 with an over to spare.

“We were a bowler light, which did not help our cause,” said captain Phil Thomas, who was without Matthew Hall, who had taken six wickets the week before at Yateley.

“But we also dropped some catches, which proved vital to the result. Those misses were probably the turning point.”

Thomas did his best with the ball, taking 4-71, but an unbeaten century from Will Summers (112) and 40 from Tom Wilding guided the visitors home.

Bray’s cause was helped by an injury to opening bowler Chris Turner, who had kept the run chase in check early on, in tandem with Jimmy Steven.

“We took a few wickets to give them a bit of a scare but they kept their nerve and got there in singles towards the end,” said Thomas.

Earlier, Thomas had been pretty pleased with 245-6 from 52 overs, on a wet and soft wicket.

David Hiscock made 41, while opener Thomas Bowden hit a patient 83, before Robert Walsh-Smith smashed a quickfire 54.

“Tom Bowden did exactly as was instructed,” said Thomas. “He dropped anchor and nearly batted for the whole 50 overs, which was what we wanted from him.”

Thomas expects Yateley and Bray to be among the stronger sides in the division and, despite no victory, his side have still taken 28 points from two matches.

“If we continue to play as we have  — pretty well — then the win will come soon enough,” said Thomas, whose side are away to Barnes Wild Geese tomorrow, albeit without the services of Hall for one more weekend.

Yateley were not in action last Saturday, as their match at Theale & Tilehurst was called off due to a saturated pitch.

Also in 4B, Eversley 2s picked up a comfortable win at home to Caversham & Redingensians.
Eversley won the toss and, like most sides across the region on a damp, blustery day, chose to bowl.

Opening bowler Grant Whelan took full advantage, returning figures of 15-1-36-5, with Tom Cummings, Jeremy Hammond and Andrew Hogston also taking wickets, as Caversham slumped to 92 all out.

Paul Mission was a man on a mission in reply, racing to 48 not out as Eversley made 93-1 in just 14.5 overs.

But Cove 3s (167) lost by 33 runs to Kidmore End 2s in the same division.

Aldershot 2s (135) lost out by only two wickets in a tight but low quality game to Harefield (139-8) in their 6A encounter at the Diary Meadow ground. The newly-laid Harefield pitch behaved unpredictably. 

The pitch, together with accurate bowling from Petley (17-3-51-3) and Jagger (12-4-45-2) meant that Aldershot collapsed to 50-5, helped only by an aggressive cameo from Vaughan Newcombe (30).

Brothers Chris (39) and Jon Ford (37) managed to restore some respectability but both batsmen fell LBW in the 30s.

Aldershot then bowled in a disciplined manner, led by Lance Morley (12-4-30-4) and Martin Coomber (11.2-3-40-2).

Whenever Harefield accelerated they seemed to lose wickets and they were reduced to 115-8, leaving them a tricky 20 runs to get with only two wickets in hand.

The game then turned again with a hard-hitting knock from No 9 batsman Caswell (29 not out), together with two dropped catches, helping Harefield to scrape home.

Dave Howorth was in the runs again but his 59 was not enough to avoid Eversley 3s (160) losing by 17 runs away to North Maidenehad 3s in 7A.

Fleet 2s waltzed to their second 25-point win of the season, thanks to a crushing 170-run victory at Hampton Hill 2s in 7B.

Harry Bywaters made 101 not out and Jon Winter hit 87 as Fleet made 255-2 from just 44 overs. That left them nearly 60 overs to bowl at Hampton and Pete Thornton’s 5-36 ensured that Hampton were all out for just 85 in 23 overs.

Yateley 2s (Division 6B) also lost out to the weather, at home to Windsor 3s, but the Yateley 3s salvaged something from the weekend, beating Fleet 3s to go second in Division 8A. Fine bowling by Chris Roper and Issy Acktar, backed up by Tim Moore and Liam Roper, shot Fleet out for 67. Yateley cruised home by 10 wickets.

Aldershot 3s (89-2) demolished Wokingham Oaks & Acorns (85) by eight wickets in 8A, on a tricky Aldershot Park wicket. The medium-paced swing and seam bowling of Lance Havell was ideally suited to the soft Aldershot Park pitch  and he returned four wickets.

Aldershot made short work of chasing down the target with Gary Dates (53 not out) making the run chase look easy.

Odiham & Greywell 2s (180-4) also won in 8A, by six wickets against British Airways 4, but Cove Academy struggled to a draw, making 123-7, in reply to Royal Ascot 3s’ 182-9.

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