Scorecard

Cove v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 05 Aug 2006 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won 8 wickets

Match report A league career best 7 wicket haul from Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson and unbeaten half centuries from Toby Radford and Steve Wyatt carried Thatcham to a clinical 8 wicket victory over Cove on Saturday to put some daylight between Thatcham in 3rd spot and the chasing pack below, although with Kew picking up 25 points from a victory over High Wycombe 2’s and Harefield successfully chasing down Marlow’s 179 for a 20 point win, the gap at the top has widened to 19 points, with Kew on 214, Harefield on 211 and Thatcham on 195, with 5 games left to play.

Cove skipper Jez Jones won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on a pitch more in common with Karachi or Lahore than a picturesque corner of North West Hampshire.
Julian Wood and Pete Edgcombe opened up the bowling against the talented James Marsh and unorthodox big hitting Hebditch and Cove got off to a good start posting 24 off the first 6 overs of seam bowling before spin was introduced with a dual change of Johnson and Nick Bishop operating in tandem. Hebditch had ridden his luck to reach 36 before he was bowled off his pads by Johnson and then the Thatcham skipper got rid of both the Marsh brothers, James bowled for 29 and then his younger sibling beautifully picked up by Toby Radford at slip for 4. Neil Randall applied himself well to the conditions as he abandoned his usual game and dug in with his skipper Jez Jones to post a useful partnership of 42 before Nick Bishop struck, Randall edging to Chris Wright behind the sticks for a gritty 29 leaving Cove 123-4 from 35 overs. Johnson then picked up 4 quick Cove wickets, skipper Jones hitting a leg-side full toss straight down Pete Edgcombe’s throat for 19, Griffiths was well caught at mid-off by Dan Stone for 10, Nick Randall skied an attempted big hit and was caught and bowled for 9 and then Abbas was caught by Nick Bishop for 4 to leave the home side in trouble at 146-8 through 45 overs. Chris Wright then produced a great piece of work as Audsley called Harvey through for a single only for Wright to pounce, pick up one handed and throw the stumps down and it was left to Short and Audsley to try and get their side up to a respectable total from the remaining overs and they sensibly picked up the 1’s and 2’s available until Audsley lost patience and tried to hit Nick Bishop over long on, only for Steve Wyatt to pouch a comfortable catch as he departed for 12 leaving Short unbeaten on 8 and Cove all out for 166 in 49.4 overs. Johnson and Bishop bowled in tandem throughout the innings, Johnson picking up 7-71 from 22 overs and Bishop 2-66 from 21.4, the latter deserving far more reward than his figures suggest.

There was never any doubt that Cove would opt to take the old ball and they opened with the spin of James Marsh and leg spinner Abbas against the experience of Toby Radford and Julian Wood, although the absence of Cove’s leading spinner Joe Ashton was a real bonus for Thatcham on a wicket that he would have been very difficult to get away.
Wood played his usual style and smashed four 4’s in quick time before falling in the 7th over, caught by Nick Randall off Marsh for 18 which bought Dan Stone in to join Radford and they added 31, Stone looking in fine form before he played back to the pace of Audsley and was trapped in front for 19. This was to be Cove’s last success however as Steve Wyatt joined Radford, who was giving a masterclass of how to play on a wearing track with uneven bounce and pace, using quick feet to the spinners and playing as late as possible, just waiting for the bad ball and striking it to the boundary, whilst picking up 1’s and 2’s where possible and in Wyatt he had the perfect foil to win the game for his side, Wyatt patient, although two towering 6’s off Marsh signalled his intent towards the end, and with both players passing 50’s, Thatcham won the game at a canter by 8 wickets, posting 169-2 off just 38.3 overs, Radford unbeaten on 72, and Wyatt 52 not out.

Thatcham entertain NPL Teddington on Saturday at Brownsfield. NPL’s own title hopes are in tatters after successive crashing defeats to Kew and Amersham in recent weeks and Thatcham know that only a win will keep their own hopes alive as Kew entertain bottom side Hampton Hill on Kew Green and they will expect to win comfortably against the basement side, who have only won once all season and are certain to drop down a division with 84 points between them and safety, although Harefield face a tough trip to 4th placed Chesham.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 2 wickets
0
169		        
Julian Wood Caught  18
Toby Radford Not Out  72 1
Dan Stone Lbw  19 1
Steve Wyatt Not Out  52 1
Duncan Johnson   1
Chris Wright   1
Peter Edgcombe   1
Nick Bishop   1
Raheel Zaman  
Peter Edgcombe  
Nick Bishop  

Cove Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Cove Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
166 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Julian Wood3.011200.004.00
Peter Edgcombe3.011100.003.67
Duncan Johnson22.0371710.143.23
Nick Bishop21.4266233.003.05

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    TBC