Scorecard

Stoke Green v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 26 Jul 2014 at 1.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Lost By 54 runs

Match report Thatcham travelled to runaway leaders Stoke Green on Saturday and although they lost by 54 runs, it was a performance full of guts and determination, with the 8 point haul not a complete disaster. With Felix Hartley Russell, Tom Mahoney, Callum Johnson, Chris Wright, Josh Winfield, Josh O'Flynn, Simon Rider and Des Hartley Russell all unavailable it would have taken a sensational performance to upset the form horse in TVL 2b.

Stoke Green skipper Sukh Dhillon won the toss and, as they have done all season, he elected to bat first with former Farnham Royal opener Dan Simpson and Saud Ahmed opening up against the Australasian pairing of Scott Gibson and Lachlan McKenzie. All started well for the visitors as McKenzie ripped out Ahmed for 1 and the Gully Khan for 4, but this only brought in Sri Lankan overseas Shameera Weerasinghe to join Simpson and they produced the partnership of the match to manoeuvre their side into a winning position. Simpson took full advantage of the short boundary as the burly left hander bludgeoned eleven 4's and seven 6's in a brutal knock of 101, 86 runs coming in boundaries as John Williams and Chris Bird suffered in the heat. Weerasinghe played beautifully, using his feet skilfully and despatching any loose deliveries to the ropes. The pair shared a 113 run partnership before Bird had the dancing Weerasinghe stumped by Jack Young for 50. It was going to take something special to remove Simpson and Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson provided that moment as Simpson smashed Bird towards the deep midwicket boundary convinced of another maximum. Johnson though had other ideas, as he ran round and plucked the ball out of the sky in his right hand and Simpson departed for 101. At this stage the home side were 167-4 through 35 overs and with 17 overs still to bat, were looking for a big total. Once again though, Johnson had a vital say as he and John Williams ran through the rest of the Stoke Green line up. Arjan was stumped for 24, Hussain caught for 14, Kazmi without scoring and skipper Dhillon caught for 8 as Johnson returned figures of 4-11 from 4 useful overs. It was left to Williams to end the innings, Desai caught for 7 and Sajid Aziz bowled without scoring, leaving Zulfiqar Butt 4 not out at the close of the innings, 220 all out from 47.1 overs. Without Simpson and Weerasinghe's contributions, the home side offered precious little else and Thatcham were left to rue dropping Simpson in the 60's earlier on in the afternoon.
The visitors knew exactly what was coming as they set out to bat and sure enough the old ball was retained and thrown to the spin twins of ex-Pakistan 1st class bowler Zulfiqar Butt and Sajid Aziz. In tandem, these two bowlers have bowled 327 of the 386 overs that Stoke Green have bowled this season and with 51 wickets already for Butt and 41 for Aziz, they really are head and shoulders above the competition and are responsible for 85% of their sides dismissals! It was always going to be a tough task for an inexperienced batting line up and soon enough the home side were amongst the wickets as Peter Spriggs edged Aziz to Simpson at slip for 4. Butt was soon into his stride, Jack Young edging to Aziz for 7 and a familiar story was about to unfold. Duncan Johnson and Scott Gibson added 36 together before Johnson bottom edged an attempted sweep off Butt and was bowled for 12. Aziz was replaced by the spin of Weerasinghe and he nailed Jamie Young for 1. Scott Gibson had grafted hard from the start and had compiled a watchful 34 before Butt slid one through his defences and although Michael Hobbs and Kieran Lynch made a valiant effort, Zulfi Butt isn't a bowler these guys are likely to face every week and both perished lbw to the wily ex-pro to give him his 5th five wicket haul of the season. Left handers John Williams and Andy Harland then decided to counter attack and the result was an entertaining partnership of 44 before Harland top edged an easy catch to Hussain for a hard hit 21. Williams carried on in merry fashion, smashing seven 6's to reach his 50 and ruin Butt's figures. From 5-26, the spinner found himself 5 overs later at 6-73 as Williams took 47 from 5 overs! It was Weerasinghe who finished the visitors off, Chris Bird was lbw for 5 and then last man Lachlan McKenzie lobbed a simple catch to Desai for 0 and Thatcham were all out for 166 in 39 overs. Williams was left unbeaten on a sparkling 58 as he showed the rest of his side 'what might have been' had they adopted his more aggressive approach!
Stoke Green will win the league at a canter and will look forward to life in Thames Valley Div 1 whilst it's now a crucial time for Thatcham to knuckle down and get a couple of wins to move them safe of any potential relegation danger, starting with this weekends visit of Boyne Hill. The Brownsfield Road side will be looking to avenge the early season fixture when they were skittled for 40 by Tom Mellor's men.

Stoke Green Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 4b  
for 10 wickets
7
220 (47.1 overs)		     
Dan Simpson Caught  101
Saud Ahmed Caught  1
Gully Khan Bowled  4
Shameera Weerasinghe Stumped  50
Vishal Arjan Stumped  24
Hash Hussain Caught  14
Chirag Desai Caught  7
Syed I Kazmi Caught  0
Sukh Dhillon Caught  8
Sajid Aziz Bowled  0
Zulfiqar Butt Not Out  4

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Scott Gibson9.003700.004.11
Lachlan McKenzie7.0225212.503.57
Chris Bird14.0361230.504.36
John Williams10.1066233.006.49
Andy Harland3.001600.005.33
Duncan Johnson4.011142.752.75

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
16b 6lb 
for 10 wickets
22
166		        
Scott Gibson Bowled  34 5
Peter Spriggs Caught  4 1
Jack Young Caught  7 1 2
Duncan Johnson Bowled  12 2 2
Jamie Young Caught  1
Michael Hobbs Lbw  2
Kieran Lynch Lbw  0
Andy Harland Caught  21 2 6 1
John Williams Not Out  58 1 7
Chris Bird Lbw  5 1 1
Lachlan McKenzie Caught  0

Stoke Green Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sajid Aziz9.0131131.003.44
Zulfiqar Butt19.0873612.173.84
Shameera Weerasinghe11.0440313.333.64

  • Umpire :
    TVL Panel
  • Scorer :