Scorecard

Aldershot v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 05 Sep 2015 at 12.30
Match was Drawn

Match report Thatcham have bounced straight back up after last year's relegation disappointment and will once again ply their trade in Division 2 of the Thames Valley Cricket League in 2016.

A very anti-climatic last game draw versus fellow promotion hopefuls Aldershot was enough to clinch the runner's up spot as Royal Ascot finished with a maximum 25 point haul against Purley.

Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson lost another toss and surprisingly Aldershot skipper Amir Hameed decided to bowl first. Aldershot's attack, without their Indian pro Vineet Sinha who had returned home, wasn't threatening at all to the Thatcham openers Josh O'Flynn and Simon Rider and O'Flynn quickly reached the 21 runs he needed to pass the 500 mark for the season, although immediately after doing this he flashed a blade at Duncan Anslow and Rory Collins took a comfortable catch at slip. Tom Mahoney hit his first two balls for 4 and looked in the mood until Bobby Gill got one to leave him and Grover pouched the catch in the slips to dismiss Mahoney for 10. Duncan Johnson joined Rider and Aldershot tightened up with skipper Hameed and Fas Abbas bowling well on a difficult pitch to score runs. Rider and Johnson knuckled down and added 35 together before a double strike saw them both dismissed with the score on 79. Johnson tried to drive Hameed and edged to Abbas at slip for 20 and Rider fell in the same fashion to Abbas for 21, Collins taking another catch at slip. Stephen Bird (2) was next to go shortly after, Grover taking yet another slip catch off Abbas, and suddenly the visitors were 81-5 through 25 overs and in some trouble. Jack Young and Matthew Denness joined up and together set about compiling the partnership of the match to put their side in a decent position in which to win the game. They added 65, Young the dominant partner, hitting six 4's and two 6's as he reached 46, for all the world looking like he was set for a big score until he slapped the off spin of Grover straight to Tilson at cover and he had to go four runs short of a deserved half century. So often in cricket, one brings two and Denness fell straight after, attempting to sweep Tilson, lbw for 20, Thatcham 151-7 through 45 overs with 7 overs left to try and get up close to 200. The lower order added a useful 39 runs, Callum Johnson a breezy 16 off 14 balls, John Williams a quick 13, including a towering maximum over long on, Scott Gibson 7 and Chris Bird 3* as Thatcham posted a total of 190 all out in 51.5 overs. Aldershot skipper Amir Hameed was the pick of the attack as his off-spin returned 3-51 from 19.5 overs and he was well supported by Grover, 3-27 off 7 overs, Fas Abbas 2-45 from 13, Bobby Gill 1-23 from 7 and Duncan Anslow 1-36 off 7.

Both sides came out after tea in the knowledge that a good start was vital for each side in deciding the outcome of the match and it was Thatcham that took the initiative and killed the match as a contest. Taking the old ball, the left arm spin of Chris Bird and John Williams was miserly to say the least. With Johnson attacking, men round the bat, the spinners bowled brilliantly, racing through 10 overs and Aldershot openers Taylor and Bromley had only scored 10 runs and put their side in a really difficult position. Johnson kept the spinners going through 16 overs, Aldershot 23-0, Bird 0-9 with 5 maidens and Williams 0-14 with 3 maidens and not a single extra as Thatcham squeezed the life out of the home side with some fantastic, disciplined cricket. The new ball was taken in the 17th over and Callum Johnson raced in and struck a double blow immediately. Taylor was trapped lbw for 18 from 52 balls and then the dangerous Fas Abbas was nailed lbw with the next ball for 0. Aussie Rory Collins dug out the hat-trick ball but Johnson had made an immediate impact for his side. Scott Gibson was introduced with his gentle inswing a perfect compliment to Johnson's pace and he struck to remove David Anslow, who smashed a short ball straight to square leg for 8. Opener Bromley was still struggling to score and his innings was finally ended when Johnson knocked back his middle stump with a beauty, Bromley had faced 70 balls and was dismissed in the 23rd over for just 7 runs, an innings which surely did his side no favours at all. Johnson finished his 7 overs with figures of 3-19 in a really good spell and next year will finally see the end of any age restrictions as the opening bowler hits 20 years of age. The spinners were re-introduced as Aldershot should have been looking to up the rate and win the game, but still no signs of any urgency were apparent as Aussie Collins just batted within himself. Tilson looked to show some intent and reached 19 off 24 balls but smashed Chris Bird straight to brother Stephen who held a good catch and then it was John Williams's turn to get amongst the wickets, Duncan Anslow (6) picking out Simon Rider, who took a comfortable catch on the long on boundary. Farr hit a run a ball 12 before he danced down the track to Williams who ripped one past his outside egde, Jack Young completing the stumping and Aldershot skipper Hameed (13) was dismissed in exactly the same fashion. Collins had passed 50 and really it was down to him to try and clear the ropes and get his side promoted, but again, there was just no intent to do so. Aldershot were 8 down and had reached 139 through 45 overs, 3 overs remained and they needed 51 runs at 17 an over and Collins, who was in and set, just took singles. It was a baffling approach and one which was to cost them dear, as they finished the 48 overs on 157-8, 33 runs short of the target, Collins unbeaten on 60 and Bobby Gill 6 not out at the close of the innings.

The visitors bowling and out fielding was absolutely top drawer, a real high intensity performance. Callum Johnson 3-19 from 7 overs was brilliant, John Williams 3-65 from 18, Chris Bird 1-42 from 17 and Scott Gibson 1-23 from 6 all backed the young paceman up and Thatcham had done enough to go up, claiming 12 points to Aldershot's 8 and it was just a case of waiting to see if Purley had chased down Ascot's 147-7 to see if Thatcham could snatch the title. As it was, Ascot had rolled Purley for 53, claiming maximum points and winning the league by a 15 point margin. For Aldershot it was a real case of 'what if' and although there was a chance they could of been promoted if Cove had remained in the HCPL set up, this didn't happen, Cove were relegated and Aldershot will remain a Division 3 side for the 2016 season.

For Thatcham it was important to bounce straight back and it was a season that delivered a points total of 300, which is no mean feat. Chris Bird (53 wickets) and John Williams (47 wickets) were absolutely brilliant and for these two to share 100 wickets in a season is a great achievement. With the bat, Josh O'Flynn reached 500 runs for the season and was a really consistent performer, especially in the latter games, with veteran skipper Duncan Johnson (336) and wicketkeeper Jack Young (325) also weighing in with useful contributions.


Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 8b  
for 10 wickets
12
190		        
Josh O'Flynn ct D Anslow 21 21 4 100
Simon Rider ct F Abbas 20 55 3 36.36 1
Tom Mahoney ct B Gill 10 17 2 58.82
Duncan Johnson ct A Hameed 20 44 3 45.45
Jack Young ct J Grover 46 60 6 2 76.67 2
Stephen Bird ct F Abbas 2 6 33.33 1
Matthew Denness lbw J Grover 20 59 1 33.90
Callum Johnson ct J Grover 16 14 2 114.29 1
John Williams ct A Hameed 13 18 1 72.22
Chris Bird Not Out  3 8 37.50
Scott Gibson st A Hameed 7 4 1 175.00

Aldershot Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bobby Gill7.0223123.003.29
Duncan Anslow7.0136136.005.14
Fas Abbas13.0245222.503.46
Amir Hameed19.5651317.002.57
Jack Grover7.0227213.503.86

Aldershot Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2b 6lb 
for 8 wickets
8
157 (48.0 overs)		     
Andy Taylor lbw C Johnson 18 52 1 34.62
J Bromley b C Johnson 7 70 1 10.0
Fas Abbas lbw C Johnson 0 1 0
Rory Collins Not Out  60 66 7 90.91
Da Anslow ct S Gibson 8 19 1 42.11
S Tilson ct C Bird 19 24 2 79.17
Duncan Anslow ct J Williams 6 22 1 27.27
A Farr st J Williams 12 13 1 92.31
Amir Hameed st J Williams 13 11 118.18
Bobby Gill Not Out  6 8 1 75.00
Jack Grover  

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chris Bird17.0542142.002.47
John Williams18.0465321.673.61
Callum Johnson7.021936.332.71
Scott Gibson6.0223123.003.83

  • Umpire :
    TVL Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin