Scorecard

Falkland v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday on Sun 13 Jul 2008 at 2pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 28 runs

Match report Thatcham played away to Falkland for the return match of their Border League Division 1 season. Thatcham won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked like a hard and very bouncy wicket! Given the recent poor weather, conditions were practically tropical and it looked like being a marvellous day for it.

Thatcham opened with Keiran Lynch and Paul Jenkins, against the bowling of J. Martin and Pete Stephenson for Falkland. A steady start was made by both sides, with the Falkland bowlers making the most of the additional bounce offered by the pitch. With the score on 29-0 after the first 5 overs, Thatcham looked comfortable, until P. Stephenson beat Jenkins for bounce late in the 6th over and had him caught for 15. This bought Duncan Johnson, a fine late replacement for the injured Ali Naqvi, to the crease at 3. Martin and Stephenson then tied down the Thatcham bats, as they looked to not lose another quick wicket. Sadly, with only two further runs added, J. Martin had Lynch caught behind for 12, the bounce once again doing for the Thatcham bat.

Steve Bartholomew strolled out at number 4 to join Johnson. A few overs of consolidation were in order and that's exactly what happened, the Thatcham bats seeing off the opening bowlers. After 14 overs, Thatcham were steady on 48-2, with Cooke and Chapman bowling for Falkland. The 15th over was bowled by Chapman, who it must be said was perhaps suffering a little from jetlag after only getting back in the country the day before, and it was a good one for Thatcham, with both Johnson and Bartholomew unloading both barrels at the Falkland attack to score 22 from 3 overs. Normality returned after this though and the Thatcham score progressed nicely passed the 100 mark in the 24th over and up to 128 in the 28th, when Bartholomew, looking to accelerate the run rate once again, was out caught off the bowling of A. Bolan for an attractive 35.

John Williams came in at number 5 and after hitting 2 fours, was out in bizarre fashion again to Bolan, followed a turning ball with extra bounce and gave some easy catching practice to 1st slip. Dominic Melville, in at 6, bunted Khalid Zafar for 2 before the bounce did for him also. Chris Bird came in at 7 and ran superbly with Johnson and hit a lovely straight 6, to take the score from 141-5 up to 180, when Bird was out caught for a rapid 20 from only 18 balls. The Thatcham tail of Nathan Redmond, Eddie Wylie (unlucky to be ran out backing up), Gavin Ansell and Daniel Stephenson didn't do much to trouble the scorers, but just tried to feed the strike to Johnson. The Thatcham number 3 went into 3 figures for the first time this season, in the 41st and penultimate over with a 2 down the ground, to the rapturous applause of all spectators and players alike. The Thatcham innings closed on 223-9 with Duncan Johnson 104 not out from 96 balls, hitting 10 fours and 4 sixes. Falkland bowled good lines, Pete Stephenson probably the pick of the attack.

With a good score to defend, Thatcham opened with the pace Paul Jenkins and Daniel Stephenson. Both bowled well, with Jenkins making the most of the bouncy track and Stephenson getting the ball to move extravagantly in the air and off the pitch. The Falkland openers, Cooke and Walker, looked comfortable though, until in the 10th over, Cooke edge behind off D. Stephenson for 20. That wicket brought K. Zafar to the crease at 3, who looked a little uneasy early on, but soon settled to start to find the middle of the bat with great regularity. That Thatcham skipper, Gavin Ansell replaced Jenkins with the left arm spin of Chris Bird replacing Stephenson. Ansell proved ineffective, struggling with his lines and Walker took a liking to the bowling of Bird early on, clubbing 2 sixes in one over. The experience of Bird was soon to shine through though, as he began to tie the Falkland bats down and then got the prize wicket of Zafar, having him caught at slip by Williams for 22.

Walker continued to swing the bat though, and now joined by Mark Foster, they also looked to run quick singles to push the rate along. With the field set back, Walker went for one shot too many, trying to club Williams away on the leg side, he held out at long-on for an exciting 61, Jenkins taking the towering catch. Once Bird had bowled his overs, he was replaced by the man of the day, Duncan Johnson, to continue the ploy of left arm spin. His first over was a maiden and his second was even better, a wicket maiden, having Foster caught at slip by Williams for 12. Williams bowled steadily in partnership with Johnson and was very unlucky not to pick up more than his solitary wicket, as several aerial balls just evaded the field.

With the game looking as though it could go Falkland's way, Thatcham's specialist death bowler, Nathan Redmond came on to replace Williams to bowl the final 8 overs with Johnson. With B. Thomas and J. Chapman the the crease, some big shots started to appear and Johnson almost had Chapman c&b, when Chapman drove the ball hard straight back at the Thatcham man, sadly too firmly to be held! It wasn't long though before Johnson had his man, again caught by Williams at slip, his 3rd slip catch of the match. A. Day came and went at number 8 for Falkland, Johnson this time holding on to a simple c&b chance for his 4th wicket.

The Falkland skipper, P. Stephenson came out to join Thomas at the crease and both looked to get after the Thatcham bowlers and win the game. Needing 11 an over from the last 5, the batsman were going to struggle, but who would have the final say in the match was still to be decided. It wasn't long though, before Nathan Redmond lived up to his tag of "Death Bowler", taking 2 of the last 3 wickets in the 39th over, before claiming his third and the winning wicket in the 41st over, bowling Falkland out for 195 runs, Thatcham winning by 28 runs. A great performance from both bowlers to claw the game back for Thatcham!

A fantastic game, played in a great spirit, with lots of spectators and a great win for Thatcham! Thatcham take the maximum 24 points from the game, with Falkland gaining only 6, which it must be said, does not reflect how close this game really was! Man of the match had to go to Duncan Johnson, with 104 not out and 4 wickets.... Sundays just don't get any better than that!

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
223		        
Kieran Lynch Caught  12
Paul Jenkins Caught  15 1
Duncan Johnson Not Out  104 1
Steve Bartholomew Caught  35 2
John Williams Caught  8 3
Dominic Melville Caught  2
Chris Bird Caught  20
Nathan Redmond Bowled  1
Eddie Wylie Run out  5
Gavin Ansell Bowled  0 1
Daniel Stephenson Not Out  2

Falkland Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Falkland Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
195 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Paul Jenkins5.011600.003.20
Daniel Stephenson6.0137137.006.17
Gavin Ansell5.002700.005.40
Chris Bird8.0032132.004.00
John Williams7.0034134.004.86
Duncan Johnson6.022045.003.33
Nathan Redmond4.001936.334.75