Scorecard

Finchampstead 5 v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday on Sat 25 Jun 2011 at 1pm
Match was Drawn

Match report Thatcham Town 4th XI travelled to Arborfield Garrison this week, to face Finchamstead 5th XI. Finch won a crucial toss, in hot and humid conditions and duly decided to bowl first. A decision which eventually would decide the outcome of the match.

Thatcham opened with the pairing of Iain Cottingham and Darren Sopp, both batted pensively against the swinging ball. They reached 20 without loss when Cottingham was LBW for a disappointing 7, having looked so comfortable in challenging conditions.
That brought the ever impressive Peter Spriggs to the wicket, who batted with his usual calm and composed demeanour. The pair batted well, if slowly, finding it difficult to time their shots and score with any conviction. In the 29th over, Sopp finally succumbed and was bowled for a battling 29. Owen Jenkins came in at number four and looked to up the scoring rate, but could only manage 9 before being bowled.
The Thatcham skipper, Gavin Ansell promoting himself up the order, came in at 5 and looked to get after the deliberately slow Finchamstead bowling. Chancing his arm, he looked to play a shot a ball and dominate the bowlers, which he did with some success, slogging his way to 39, before being caught in the deep on what will undoubtedly be the largest outfield they’ll play on all year!
Spriggs departed sooner after for a superb 35, occupying the crease for over 2 hours! The remaining batsmen had only a few overs to scrape the extra runs needed to post a competitive total and selflessly attacked the ball, losing wickets in the process to end up on 160 all out from 51 of their allotted 52 overs.

With the sun beating down and now in excellent batting conditions, the Finchamstead openers strode to the wicket. Thatcham opening with Gavin Ansell (19-2-2-45) and Shiva Karthikeyan (6-1-0-17), both of whom found a little swing with the new ball and were disappointed to only end up with 2 wickets between them, especially given 5 dropped catches in slip cordon. That said, the pressure was on the batsmen to score the 161 runs needed to win from their 49 overs. Owen Jenkins (7-4-0-8) replaced Karthikeyan and again kept the runs to a minimum, but was luckless when it came to taking a wicket, passing the outside edge and having catches fall short of the field.
He was eventually replaced by the left arm wrist spin of Tommy Mather (13-5-4-17), who stole the show with the ball, bowling with great control, finding turn on a drying pitch and challenging every batsmen who faced the youngster. Indeed, he can consider himself unlucky not to have bagged his first senior 5-for. Dominic Melville (4-0-1-7) replaced Ansell towards the end of the innings and bowled a tight line, dismissing the Finch skipper in the process. It was all in vain though, as Finch batted out for the draw, finishing on 107-7 from 49 overs.

A frustrating day for the Thatcham men, who left feeling that had they bowled first in ideal bowling conditions, they could have pushed for the win. On the plus side, the form and ability of Thatcham’s youngsters becomes more impressive week by week. And with all senior players from both sides, singing the praises of Tommy Mather’s bowling, the future is bright for the young lad! Thatcham only took 9 points from a possible 25, with Finchamstead accumulating 6 points from their efforts. Next week sees Thatcham hosting Royal Ascot 3’s at Henwick Worthy Sports Field, in what is a must win match at the half way stage of the season.


Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
160		        
Iain Cottingham Lbw  7
Darren Sopp Bowled  29
Peter Spriggs Stumped  35 1 1
Owen Jenkins Bowled  9
Gavin Ansell Caught  39 1
James O'Connor Caught  0
Richard Lavender Caught  6
Adrian Bromhead Bowled  0
Tommy Mather Stumped  7
Shiva Karthikeyan Stumped  9
Dominic Melville Not Out  1 1

Finchampstead 5 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Finchampstead 5 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
107 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gavin Ansell19.0245222.502.37
Shiva Karthikeyan6.011700.002.83
Owen Jenkins7.04800.001.14
Tommy Mather13.051744.251.31
Dominic Melville4.00717.001.75