Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday v Bagshot 3 on Sat 06 Aug 2011 at 1pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report Thatcham Town 4th XI played host to league leaders, Bagshot 3’s, needing to win this and the following 4 games to stand a chance of grabbing one of the 2 promotion spots. On a damp afternoon, Thatcham won the toss and skipper Gavin Ansell rightly elected to bowl first.

The opening pairing of Ansell (23.4-10-7-60) and youngster George Anderson (6-0-0-17) both bowled with excellent control to restrict the scoring to little more than 2 an over. Anderson was unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets, with what looked like an excellent LBW shout and a sharp chance at 1st slip being put down, Mick Stone diving low and to his right. Nevertheless, a great spell of 6 overs in his first senior game of the season, points to a bright future.
Ansell plugged away from the other end, picking up regular wickets to stem the flow of runs and was partnered by Thatcham’s answer to Chris Tremlett, in the form of Ian Parry-Belcher (9-1-1-37), he too finding swing in over cast conditions.
Bagshot Skipper, James Balcombe, was the only batsmen able to seriously apply himself at number 3. He looked solid and had the Thatcham bowlers wondering how to dismiss him, until he chased a full swinging ball from Ansell, seeing Mike Beaumont take a fine catch, diving forwards at gully, sending Balcombe on his way for a fine 49.
Dominic Melville (8-2-2-21) replaced Parry-Belcher and bowled with good control, to bag himself a brace of wickets, proving that taking the pace off the ball in these conditions is a valuable weapon. Ansell took the final wicket to finish the Bagshot innings on 139 and give the Thatcham batsmen a great chance to defy the odds and grab a victory.

In reply, Thatcham opened with the senior pairing of Mick Stone (12) and Mike Beaumont (49), who looked to see of the new ball pairing of George Packer and James Balcombe, which they both did admirably before Stone fell to Packer towards the end of his first spell.
Peter Spriggs (4) came in at three and look to continue the resolute approach and put on 29 for the second wicket, unluckily seeing the ball spin onto his stumps from a defensive shot. Tom Cogdell (25) came in at four and batted superbly, forming a partnership of 43 with Beaumont, when the latter fell one short of his half-century.
With the score now on 89-3, victory was well within sight, and with Piers Bragg (15) now playing aggressively to take the score on to 114-3, it looked assured. The Bagshot bowlers had other ideas though as 114-3 became 131-6 and 135-7, as the opening bowlers returned for their second spells. George Anderson (3*) hit the winning runs with a fine straight drive off the bowling of Balcombe, to take Thatcham’s total to 141-7 and give the home team victory by 3 wickets.

A fantastic display all round, especially in the field. Piers Bragg, James O’Connor and Tom Cogdell were especially spritely, ensuring that the bowlers didn’t have to worry about cheap runs being given away. Thatcham are at home again next week, playing hosts to Cove Academy, in what will be another must win match for the West Berkshire men, now 47 points behind 2nd place Bagshot, with 100 points available from the last 4 games.

Bagshot 3 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
139 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gavin Ansell23.4106078.572.54
George Anderson6.001700.002.83
Ian Parry-Belcher9.0137137.004.11
Dominic Melville8.0221210.502.63

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
141		        
Mick Stone Bowled  12
Mike Beaumont Caught  49 2
Peter Spriggs Bowled  4
Tom Cogdell Bowled  25
Piers Bragg Caught  15
James O'Connor Bowled  7 1
Richard Lavender Bowled  4
Gavin Ansell Not Out  0
George Anderson Not Out  3 1
Ian Parry-Belcher  
Dominic Melville  

Bagshot 3 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
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