Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 3XI- Saturday v Stoke Green III on Sat 15 Jul 2006 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won 40 runs

Match report Thatcham Town 3's played host to Stoke Green 3's last Saturday, in this top of the table v's bottom clash. On a marvellous day, weather wise, Thatcham won the toss and decided to bat first on a good track with a fast outfield.



Paul Sharp and the returning, from 3 weeks away, Bob Gadsden opened the batting for Thatcham. The ball started swinging immediately and both batsmen had to adapt quickly. Sadly, Paul Sharp found the swing too much for him as he edge one through to the keeper in the second over, having only scored 4. With this early loss the score rate would have to be steady for the next few overs. Dave Taylor, batting at three for Thatcham, joined Gadsden in the middle. He played and missed on several occasions but managed to remain at the crease. Gadsden at the other end had started to adapt well to the conditions and started to look to score wherever possible.



With the score on 21 and in the 8th over, Dave Taylor saw one on his legs and looked to play the ball through square leg. He misjudged the swing though and was bowled for only 2. Dismissed in a similar fashion the week before, Taylor will look to work on this. Liam Redmond, also returning from a couple of weeks away from the game, came in at four to join Gadsden. Redmond's first ball, played back to the bowler with a perfectly straight bat, was followed up by a crunching square cut for 4. Sadly that was pretty much all was saw from Redmond, as a couple of overs later, he chased one outside of off stump and feathered a catch through to the keeper, without adding to his total of 4.



The Thatcham total now 28-3 from only 10 overs, the decision to bat first against the bottom of the table team looked to have been the wrong one. Bill Fry came in for Thatcham at number five and very much looked to play the steadying role. Gadsden, by now looking comfortable in the middle, continued to get after the Stoke Green bowling, pulling, cutting and driving with ease. Fry, at the other end, was more circumspect though and looked to push 1's and 2's, running well between the wickets and ably supporting his partner. The score went up to 50 in the 14th over and Thatcham looked to be making somewhat of a recovery.



The score continued to move along steadily until, with the total on 77 and the partnership on 49, Bill Fry saw his stumps knocked back, having been bowled for a much needed 13. Steve Bartholomew came in for Thatcham at number 6. Bartholomew was keen to carry on from last week, having scored a quick 20 not out. The first ball he faced saw his team mates jaws drop though, as Bartholomew played a distinctly agricultural waft to a ball that was full and wide... If you were watching kids, you won't find that in any manual!!



Bartholomew steadied himself after that early scare and started to play well, driving straight and hard for 4 to get off the mark, then pushing a succession of 1's and 2' before again driving straight for 4. With the second and third change bowling on for Stoke Green, all of a sudden, the Thatcham batsmen looked entirely comfortable. The Stoke Green bowlers started to consistently bowl either too short or too full, which allowed Gadsden and Bartholomew to pull and drive with confidence and power. The 100 came up in the 25th over, this milestone passed, the two batsmen looked to step it up a notch, scoring 26 runs from the next two overs.



Gadsden and Bartholomew continued to bat with huge confidence for the remainder of the innings, regularly scoring 10+ runs in an over. They had scored so quickly, Bartholomew in particular, that in the 39th over, Gadsden brought up his first century for the club with a superb 4 through mid-wicket. With the score now a healthy 232-4, and Bartholomew on 79, at the end of the 39th over, Thatcham were keen to declare and get the opposition into bat. Bartholomew, on strike, was told he had only a single over in which score his maiden century. It was too big an ask though as he could only add a further 6 to his total and finish on 85 not out. Gadsden finished not out too, on 106. Thatcham declared at the end of the 40th over on 239-4, giving their opposition 60 overs to reach their target of 240.





Thatcham chose to take the old ball at the start of their innings and opened with the spin of Tony Wimbush and Andy Bayliss. This gamble however turned out to be hugely ineffective as the Stoke Green opener, Danish, scored the lions share of the 34 runs they bludgeoned in the first 4 overs. The two spinners were replaced by the experienced Tony Glinos and the fiery young Will Clarke. Glinos struggled to find his usual consistency and went for more runs than he would of liked. Clarke from the other end used his extra pace well, and passed the outside edge on numerous occasions.



The Stoke Green score had raced to 70 from their first 9 overs, which left Thatcham wondering if they really were playing the bottom of the table team. Clarke made the initial breakthrough at the start of the 10th over, Andy Bayliss taking a comfortable catch at cover, dismissing S Dhillon for 16. Rameez came in at three for Stoke Green, but was soon on his way as Clarke, in his next over, bowled one on Rameez's legs which he clipped to square leg where the safe hands of Tony Wimbush were waiting. The score now on 77-2, Thatcham felt they had brought themselves back into the game. Tony Glinos bowled through his 7 overs, finishing with figures of 7-0-0-42, he will have undoubtedly been disappointed. Will Clarke bowled a good spell of 5 overs, 5-0-2-28. The Stoke Green score has passed 100 in the 15th over and was at 121 at the end of the 20th over.



Clarke was replaced by Liam Redmond, while Glinos was replaced by the Thatcham skipper, Gavin Ansell. Ansell bowled the 21st over and bagged the crucial wicket of Danish, Tony Wimbush making good ground to take the catch at mid-on. Danish scored a blazing 76, including 15 x 4's. With the danger man gone for Stoke Green and the score on 121-3, Thatcham sensed that they were in a good position. Liam Redmond bowled well and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket or two in his six overs, having passed the outside edge on more than one occasion. His figures were 6-0-0-27. Ansell bowled the last of his 7 overs with the Stoke Green skipper and keeper at the wicket (I. Jones and Chopra). The first ball of the over was edged for 3 by Chopra, something he was doing with a frustrating regularity by now. The second ball to, to the Stoke Green skipper, saw Ansell reduce his leg side cover to a 7-2 field. Knowing Jones stood in front of his stumps, Ansell bowled him a straight one that seemed away a little and trapped him LBW for 10. Ansell finished with figures of 7-1-2-36.



Liam Redmond was replaced by Will Clarke, coming back for his second spell, while Ansell was replaced by the off spinner, Tony Wimbush. The pace of Clarke was, in general, to much for many of the Stoke Green order, while Wimbush's second spell saw him bowl with far greater accuracy. It was in the third over of Clarke's second spell that he bagged his next wicket, bowling M. Asraf for a single and in his next over, Clarke bowled the dangerous Chopra for 61. The same over also saw D. Gaut run out by Liam Redmond for 6, sharp work at point. Tony Wimbush bagged one in his forth over, having Clegg caught by Liam Redmond in the covers for a duck. The Stoke Green score was now on 194-8. The early scoring rate of Stoke Green had appeared to flatter them somewhat, but Thatcham still needed to close out the innings and they didn't have to wait too long, as Will Clarke, in only his third game for Thatcham, took the last two wickets in his last two overs, the Stoke Green innings closed on 199 all out, just 1 run short of getting maximum batting points. Tony Wimbush finished with figures of 5-0-1-27 and Will Clarke finished with superb figures of 11-0-6-43.



This gave Thatcham a deserved 40 run victory, thanks in no small part to superb performances from Bob Gadsden, Steve Bartholomew and Will Clarke. This also means that, with this 25 point victory, Thatcham Town extend their lead at the top of division 6B of the Thames Valley League, the other top teams all batting second to win with 20 points each. Thatcham are now 7 points clear at the top, but have 3 hard weeks ahead as they play Datchet 3's away next Saturday, play Kew 3's at home the week after and then go away to play Teddington Town 2's on the 5th of August. It may well be that the next 3 weeks decide the outcome of the division. Thatcham will look to have the best availability possible for these three games!


Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 3XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 4 wickets
0
239		        
Paul Sharp Caught  4
Bob Gadsden Not Out  106 1
David Taylor Bowled  2
Liam Redmond Caught  4 1
Billy Fry Bowled  13
Steve Bartholomew Not Out  85
Andrew Bayliss   1
Tony Wimbush   2
Will Clarke  
Gavin Ansell  
Tony Glinos  

Stoke Green III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Stoke Green III Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
199 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 3XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tony Wimbush5.0027127.005.40
Andrew Bayliss2.001500.007.50
Tony Glinos7.004200.006.00
Will Clarke11.004367.173.91
Liam Redmond6.002700.004.50
Gavin Ansell7.0136218.005.14

  • Umpire :
    Graham Green
  • Scorer :
    Ian Redmond