Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday v Reading Sports on Sun 30 Jul 2006 at 2pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won 5 runs

Match report Thatcham Town won a closely contested Border League match on Sunday, defeating Reading Sports by only 5 runs.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, the Thatcham openers of Matt Denness and Gavin MacDonald set about amassing a huge total. Both batsmen looked in good touch as they quickly put the bad ball to the boundary, although some indifferent bounce caused a couple of problems to the two batsmen. It was the quest for quick runs that became the undoing of Denness as he nicked one behind for a quick fire 32. This brought youngster Tom Donnelly to the crease who looked to set himself for the long stay. This provided MacDonald with the opportunity to take the attack to the Reading bowlers but it was a touch of extra bounce that left MacDonald with little hope as the ball lofted back up to a welcoming Ravi who duly completed the dismissal. To the cheers of the home contingent, Martin Keep strode to the crease and continued to take the game to the Reading attack. By drinks Thatcham were handily placed but with 8 wickets still in hand, a big total looked on the cards. However, Reading came back into the game with force, taking the wickets of Keep, Jenkins and Bartholomew in quick time. The tempo of the innings changed completely and it was left to Donnelly and skipper Simon Rider to rebuild. As the partnership developed, another wicket was lost as Donnelly misjudged a delivery from Balaji and was trapped in front for 26. Nathan Redmond joined his captain and from his first ball aimed to be positive. With time running out more risks were taken but to Reading’s dismay the ball never found a hand, just the boundary. Rider looked set to reach a deserved half century but as more quick wickets fell, the innings lost momentum closing on 230-9 with Rider left 47 not out. Good support came from the Thatcham top four but none managed to go on to the large score that was desperately needed.

After tea Thatcham’s complacency almost got the better of them as Reading very cautiously batted themselves into a good position. Had it not been for Tim Mahoney’s excellent opening spell of 2-19 from 9 overs, things could have looked much worse for Thatcham. On a flat wicket that offered very little to the bowlers, Thatcham’s attacked seemed tired with Chris Bird being the only change bowler to get something out of the wicket. Balaji passed 50 but still required support if Reading were going to chase down the modest total of 230. Support came in the form of Krupa who batted maturely allowing Balaji the strike but also hitting boundaries himself when required. Thatcham urgently needed a wicket, and persistence from Bird paid off as Krupa looked for the mid-wicket boundary but fell short was safely caught by Gavin Ansell who made no mistake. It was the wicket that was needed by Thatcham but the dismissal of Krupa just fuelled Balaji on to finish the game by himself. For a time however it looked as though this was going to be the case as the death bowlers couldn’t deal with the striking of Balaji. With 18 required from three overs with three wickets in hand, it was there for Reading to take but a late Thatcham rally in the outfield ended Reading’s chances of success. Rider bravely brought himself on and quickly had an affect as he removed Surya but Balaji was still going and having reached a superb 100, he went for the win. Two poor pieces of judgement by the lower order batsmen gifted Thatcham the win as Ravi walked out of his crease to leave Bartholomew with the simplest of stumpings. With 6 needed off the last over and Balaji on strike Thatcham had to throw everything at him. Rider kept his nerve and gave Balaji one into the legside, but to Reading’s and Thatcham’s surprise Sri wanted the second run, only to find himself short of his ground and run out for 0. An unlikely victory had been gifted to Thatcham but there were no complaints as maximum points were collected. Mahoney (2-19) and Bird (3-43) led the way for Thatcham with the ball and showed the team how to bowl on a batsmen friendly wicket.

With three matches left of the season, and the league title out of Thatcham’s grasp, it’s a case of damage limitation but the visit of Swindon on Sunday could be swung by player availability.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
230		        
Gavin McDonald Caught  39 1
Matthew Denness Caught  32
Tom Donnelly Lbw  26
Martin Keep Caught  25
Paul Jenkins Caught  4 1
Simon Rider Not Out  47 2
Steve Bartholomew Lbw  0 1 2
Nathan Redmond Caught  20
Chris Bird Caught  4
Gavin Ansell Bowled  9 1
Tim Mahoney  

Reading Sports Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Reading Sports Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
225 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1st X1 - Sunday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tim Mahoney9.021929.502.11
Paul Jenkins8.0055155.006.87
Nathan Redmond8.007300.009.13
Chris Bird9.0143314.334.78
Gavin Ansell5.0119119.003.80
Simon Rider2.1016116.007.38