Scorecard

Bracknell v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday on Sat 08 Jun 2013 at 1.00pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won By 5 Wickets

Match report Thatcham Town Cricket Club 2nd XI v Bracknell Cricket Club 1st XI
Thames Valley League Division 4B

Saturday 8th June 2013

Summary
Bracknell: 280 for 3
Thatcham: 282 for 5 (Simon Lewis 118 not out, Simon Rider 62)

Thatcham Won by 5 Wickets

Thatcham 2nd XI returned to winning ways with an excellent 5 wicket victory over Bracknell 1st XI at Larges Lane on Saturday.

Thatcham won the toss and elect to field, and discovered from the offset the day would not be an easy one. Both Thatcham’s openers bowled well with numerous balls passing the outside edge, with Liversidge especially unlucky as the two Bracknell openers Fernley and Shah rode their luck. However runs did consistently leak throughout the first 10 overs and when Shah finally fell to Liversidge (1-65) for 30 the total had reach 51, with Thatcham feeling slightly dejected having not taken more wickets.

However Thatcham were to discover Bracknell’s real batting strength in their number 3 Oversea’s player H Mahmood, who enter the fray and over the next 6 overs help add 59 runs to the total with an array of shorts worthy of any first class ground. Thatcham finally saw the back of Mahmood as Taylor (1-66) removed him for 43 but the damage had been done with Bracknell in an excellent position at 110 for 2 from 18 overs.

Thatchams bowlers continued to toil on a track that offered no assistance and skipper Bird, after several consultations with his senior players, decided that the minimising of runs was the order of the day and turned to defensive mode. With a defensive mode in place the chances of wickets diminished and Bracknell’s batsmen took advantage as Shaw combined with Fernely to add 105 runs for the third wicket.

Shaw’s wicket to Aaron Voller (1-67) proved to be Bracknell’s last, however Thatcham’s defensive stance had an impact as 4’s become 1’s and the now tiring Fernely shot selection affected as he approach his century. As Fernley (104 not out) finally passed the 100 mark the Bracknell skipper called in his batsmen with a total of 280 on the board. Thatcham’s bowlers performed admirably in the conditions but were guilty of bowling too many bad deliveries however with all things considered things may have been a lot worst for Thatcham. It was now up to the Batsman.

Thatcham’ top order was well aware of the pitfalls associated with the chase ahead, the need for a positive start and the preservation of wickets all paramount to the chasing down of, what was, regardless of the conditions, a challenging total. With these considerations in mind the opening pair of Howell and Lewis did not disappoint as they posted an opening stand of 110, with both batsmen playing flowing, out of the manual cricket shots and offered the watching crowd a display of how the chase a total.

Howell fell LBW to Henley for 44 but the opening stand had proved the foundations for the rest of the chase as Bracknell’s woes were further added to as Simon Rider joined Lewis to build a second wicket partnership of 121. Lewis and Rider, just as with the first wicket stand, play shots all around the park especially effective on running between the wickets turning one’s into two’s at every opportunity. Both batsmen passed their 50’s with ease and looked as if they would close out the chase without further issues.

However, Robinson (3-65) had other ideas as, on his return, he removed Rider for 62 exposing one end for exploitation. Thatcham now on 231 with 7 overs remaining felt victory was the only result they could accept and with Lewis fast approaching his century at the other end a result well within their reach.
Thatcham’s middle order supported Lewis with some crucial runs but in the search for the perfect over to end the game each fell, giving Bracknell the feeling that bonus points in the offering. It was however, apparent to all those present that it was not the performance of the Thatcham middle order that would determine the outcome of the game but that of opener Lewis.

Skipper Bird joined Lewis at crease with one ball of the penultimate over remaining, striking it for 2 leaving Lewis the task of scoring 4 runs from the final over. Bird and Lewis consulted for the final over, with the Skipper suggesting Lewis ‘just get it over and done with’ by hitting a 4 and Lewis suggesting 6 balls were left and only 4 runs required, ‘why worry’. However when it came to it Lewis would not deliver as requested as he struck the first ball over the rope for 6 and victory.

The term ‘chanceless’, ‘perfect’, ‘quality’ is banded around far too often when innings are reminisced over several pints in the bar after the game. However not one of the 22 players on the field at larges lane on Saturday would disagree if these terms were used to describe the innings played by Simon Lewis who finished on a magnificent 118 not out.

Bracknell Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
13w 6b 2lb 
for 3 wickets
21
280 (49.0 overs)		     
R Fernley Not Out  104
T Shah ct  K Liversidge 30
H Mahmood b  M Taylor 43
I Shaw ct  A Voller 45
R Robinson Not Out  37
A Asghar  
P Henly  
S Khan  
A Shah  
S Basker  
D Illesinghe  

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Kevin Liversidge11.0265165.005.91
Matt Taylor14.0166166.004.71
Aaron Voller12.0167167.005.58
Perry Moore5.004000.008.00
Simon Rider7.003400.004.86

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 19w 3b 4lb 
for 5 wickets
27
282		        
Alistair Howell lbw  P Henley 44
Simon Lewis Not Out  118
Simon Rider b  R Robinson 62
Tom Mahoney lbw  P Henley 3
Jack Young b  R Robinson 9
Arthur Edwards ct  R Robinson 4
Stephen Bird Not Out  2 1
Perry Moore  
Matt Taylor  
Kevin Liversidge  
Aaron Voller   1

Bracknell Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
P Henley19.0086243.004.53
I Caffell4.001100.002.75
Saj4.003300.008.25
R Robinson13.0065321.675.00
D Illesinghe2.001600.008.00
A Asghar4.002800.007.00
R Fernley4.004100.0010.25