Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Aldershot on Sat 30 Aug 2014 at 12.30
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won By 5 wickets

Match report Ecstasy soon turned to agony on Saturday night for Thatcham's 1st string, as soon after easing past Aldershot's total of 194-6 for a 20 point victory, they learnt that both Slough 2's and Sonning had both picked up 25 points leaving the West Berkshire side rock bottom in TVL 2b with one game remaining.

Earlier in the day Aldershot skipper Amir Hameed won an important toss and was always going to bat, thus depriving Thatcham any chance of a much needed 25 point victory. As they have done all season, the Thatcham seamers struggled to make inroads as openers Taylor and Bromley comfortably scored at 5 an over until Josh O'Flynn found the edge of Taylor's bat and John Williams took a superb catch at 2nd slip. With Aldershot 70-1 through 15 overs, Duncan Johnson had little option but to take pace off the ball and introduce Chris Bird and himself into the attack. The change had the desired effect as just 41 runs were added in 15 overs as the home side put the squeeze on. The pressure then told on Mudie who had batted well for his 40 until he fell lbw to Bird. Opener Bromley then followed in the next Bird over as he found the safe hands of Felix Hartley-Russell at mid-off for 61 and the game had turned. Aldershot now 132-3 from 40 overs and in danger of wasting their promising start. Aussie overseas Collins and Abbas first consolidated and then tried to take the game to their hosts. John Williams had been introduced into the attack and he accounted for Abbas for 24 and when Collins departed shortly after for a hard hit 30, the visitors reply looked like falling short. Farr went without scoring and it was left to Anslow (10*) and Tilson (16*), helped by some unusually sloppy Thatcham fielding, to get their side up to 194-6 at the close. Chris Bird was the pick of the attack, bowling unchanged for 19 overs for his 4-66 return and he was ably supported by fellow spinners Duncan Johnson 12 overs 0-37 and John Williams 5 overs 1-16.
Aldershot took the old ball and opened with spin in the shape of skipper Hameed and Grover and this played right into Thatcham's hands as Scott Gibson and Simon Rider posted their first opening 50 stand of the season. Far too many bad balls were served up and Thatcham raced to 87-0 through the first 20 overs. Hameed changed things up and seamers Anslow and Abbas were introduced with immediate reward as Gibson was caught for 34. This brought ex-Eton schoolboy Felix Hartley Russell to the crease and he was soon tucking into Anslow, but three boundaries in a row were followed by a smart leg side stumping from Aussie Collins which saw the back of Thatcham's form horse for 17. Rider had compiled another excellent half century but then fell to Abbas for 59, bringing Chris Wright to the crease to join Duncan Johnson. As they had done the previous week at Chiswick, the two experienced heads batted sensibly, Wright striking the ball superbly until he feathered Anslow to Collins for 18. Jack Young went cheaply, bowled by McCafferty for 1 and Thatcham were now 166-5 through 37 overs, needing just 29 from the 11 overs remaining. Callum Johnson had joined his Dad at the crease and they negotiated the task in hand with little alarm, passing the visitors total in the 43rd over, Johnson senior unbeaten on 34 and Johnson junior 18 not out as they finished on 196-5 to earn a well deserved 20 point victory.
It was only after the game that they found out the victory had taken them down a place and Thatcham travel to Slough 2's for the final game of the season. It's going to be a tense Saturday afternoon as just 7 points separate the bottom five sides with 3 sides facing the drop. Sonning, Aldershot and Bagshot all have 187 points, Slough 2's have 182 points and Thatcham have 180 points. Aldershot and Bagshot face each other in a winner takes all contest as do Slough 2's and Thatcham, but a lot will depend on the Sonning v Boyne Hill result. I'd imagine mobile phones will be red hot as teams try to find out 'who is doing what' and how that will affect their chances of staying in the division. All Thatcham can do is to 'do their job' and beat Slough 2's and hope that lady luck is smiling upon them.

Aldershot Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 6w  
for 6 wickets
10
194 (52.0 overs)		     
A Taylor Caught  2
J Bromley Caught  61
A Mudie Lbw  40
R Collins Caught  30
F Abbas Caught  24
D Anslow Not Out  10
A Farr Caught  0
S Tilson Not Out  16
J Grover  
S McCafferty  
A Hameed  

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Callum Johnson4.011900.004.75
Josh O'Flynn7.0131131.004.43
Paul Jenkins5.012500.005.00
Chris Bird19.0466416.503.47
Duncan Johnson12.033700.003.08
John Williams5.0016116.003.20

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 8w 3b 2lb 
for 5 wickets
15
196		        
Scott Gibson Caught  34 5
Simon Rider Caught  59 9
Felix Hartley Russell Stumped  17 4
Duncan Johnson Not Out  34 6
Chris Wright Caught  18 1 1
Jack Young Bowled  1
Callum Johnson Not Out  18 2
Josh O'Flynn  
Paul Jenkins  
John Williams  
Chris Bird  

Aldershot Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A Hameed10.015400.005.40
J Grover8.013400.004.25
F Abbas8.0125212.503.12
D Anslow11.0050225.004.55
S McCafferty5.3028128.005.09

  • Umpire :
    TVL Panel
  • Scorer :