Scorecard

HAREFIELD v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 07 Jul 2007 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report Thatcham won a tight top of the table clash with Harefield with just and over to spare.

Harefield won the toss and elected to bat. However they may have regretted the decision with both Harland and Naqvi in good form, moving the ball around on tight lines. In fact the pressure proved too much with Naqvi picking up the wickets of McLeod and Richards without conceding a run. Harland was in similar form picking up the talented Reddy for just one. The score just 9-3 Harefield were in considerable trouble. Only to be made worse when Wilson shortly followed leaving the score at 20-4.

Hammerton and Nkala batted superbly building a slow partnership to get Harefield back into the game. Chris Bird was introduced, but didn't seem to find his rhythm this week. Simon Rider bowled well without reward from the other end, so another double bowling change saw the introduction of Duncan Johnson and Nick Bishop. Johnson was attacked by Nkala but it was Bishop that got the break through in his second over removing the hard hitting Nkala. He continued to bowl tight lines and put pressure on the Harefield lower order, taking 3 further quick wickets leaving Harefield 143-9 in the 45 over.

However the tail wagged and Cokeley and Lines provided a useful 39 partnership to make the score respectable and leave Thatcham with a testing chase on a slow wicket.

Thatcham were in trouble early, loosing Wyatt and Stone for single figures. Johnson and Ali Naqvi both batted patiently and provided the platform for the victory, but Johnson was given out LBW leaving Thatcham 80-3 in the 27th over.

Matt Denness supported Naqvi adding 14 before being caught by Collett. Robb Fraser quickly departed for four, leaving Thatcham 128-6. Naqvi steadied the ship, placing the ball and running hard with Rider providing good invention and his usually nudging style! Reddy continued to bowl tight lines and left Thatcham needing 20 from four overs. Unfortunately Simon Rider fell third ball of the 44th over, with Thatcham needing 17 for victory. Andy Harland managed to carve out six from the remaining three balls, chancing his arm against Reddy's tight line.

Naqvi and Harland pushed the next over hard taking seven from it to leave Thatcham more comfortable requiring just five from the last two overs. Naqvi was not going to let it go to the wire smashing a four followed by a six to finish 96 not out and a deserved Thatcham win!

Andy’s comments;

Really pleased with the win, important to beat Harefield as they will be in the running for the top spots come the end of the season. Opens up a 16 point gap between us and Harefield in second, but with only 28 points between 1st and 6th place. It will be a tight run in where we most focus on winning every game and denying the other teams points.

Julian Wood comes into strengthen the bowling attack, with Nick Bishop and Drew McKenzie unavailable this week. The biggest news from the game is really the for the first time (I have ever known, but it is rumoured to have happened once before!) Steve Wyatt admitted that he was given out LBW and indeed he thought it was out………after we picked ourselves up from the floor we enjoyed a cold beer!

Ra Ra Thatcham!

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
187		        
Steve Wyatt Lbw  7 1
Dan Stone Lbw  8 1
Duncan Johnson Lbw  24
Ali Naqvi Not Out  96
Matthew Denness Caught  14
Andrew McKenzie Caught  1 1
Robb Fraser Lbw  4
Simon Rider Lbw  11
Andy Harland Not Out  11
Nick Bishop  
Chris Bird  

HAREFIELD Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

HAREFIELD Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
181 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ali Naqvi17.0842314.002.47
Andy Harland10.031728.501.70
Chris Bird4.001900.004.75
Simon Rider5.012300.004.60
Duncan Johnson6.004000.006.67
Nick Bishop10.032646.502.60