Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Aldershot on Sat 04 Jul 2015 at 1.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 7 wickets

Match report Thatcham got back on track in the best possible way as they comfortably swept aside leaders Aldershot by 7 wickets at Brownsfield on Saturday to return to the top of Thames Valley Division 3a at the halfway point of the season.

Aldershot skipper Amir Hameed won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first but his side were soon in trouble against the new ball pairing of Callum Johnson and Josh O'Flynn. Johnson struck a double blow in his 2nd over as Jack Bromley played on for 2 and then Tilson was clean bowled without scoring. 8-2 became 20-3 when O'Flynn nicked Andy Taylor off to keeper Jack Young for 14. A small fightback from Aussie Rory Collins and Wes Pusey ended when O'Flynn produced an unplayable delivery to Collins, who could only edge behind to Young for 13. Fas Abbas lasted just 2 balls before he guided O'Flynn to Duncan Johnson in the gully for 0 and the visitors were deep in the mire at 48-5 through 18 overs. Pusey and Anslow threatened to rebuild until Chris Bird tempted Pusey into a drive and he could only edge to Duncan Johnson at slip for a patient 24. Anslow had batted positively and taken the game to the home side but he perished trying to pull a short ball from O'Flynn and nicked through to Young for 19. Aldershot skipper Amir Hameed had survived being dropped 1st ball as he skied Chris Bird and he seemed intent on making Thatcham pay. Indian overseas Vineet Sinha joined his skipper but he didn't last long as he became O'Flynn's fifth victim of the afternoon, well caught by John Williams for 6. Bobby Gill came in at ten for the visitors and smashed Bird for a boundary but departed when trying to repeat the dose, John Williams again with the safe pair of hands. Hameed and last man Jamie Grover added a useful 26 to the score for the last wicket until Duncan Johnson removed his opposite number for an innings top score of 28, O'Flynn completing a fine day in the field with a good catch. Aldershot were all out in the 38th over for 126 and after winning the toss and electing to bat, they would be understandably disappointed.

Josh O'Flynn bowled brilliantly for the home side as he returned his first five wicket haul for the club, 16 overs 5-54 were his excellent figures and he was well supported by Callum Johnson, 7 overs 2-15 and Chris Bird, 12 overs 2-42.

With 62 overs to get the target, all Thatcham had to do was bat sensibly. They were helped by the fact that Aldershot's pacy Indian overseas Vinny Sinha, who is capable of bowling at 80mph+, was still nursing a side strain picked up a couple of weeks previously, so it was Fas Abbas and Bobby Gill who took the new ball for the visitors. Simon Rider and Peter Spriggs were tasked with the job of opening up, but Spriggs lasted just 4 balls as Fas Abbas plucked a brilliant caught and bowled chance inches off the floor and Spriggs had to go for 0. Jack Young looked in fine form yet again, but the curse of the 20's soon struck as he miscued one to Anslow off Gill and had to go. Man of the match O'Flynn joined Rider and these two won the game in fine style. Rider was his usual self, busy between the wickets with the odd boundary and O'Flynn was simply majestic. Anything loose was punished as he cover drove with ease to the boundary, hitting nine 4's in the process as he approached a half century. A bowling change from Hameed accounted for O'Flynn for 47 as he was caught just three runs short of a 50 and with his side just 2 runs short of victory. Josh Winfield replaced him and smashed the ball to the boundary to finish the game in dominant fashion, Thatcham 129-3 in just 25.3 overs. Rider was unbeaten on 46* at the close as the home side collected 20 points and allowed the visitors a meagre return of 5 points from the afternoon's play.

The second half of the season gets underway now and Cove 2's are the next visitors to Brownsfield on Saturday before the two big derby trips at Falkland and Newbury follow.

Thatcham have won 7 from the opening 9 fixtures and have not failed to bowl a side out, taking all 90 wickets available to them. It's a good sign for the second half of the season as they look to bounce straight back from the disappointment of last seasons relegation.

Aldershot Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1w 9b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
11
126 (38.0 overs)		     
Jack Bromley b  C Johnson 2
Andy Taylor ct  J O'Flynn 14
S Tilson b  C Johnson 0
Rory Collins ct  J O'Flynn 13
Wes Pusey ct  C Bird 24
Fas Abbas ct  J O'Flynn 0
Duncan Anslow ct  J O'Flynn 19
Amir Hameed ct  D Johnson 28
Vineet Sinha ct  J O'Flynn 6
Bobby Gill ct  C Bird 4
Jamie Grover Not Out  5

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Callum Johnson7.021527.502.14
Josh O'Flynn16.0454510.803.38
Chris Bird12.0242221.003.50
John Williams0.40000.000.00
Duncan Johnson2.21515.002.14

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2w 5b 5lb 
for 3 wickets
12
129		        
Simon Rider Not Out  46 94 66 8 69.70
Peter Spriggs ct  Fas Abbas 0 6 4 0
Jack Young ct  Bobby Gill 20 28 30 4 66.67 3
Josh O'Flynn ct  Jamie Grover 47 54 50 9 94.00 1
Josh Winfield Not Out  4 1 1 1 400
Scott Gibson  
Steve Bartholomew  
Duncan Johnson   2
Callum Johnson  
John Williams   2
Chris Bird  

Aldershot Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bobby Gill8.0028128.003.50
Fas Abbas6.0118118.003.00
Amir Hameed3.002000.006.67
Duncan Anslow4.001800.004.50
Jamie Grover4.3035135.007.78

  • Umpire :
    TVL Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Redmond