Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Cove 2 on Sat 11 Jul 2015 at 1.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won By 2 wickets

Match report TVCL 3a leaders Thatcham Town managed to snatch an unlikely victory as they got out of jail against Cove 2's at Brownsfield on Saturday thanks to a magnificent 72* from Tom Mahoney as they continue to set the pace through the second half of the season.

Cove 2's skipper Matt Short won the toss and it was no surprise that he elected to bat first. Josh O'Flynn and Scott Gibson opened up for the home side in a quiet start until O'Flynn provided the breakthrough in the 9th over as Barker fell lbw for 9. Both openers made runs hard to find as they bowled with excellent discipline and Arshad's patience finally ran out as he tried to hit Gibson over the line, only for a galloping Tom Mahoney to take an excellent catch in the deep and Arshad departed for 8. Taylor had played nicely into the 40's until he hit Chris Bird into the safe hands of Peter Spriggs at mid-on and then an excellent partnership of 61 developed between the experienced Troy Tomsett and Jake Roylance which left Thatcham looking for answers as to how to get a breakthrough. John Williams provided it as he bowled Roylance for 46. Skipper Matt Short added a useful 17 but perished trying to clear the ropes off Williams and when Chris Bird bowled Tomsett for 40 soon after, Thatcham were in the driving seat. Craig Taylor hit a bright and breezy 17* in a final flourish which still left time for Williams to pick up his 3rd wicket, bowling Farr for 1 and Cove 2's finished their 52 overs on 187-7.

It was the first time this season that Thatcham had failed to bowl the opposition out and the usually excellent Thatcham spin duo of John Williams 3-66 and Chris Bird 2-54 will be disappointed that they didn't make better use of a helpful turning pitch. Seamers Josh O'Flynn 1-21 and Scott Gibson 1-43 did an excellent job at the start of the innings.

Cove unsurprisingly took the old ball and opened up with the spin of Craig Taylor and medium pacer Imran Afreidi. Thatcham's inability to work the old ball once again came to the fore as the top order caved in with little resolve. Simon Rider (3) got one that jagged back from Afreidi, Peter Spriggs (6) was caught down the leg side, Jack Young (1) was lbw and Josh O'Flynn (8) was stumped, all falling to Taylor who had figures of 7 overs, 4 maidens, 3 for 5 at the early stage as Thatcham collapsed to 24-4 through 14 painful overs. Skipper Duncan Johnson and Tom Mahoney started to rebuild and added 30 until Johnson was unluckily bowled off his pads by Afreidi for 18. Afredi repeated the dose as Bartholomew was bowled 2 balls later and at 56-6, the writing was on the wall. Matthew Denness came in at 8 and together with Mahoney, began to restore some hope and pride as the pair looked to get their side back up and running. They ran brilliantly and a 50 run partnership in good time was the result until Farr nailed Denness lbw for 21. John Williams came in at 9 and did what he does best, he started clearing the ropes and spreading the field in a fine display of clean hitting. With Mahoney passing 50 and seeing the ball beautifully the pair got their side up to 150 when Williams was bowled by Taylor for 35 from just 18 balls. Thatcham had 8 overs to get 38, so the rate was fine, the wickets were an issue. The one thing Thatcham have though, is batting depth and they genuinely bat all the way down from one to eleven. Scott Gibson joined Mahoney and it took just 6 overs for the pair to win the game. Mahoney striking the ball brilliantly and Gibson batting sensibly as they broke Cove hearts with a stand of 41 to bring the points home. Mahoney finished on 72*, a brave and brilliant knock, with ten 4's and Gibson 14*.

Spinner Craig Taylor bowled superbly well for Cove, 19 overs 4-52 and he was well backed up by Afreidi 3-56 from 19 overs, but Cove will be asking just how they let this one slip away.

Thatcham (190 points) are now 21 points clear of nearest rivals Royal Ascot (169 points) and a resurgent Newbury (167 points) now fill 3rd place as Aldershot (166 points) fall to 4th having been comfortably beaten by Falkland 2's. It's all getting very tight at the top!

Thatcham make the short trip to Enborne Lodge to face Falkland 2's next weekend in what is sure to be a cracking local derby.



Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3w 4b 6lb 
for 8 wickets
13
178		        
Simon Rider b Imran Afreidi 3 16 18.75
Josh O'Flynn st Craig Taylor 8 37 1 21.62
Peter Spriggs ct Criag Taylor 6 10 1 60.0 1
Jack Young lbw Craig Taylor 1 12 8.33
Duncan Johnson b Imran Afreidi 18 39 3 46.15
Tom Mahoney Not Out  72 90 10 80.0 2
Steve Bartholomew b Imran Afreidi 0 2 0
Matthew Denness lbw Matthew Farr 21 25 3 84.00
John Williams b Craig Taylor 35 18 6 194.44
Scott Gibson Not Out  14 19 1 73.68
Chris Bird  

Cove 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Imran Afreidi18.0556318.673.11
Craig Taylor19.0552413.002.74
Matthew Farr4.0026126.006.50
George Roylance1.502600.0014.18
Matthew Short3.102100.006.63

Cove 2 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3w 1b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
6
187 (52.0 overs)		     
James Taylor ct C Bird 42
Lewis Barker lbw J O'Flynn 9
Muhammed (Arshad) Dilawar ct S Gibson 8
Jake Roylance b J Williams 46
Troy Tomsett b C Bird 40
Matthew Short ct J Williams 17
Craig Taylor Not Out  17
Matthew Farr b J Williams 1
Imran Afreidi Not Out  1
Stuart Dee  
George Roylance  

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Josh O'Flynn10.0221121.002.10
Scott Gibson13.0343143.003.31
Chris Bird16.0254227.003.38
John Williams13.0166322.005.08

  • Umpire :
    TVL Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin