Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Finchampstead 3 on Sat 29 Aug 2015 at 12.30
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 7 wickets

Match report Thatcham will travel to Aldershot on Saturday for a 'winner takes all' promotion clash as just 6 points separate the top three heading into the last round of Thames Valley Division 3a fixtures.

Whilst Thatcham comfortably disposed of Finchampstead 3's by 7 wickets, Royal Ascot were being beaten by Newbury and Aldershot had rolled Wokingham 2's for 74. Ascot picked up 8 points from their loss, Thatcham picked up 20 points and it was a maximum 25 point haul for Aldershot to keep them well in the hunt, Indian paceman Vinny Sinha picking up 8-29 to shoot out Wokingham 2's for 74.

As we head into the final weekend, Ascot top the table with 290 points, Thatcham are 2 points behind on 288 and Aldershot are just 4 points behind that with 284, so it's two from three for promotion. Ascot travel to in form Purley whilst Thatcham go head to head with Aldershot in what is sure to be an exciting and intriguing last day with twists and turns a plenty.

Finchampstead 3's turned up at Brownsfield on Saturday not having won in recent weeks and confidence was clearly low. Skipper Ian Rose won the toss and elected to bat first, more in hope of gaining points than to actually harbour any chance of beating the hosts. Callum Johnson and Scott Gibson bowled tidily, just conceding 10 runs off the opening 10 overs as openers Matthew Eldridge and Richard Reed just looked to survive. Gibson struck in the 20th over with the score on 34, Eldridge playing across a delivery which swung late and he was trapped lbw for 15. Reed was next to go, a fantastic piece of work from Tom Mahoney who flicked the ball up with his foot and ran the opener out for 18. Adam Davey and Tom Potter added a useful 40 runs before Davey (14) became John Williams's first scalp of the day, Josh O'Flynn taking a good catch. Williams then ripped one past Tilson's outside edge and Stephen Bird smartly stumped him without scoring. Tom Ansell joined Potter and the two of them posted Finch's best partnership of the innings, Potter passing a fine 50 before holing out on the boundary to Chris Bird, Callum Johnson taking an excellent catch to see the back of Potter for 58. Ansell then followed immediately after as the returning Johnson rearranged his stumps for 32. The visitors lower order then caved in as Chris Bird mopped up the tail, Ian Rose caught by Scott Gibson for 1, Sam Jenkins stumped for 3 and James Bewick caught behind for 6. Matt Harper 3* and Joe Loveday 1* saw the innings through to the end of the 52 overs as Finch posted 162-9. Chris Bird 4-55 was the most successful of the Thatcham bowlers to take his season's tally to 52, just needing 6 wickets in the last game to break the record of 57 wickets in a season in the Thames Valley League for the Berkshire side. John Williams picked up 2-49, Callum Johnson 1-39 and Scott Gibson bowled a great spell of 13 overs, 7 maidens, 1-13.

Thatcham knew that to stand any chance of keeping up their promotion hopes they had to chase down the target and they did so in confident fashion with any previous weeks frailties consigned to history. Josh O'Flynn and Simon Rider opened up and were soon into their stride until Rider was adjudged lbw for 17. Tom Mahoney joined O'Flynn and both batted beautifully. The pair took the score from 27-1 through to 117-1, adding a 90 run partnership which broke the back of the chase for the home side. O'Flynn has been the stand out performer with the bat for Thatcham this season, and although he was dismissed by Eldridge for 59, that takes his tally to 479, needing just the 21 runs to break the 500 runs for the season, a good gauge for any batter over the League season. Duncan Johnson joined Mahoney but was dismissed cheaply for 9 as he hit a return catch to Eldridge and it was left to Mahoney 61* and Stephen Bird 8* to see Thatcham home in the 40th over for the loss of just 3 wickets.

It's a massive game at Aldershot on Saturday and Thatcham will hope to be at full strength for the trip to Guildford Road.

Finchampstead 3 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 3b 5lb 
for 9 wickets
11
151 (52.0 overs)		     
Matthew Eldridge lbw  S Gibson 15
Richard Reed run out  T Mahoney 18
Adam Davey ct  J Williams 14
Tom Potter ct  C Bird 58
M Tilson st  J Williams 0
Tom Ansell b  C Johnson 32
Ian Rose ct  C Bird 1
Sam Jenkins st  C Bird 3
Matt Harper Not Out  3
James Bewick ct  C Bird 6
Joe Loveday Not Out  1

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Callum Johnson14.0337137.002.64
Scott Gibson13.0713113.001.00
John Williams12.0249224.504.08
Chris Bird13.0355413.754.23

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 6w 2b 3lb 
for 3 wickets
14
166		        
Josh O'Flynn ct  M Eldridge 59 5 1 1
Simon Rider lbw  M Harper 17 3
Tom Mahoney Not Out  61 8 1 1
Duncan Johnson ct  M Eldridge 9 2
Stephen Bird Not Out  8 1 1 2
Steve Bartholomew  
Matthew Denness  
Callum Johnson   1
John Williams  
Scott Gibson   1
Chris Bird  

Finchampstead 3 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Matt Harper20.0639139.001.95
Ian Rose3.001700.005.67
Sam Jenkins6.012000.003.33
Joe Loveday3.001400.004.67
James Bewick3.002500.008.33
Matthew Eldridge4.4046223.009.86

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin