Scorecard

Bracknell v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday on Sat 23 May 2015 at 1.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won By 116 Runs

Match report Thatcham Town Cricket Club 2nd XI v Bracknell Cricket Club 1st XI

Thames Valley League Division 4B

Saturday 23rd May 2015

Summary

Bracknell: for 3
Thatcham: 213 for 4 (Simon Gale 103 not out)
Bracknell: 97 all out (Perry Moore 5 for 23)

Thatcham Won by 116 runs

Thatcham’s 2nd XI got their league season back on track with a comfortable 116 run win over Bracknell on Saturday.

On winning the toss for the third week in a row Thatcham Skipper Bird decided a different approach was required from the previous two weeks as he decided to bat on the very green wicket; which after 4 overs looked like a bad decision as Lewis and Rochfort were both quickly dismissed, leaving Thatcham’s innings precarious balanced on 13 for 2.

However, for Thatcham’s number 3 and 4 this was not a position they had not experienced before as Gale and Howell steadied the ship and started to build a more defend-able score, with a partnership that coupled both caution and class. With an outfield akin to a lush meadow, Thatcham’s batsmen found scoring difficult as any ball struck along the floor struggled to find the boundary, this being reflected as only four 4’s were scored in their partnership of 83. After repairing the early damage Howell was first to blink as a lapse of concentration saw him thinly edge a delivery behind to be dismissed for a fine 40. With the score on 96, 23 overs still to go and the lush outfield a par score was difficult to predict but conversations in the Thatcham dressing room lingered around the 180 mark.

Gale was joined by Hobbs (11), who after a few overs of watchfulness applied the accelerator as requested by the skipper but soon holed out to a fine boundary catch, leaving Thatcham 118 for 4 in the 36th over. Skipper Bird joined Gale for Thatcham’s final partnership of the day as they utilised their 55+ years of experience to amass a 96 run partnership in 15 overs, with Gale the predominant partner as he past his 50 and eventually his century in subline fashion to record his first Thatcham century, allowing skipper Bird to declare with the score on 213 after 51 overs with Gale 103 not out and Bird 29 not out.

Thatcham took the old ball which paid dividends immediately as Perry Moore struck early removing opener Chopro and the dangerous Winter within the first 6 overs. A bowling change after 10 overs continued Thatcham’s control over the game as Mahoney (3-16) and Armstrong (1-20) ripped through the Bracknell middle order reducing them to 34 for 6 within 16 overs.

Bracknell’s Ramanujan decided attack was necessary as he orchestrated some lusty blows in an attempt to change Bracknell’s fate, however this was soon nullified as another change in bowling, the reintroduction of Moore, put pay to Ramanujan plan as skipper Bird removed his bails in a flash to send him back to the pavilion for an entertaining 17. Moore added to his tally as he took his 4th and 5th wicket removing Gudiraju and Stone both caught at gully to over the next 4 overs to leave Bracknell on 85 for 9 in the 24th over.

Bracknell’s last pair of Malik (28 not out) and Martindale dug deep, as any last pairing have the right too, and decided to make Thatcham work for their 25 points. Skipper Bird mixed up the bowling as Thatcham searched for the final wicket and it fell to the wily, canny experience of Bishop, would had bowled with great control but little reward earlier in the innings to finish of the game, as he delivered the perfect length ball that struck the off stump of Martindale and secure a welcome Thatcham win.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 5w 5b 10lb 
for 4 wickets
23
213		        
Simon Lewis ct Malik 7 2
Chris Rochfort b Malik 0 2
Simon Gale Not Out  103
Alistair Howell ct Stone 40
Michael Hobbs ct Errajan 11
Stephen Bird Not Out  29 1
Alex Wood  
Perry Moore  
Nick Bishop  
George Armstrong  
Tim Mahoney  

Bracknell Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
T Winter15.017300.004.87
A Malik15.0263231.504.20
P Stone11.0331131.002.82
N Chopra3.00700.002.33
S Errajan7.0124124.003.43

Bracknell Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w  
for 10 wickets
4
97 (42.1 overs)		     
N Chopra lbw Moore 0
S Errajan ct Mahoney 17
T Winter ct Moore 11
S Malik ct Mahoney 3
D Clark b Mahoney 0
P Bray b Armstrong 3
K Ramanujan st Moore 17
A Malik Not Out  28
R Gudiraju ct Moore 4
P Stone ct Moore 9
B Martindale b Bishop 1

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 2XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nick Bishop7.1221121.002.93
Perry Moore13.042354.601.77
Tim Mahoney8.031635.332.00
George Armstrong6.0020120.003.33
Alex Wood6.001700.002.83
Simon Lewis2.02000.000.00