Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Chiswick & Whitton on Sat 11 Jun 2016 at 1.00
Match was Drawn

Match report Thatcham had to settle for a draw after dominating their game with Chiswick & Whitton on Saturday at Brownsfield.

Chiswick skipper Harpreet Bhatia won the toss and inserted the home side and must have been regretting that decision as Josh O'Flynn and Kieran Wood raced out of the blocks reaching 51 without loss through the first 10 overs. The pair complemented each other brilliantly, O'Flynn driving fluently through the off side and Wood punishing anything short and they had soon posted the first century opening partnership for many a while, both reaching 50 in quick succession. A lapse of concentration saw the back of O'Flynn as he gave Naqvi some catching practice off the spin of Neeraj Singh and departed for 55. Wood was joined by Peter Spriggs and the two young Thatcham batsmen built well upon the opening stand. Wood was batting brilliantly, and at just 16 has a very bright future ahead of him. He was well in sight of a maiden League century when Singh bowled a long hop which Wood smashed out to the wide long on boundary only for Aman Chopra to safely hold on and Wood had to go for a fantastic 89. Ben Copeman's stay was a short one as he went lbw to Singh for 4 and then a useful partnership of 40 between Spriggs and Tom Mahoney saw their side through to the 40th over with the score at 209-3. Mahoney (22) perished in the quest for quick runs as did Jack Young who came in and batted beautifully for his quick fire 24. John Williams was pushed up the order as the home side eyed an early declaration, but when he was dismissed by Singh for 11, it was left to Spriggs and skipper Duncan Johnson to post a useful 276-6 dec after 49 overs. Spriggs reached his second 50 in as many weeks as he remained unbeaten on 52 at the end of the innings.

The Chiswick attack toiled with only Neeraj Singh claiming any wickets as he returned 6-73 from 19 overs.

Thatcham took the old ball and opened up with the tried and trusted left arm spin twins Chris Bird and John Williams. With such an imposing total on the board Johnson was able to set some very attacking fields and Bhatia was soon taking advantage as he smashed a quick 25 before top edging Williams to Josh O'Flynn. Leo Glover added a useful 27 but it was the introduction of Peter Spriggs into the attack that brought about his downfall as he picked out John Williams at deep mid-wicket. Opener Chopra was quietly going about his business and he was joined at the crease by Rukshan Warnagula. The latter had reached 24 in no time when Thatcham took the new ball in the 22nd over and this provided an instant reward as Warnagula was trapped lbw by Callum Johnson. Scott Gibson shared the new ball with Johnson and it was he who got the big wicket of Kazim Naqvi. Naqvi is a class act and had tormented Thatcham on a couple of occasions with Aldershot in previous campaigns. He tried to hit Gibson straight and Peter Spriggs took an excellent catch at mid on to dismiss Naqvi for just 11. It was now a case of rotating the bowlers in the hope of breakthroughs and it was vice captain Josh O'Flynn who provided two moments of brilliance in his first over. Bitmead edged a lifter through to Jack Young for 7 and then O'Flynn clean bowled Sunny Singh the very next ball. Wedlock successfully negotiated the hat-trick ball although with 13 runs to his name, he couldn't negotiate the wily Bird who knocked back his middle stump. Young opener Chopra was still at the crease and had passed 50 in a somewhat painstaking innings, but one which his side were indebted to in their hope of clinging on for a draw. The score had reached 191-7 through 45 overs and Thatcham had just 6 overs to get the final couple of wickets when Chopra for some reason decided to take on John Williams. The outcome was an inevitable one as Williams flight and guile tempted the opener into a rash shot and Kieran Wood took an excellent catch at mid-off to see the back of Chopra for 71. Chiswick's 9 & 10 now had a handful of overs to see out the draw and Neeraj Singh looked very comfortable. The same couldn't be said about his partner Imran Khan who was still looking to play attacking shots and it felt like he would offer you a chance with every delivery he faced. Disappointingly Thatcham could not take advantage though as the Chiswick innings fell away to 206-8 in their 51 overs.

The wickets were shared around the Thatcham attack, John Williams 2-64 from 16 overs, Chris Bird 1-34 from 10, Peter Spriggs 1-41 from 6, Callum Johnson 1-21 from 7, Scott Gibson 1-13 off 4 and Josh O'Flynn 2-9 fron his 5 overs.

Thatcham pickup a total of 14 points from the draw and move on to Hurst next week in the hope of a return to winning ways.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3w 5b 6lb 
for 6 wickets
14
276		        
Josh O'Flynn ct Neeraj Singh 55 5 1 1
Kieran Wood ct Neeraj Singh 89 11 3 1
Peter Spriggs Not Out  52 1 1
Benny Copeman ct Neeraj Singh 4 1
Tom Mahoney ct Neeraj Singh 22 3
Jack Young ct Neeraj Singh 24 3 1
John Williams ct Neeraj Singh 11 1 1
Duncan Johnson Not Out  5
Callum Johnson  
Scott Gibson  
Chris Bird  

Chiswick & Whitton Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ravi Bhatia5.002200.004.40
Imran Khan6.003700.006.17
Neeraj Singh19.0373612.173.84
Kazim Naqvi4.004500.0011.25
Harpreet Bhatia11.005000.004.55
Rukshan Warnacula2.001900.009.50
Sam Wedlock2.001900.009.50

Chiswick & Whitton Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 4b 6lb 
for 8 wickets
13
206 (51.0 overs)		     
Harpreet Bhatia ct John Williams 25 4 2
Aman Chopra ct John Williams 71 10
Leo Glover ct Peter Spriggs 27 4
Rukshan Warnacula lbw Callum Johnson 24 3 1
Kazim Naqvi ct Scott Gibson 11 2
Mark Bitmead ct Josh O'Flynn 7 1
Sunny Singh b Josh O'Flynn 0
Sam Wedlock b Chris Bird 13 1 1
Neeraj Singh Not Out  4
Imran Khan Not Out  11 2
Ravi Bhatia  

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
John Williams16.0264232.004.00
Chris Bird10.0334134.003.40
Peter Spriggs6.0041141.006.83
Benny Copeman2.001400.007.00
Callum Johnson7.0221121.003.00
Scott Gibson5.0213113.002.60
Josh O'Flynn5.01924.501.80

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin