Scorecard

Hurst v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 18 Jun 2016 at 1.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Lost by 120 runs

Match report It was a day to forget for Thatcham as they went down by a whopping 120 runs at Hurst on Saturday.

Having started the season so well winning their opening fixture convincingly, it's now six weeks since the West Berkshire side tasted victory and it's a run of results that's going to have to change quickly before they get dragged into a relegation scrap at the bottom of Thames Valley Cricket League Div 2b.

Hurst skipper Ollie Lovegrove won the toss and it was somewhat of a surprise when he decided to bat first on a wicket that looked saturated and with muggy conditions overhead. Lewis Smith and Ruki Soza opened up and it was clear from the first few overs that batting was going to be extremely difficult. Swing through the air and exaggerated movement off the pitch should have worked in Thatcham's favour but opener Smith looked set for a long stay, his patience and mental toughness obviously a big part of his game. Wickets fell around him as Hurst slumped to 60-3, Callum Johnson, Scott Gibson and John Williams all amongst the wickets early on. The partnership of the match between Smith and his fellow spinner Phil Higgs was to prove pivotal as the pair added 90 valuable runs in a 22 over stay at the crease. When Higgs finally fell to Chris Bird for 32 with his side 150-4, Thatcham mopped up the rest of the innings in fairly quick time as the next 6 wickets went for just 39 runs. Chris Bird took out the mid to low order in a 5-40 burst and with Smith finally out, stumped by Jack Young off John Williams for a brilliant 89, Hurst's innings closed at 189 all out from 51.2 overs.

Bird's 5-40 was the highlight with John Wiliams 3-48, Callum Johnson 1-25 and Scott Gibson 1-34 offering good support.

With the ball turning and bouncing, Hurst took the old ball and Phil Higgs and Lewis Smith opened up. Smith struck early, Kieran Wood bowled for 4 attempting a slog sweep on a wicket not conducive to the youngsters exciting stroke play. Higgs had started with three maidens and he then got in on the action with a double wicket maiden, Josh O'Flynn poked at one outside off stump and edged through to Ijaz at slip for 1 and then Jamie Young was bowled through the gate for a duck. 10-3 quickly became 36-6 as Higgs ran riot. Spriggs (9) and Jack Young (1) were both bowled through the gate attempting to drive through the off side against the spin and Tom Mahoney (9) was caught and bowled. Duncan Johnson and John Williams tried to stem the tide and skipper Johnson looked at ease until Higgs got one to turn and bounce flicking the glove and Johnson departed for 10. Williams hit two defiant 6's, but the writing was on the wall for the visitors. Callum Johnson was brilliantly caught at short leg for 7, Williams holed out on the boundary for 19 and when last man Chris Bird was cleaned up by Higgs without scoring Thatcham had been bowled out for 69 in just 30.4 overs. Higgs bowled unchanged for 15.4 overs, returning brilliant figures of 8-21 and with the last wicket of Bird, he had claimed 500 league wickets for his Club in a fantastic display of right arm off spin.

With just 7 batters reaching double figures during the whole game it can't be stated enough how good Lewis Smith's knock of 89 was at the top of the Hurst order. This enabled Higgs to bowl with men round the bat and exert pressure from the start of the Thatcham reply.

Thatcham will need to take a long hard look at themselves, dust themselves down and be ready for Saturday's home game against Wargrave where a much needed improvement in performance will be necessary.

Hurst Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 1b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
6
189 (51.2 overs)		     
Lewis Smith st  John Williams 89
Ruksham Sosa ct  Callum Johnson 18
Usman Ijaz ct  Scott Gibson 9
Oliver Lovegrove ct  John Williams 2
Phil Higgs ct  Chris Bird 32
Alex Kayser st  Chris Bird 3
Andrew Cording b  Chris Bird 2
Connor White ct  Chris Bird 0
Nick Reynolds st  Chris Bird 17
Kyle Bradley b  John Williams 10
Sam Hawkes Not Out  2

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Callum Johnson10.0325125.002.50
Josh O'Flynn4.011700.004.25
Scott Gibson11.0234134.003.09
John Williams13.0348316.003.69
Chris Bird10.214058.003.87
Duncan Johnson3.002100.007.00

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 5b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
9
69		        
Josh O'Flynn ct  Phil Higgs 1
Kieran Wood b  Lewis Smith 4 1 1
Peter Spriggs b  Phil Higgs 9 1 1
Jamie Young b  Phil Higgs 0
Tom Mahoney ct  Phil Higgs 9 1
Jack Young b  Phil Higgs 1 3
Duncan Johnson ct  Phil Higgs 10 1
John Williams ct  Phil Higgs 19 2
Callum Johnson ct  Usman Ijaz 7 1 3
Scott Gibson Not Out  0
Chris Bird b  Phil Higgs 0

Hurst Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Phil Higgs15.462182.631.34
Lewis Smith12.0528128.002.33
Usman Ijaz3.0012112.004.00

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    TBC