Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Slough 2 on Sat 03 Sep 2016 at 12.30
Match was Abandoned

Match report Thatcham secured their Thames Valley Division 2 status on Saturday at Brownsfield and although the match was abandoned with both sides picking up 7 points apiece, they put in a fine performance and were on course to win the game comfortably with 98 runs needed and 46 overs left in which to complete the chase.

Knowing that heavy rain was forecast for mid afternoon, Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson won the toss and asked Slough 2's to have a bat. Thatcham's only real hope of winning the game was to shoot Slough out for a low score and knock the runs off quickly. Slough came out with the expected attacking intent, Rafiq swinging the bat at everything and he raced to 23 from just 9 balls before he fell in the third over, brilliantly caught by Peter Spriggs off the bowling of Callum Johnson. Johnson then had Faisal Khan caught behind for 1 and Ali Ahmed well caught by Scott Gibson at first slip and the young seamer was on a real roll, taking 3-18 from his first 4 overs. Although 3 wickets had fallen quickly, Slough's attacking intent showed in the score as after 10 overs they were 71-3. Jack Andrews and John Williams then put the squeeze on as Usman Ilyas and Naveed Akhtar batted in a slightly more circumspect manner. Akhtar had reached 26 before he drove a return catch back to Williams who took a good catch low down to make the breakthrough. Danyal Akhtar then fell lbw to Williams for 10 and suddenly Slough were 5 down through 21 overs. Andrews was in the middle of really fine spell of bowling as he tied down Ilyas and eventually clean bowled him for a painstaking 19 off 64 balls and in the same over he produced a quick bouncer which Khan could only glove behind for 0. Williams then bowled Afzaal for 19 and trapped Fasil Noor lbw for 5 and although Omar Jamshad showed some late order resistance at number 10 he could only pop Williams to Josh O'Flynn and was caught for 22 leaving Suleman Akhtar unbeaten on 0* and Slough had been dismissed for 152 in just 38.2 overs.

John Williams bowled brilliantly, his 12.2 overs returning 5-25 as he overtook Chris Bird as the Club's leading wicket taker for the League season with 44 victims. Callum Johnson 3-40 from his 7 overs and Jack Andrews 2-33 from his 13 overs were the other bowling successes in a fine all round fielding performance from the West Berkshire side.

With the weather looking to close in the umpires turned the players straight round and Scott Gibson and Peter Spriggs opened up against the old ball and the spin of Naveed Akhtar and Faisal Khan. It was a steady, if unspectacular, start and the score reached 32 off 9 overs before the pace of Yaqoot Rafiq was introduced with immediate reward as Gibson popped up a simple chance to Danyal Akhtar at short leg and was dismissed for 19. Kieran Wood then tried to cut the off-spin of Khan and could drag one on to his stumps for 6 and Thatcham were 38-2 through 10 overs. Spriggs and Steve Bartholomew took the score up to 55-2 from 14 overs but at 4.10pm the rain that was forecast arrived and the umpires took the players off. Thatcham needed another 98 runs from 46 overs and with 8 wickets left would have surely gone on to win the game but it wasn't to be as the rain got heavier and the match was abandoned.

Thatcham now had an anxious wait as two other results could have sent them down but once they heard that Marlow Park had been rained out at Kidmore End, picking up 10 points and that Wargrave had been abandoned at High Wycombe picking up 7 points, Thatcham knew they couldn't be caught and even though 3 Clubs could be relegated, it would be Chiswick, Wargrave and then Marlow Park who perish.


Slough 2 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w 4b  
for 10 wickets
8
152 (38.2 overs)		     
Ali Ahmed ct  Callum Johnson 18
Yaqoot Rafiq ct  Callum Johnson 23
Faisal Khan ct  Callum Johnson 1
Usman Ilyas b  Jack Andrews 19
Naveed Akhtar ct  John Williams 26
Danyal Akhtar lbw  John Williams 11
Hamzah Afzaal b  John Williams 19
Anwar Khan ct  Jack Andrews 0
Fasil Noor lbw  John Williams 5
Omar Jamshad ct  John Williams 22
Suleman Akhtar Not Out  0

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Callum Johnson7.0040313.335.71
Josh O'Flynn2.002700.0013.50
Jack Andrews13.0333216.502.54
John Williams12.242555.002.03
Peter Spriggs4.002300.005.75

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 5b 1lb 
for 2 wickets
9
55		        
Scott Gibson ct  Yaqoot Rafiq 19 31 2 1 61.29 1
Peter Spriggs Not Out  19 37 1 51.35 1
Kieran Wood b  Faisal Khan 6 6 1 100
Steve Bartholomew Not Out  2 11 18.18
Jack Young   2
Jack Andrews  
Duncan Johnson  
Matthew Denness  
John Williams   1
Josh O'Flynn   1
Callum Johnson  

Slough 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Naveed Akhtar4.011500.003.75
Faisal Khan7.0119119.002.71
Yaqoot Rafiq3.0015115.005.00

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin