Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday v Royal Ascot III on Sat 02 Aug 2008 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 74 runs

Match report In a nail biting finish at Henwick on Saturday Thatcham 4th XI bowled out high flying Royal Ascot 3rd XI, taking the final wicket with only one ball remaining, to clinch a well earned 25 point victory.

Having lost the toss and put into bat on a wet wicket Thatcham openers Paul Sharp and Adrian Bromhead started brightly to take the score to 41 before the introduction of the first change bowlers M Mirza and M Wijesinghe quickly changed the outlook. With the ball moving around dramatically Thatcham were reduced to 62 for 3 after 20 overs and it took what turned out to be a match winning partnership of 91 between Neil Stevenson and Dave Taylor to claw the initiative back Thatcham’s way. Neil Stevenson was eventually out for a superb 43, but Dave Taylor continued the attack making 33, backed up by youngster Jack Young who marked his 4th team debut with a great little innings of 36. The tail wagged to some effect as Thatcham finished on 231 for 9 from 52 overs. Given the difficult batting conditions and the quality of the bowling attack this was a top effort.

Another 4’s debutant, youngster Tristan Allen, made a great start to his Thatcham senior career by bowling quite superbly in his opening spell and removing the dangerous Mirza for only 13. With Gavin Ansell and Matt Taylor also getting movement in the air and off the pitch Royal Ascot found runs hard to come by. Four of the top five batsmen contrived to give Thatcham skipper Andy Stephenson slip catching practise and with all the chances gratefully taken Thatcham were back in the driving seat.

However Thatcham had to work hard for the last five wickets as the lower order batted sensibly and with the new ball finally taken with only 16 overs remaining Thatcham still required 3 wickets. Baker and Woolston continued to frustrate the bowlers until the reintroduction of Gavin Ansell brought the breakthrough as Woolston mistimed a pull and sent up a steepler to give Stephenson his best and remarkably fifth catch of the innings.

With two wickets need in the last over the odds were on a draw but when O’Connor played all round a straight one from Stephenson, the Royal Ascot number 11 Chamindra had 3 balls left to deny Thatcham maximum points. It was not to be as with only one ball remaining he was trapped lbw to give Thatcham a deserved and hard fought victory.

Gavin Ansell with 3 for 39, Stephenson 3 for 15 and Matt Taylor 2 for 13 were the main wicket takers with Tristan Allen and Greg Cooper chipping in with one apiece.

A tremendous all round performance with bat, ball and notably in the field, pushes Thatcham 4’s up the table and into the reckoning for promotion.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
231		        
Paul Sharp Bowled  17
Adrian Bromhead Lbw  21 1
Neil Stevenson Caught  43
Conor Southgate Lbw  6 1
David Taylor Run out  33
Gavin Ansell Bowled  0
Jack Young Caught  36
Andy Stephenson Caught  11 5
Tristan Allen Run out  14
Matt Taylor Not Out  11
Greg Cooper Not Out  0

Royal Ascot III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Royal Ascot III Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
157 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gavin Ansell14.0339313.002.79
Tristan Allen10.0135135.003.50
Matt Taylor5.011326.502.60
Andy Stephenson6.521535.002.20
Greg Cooper4.0021121.005.25
Adrian Bromhead4.001600.004.00
Neil Stevenson3.00700.002.33