Scorecard

Theale & Tilehurst III v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday on Sat 06 Sep 2008 at 12.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 98 runs

Match report The 4th XI finished a great season off with a 25 point win to take them from 5th to 2nd in the table, and gaining promotion to Level 7 of the Thames Valley League. Though regular 4th XI Captain, Andy Stephenson, was absent due this win merely continued the fantastic job that Andy has done for the team and the club all year long!

On the wettest of September days, TTCC 4th XI travelled to Douai Abbey to face bottom of the league Theale & Thilehurst 3rd XI. Having won the toss, there was no hesitation to bat first from stand in skipper Gavin Ansell, in the hope of getting the full 25 points to give them an outside chance of promotion. Needless to say, conditions weren't the best for batting as Mick Stone and Adrian Bromhead strode to the crease. Stone played watchfully from the non-strikers end but Bromhead departed in the 4th over for 2. Neil Stephenson soon followed for 2 also, a victim of a sharply lifting ball outside off stump.

Kieran Lynch, fresh from his best ever score of 86 last week, came in at four to steady the ship with Stone. Scoring was slow though until in the 13th over, with the score on 39, Lynch was well caught low to the ground at extra cover for 13. Conor Southgate, batting at five, went soon after for 6. Tom Mahoney came in next and look to play in sensible fashion with Stone, who had played the perfect innings, until on 30 and with the Thatcham score on 75, Stone chased one and was caught behind. Liam Redmond came and went for 4, trying to score some quick runs and shortly afterwards, Mahoney's fine innings was ended on 27, bowled when, like so many others, he was trying to up the run rate.

The TTCC keeper, Nick Stewart came out to join Dave Wells, with the score now on 97-7 and with Thatcham's promotion hopes fading fast! The experienced pair of Wells and Stewart looked to take advantage of the deep set field and get every single they could. A tactic that looked to be getting Thatcham back in the game somewhat, but with the score on 97, Wells was out LBW for 9.

Stand in skipper Ansell came to join Stewart, who gave him strict instructions to play steadily and watchfully. This promptly led to Ansell wafting outside off stump for the first 3 balls of his innings. The next ball though was short and straight and was dispatch over backward square leg of 6. A succession of lusty blows followed from Ansell, together with being dropped by the keeper on about 20, and the Thatcham score began to climb rapidly. Stewart too began to pick up runs with singles that were intended to feed the strike to Ansell, together with two 4's in an over from Stewart. Ansell, with his fifth 6 to go with four 4's, went to his maiden half century in the final over of the innings. He was sadly out bowled off the 4th ball of the final over, trying for another 6, for 53. Ben Cruise came in at number 11 and added 2 to the TTCC total, the inning closing on 180-9 from 52 overs. Nick Stewart finishing not out on 20, having played an innings that should not be underestimated, having come in on 97-7 and still being there at the end!


The Theale innings started as Thatcham's had, slowly, with the wicket providing plenty of lifting bounce with the new ball. Ben Cruise and Gavin Ansell opened the bowling and in Cruise's 3rd over, he struck to dismiss M Runkel for a duck, caught at point by Conor Southgate. He claimed more wickets, both catches to Liam Redmond, in his 5th and 7th, overs to have Theale reeling on 22-3 in the 13th over of the innings, H Ali(7) and E Chomgs(9) the batsmen to go.. Cruise was bowling some challenging balls, lifting into the batsmen's ribs and some past their noses. Ansell at the other end was having little luck as balls passed the outside edge and catches evaded fielders by inches. This didn't seem to matter though, as runs failed to come for Theale and Cruise was on a mission at the other end, his 4th wicket coming in the 21st over of the innings with yet another catch, this time to the keeper, Adrian Bromhead and Theale were in real trouble on 55-4.

Ansell finally got in on the act in the 26th over, his 13th, bowling A Moore for 3. The Theale innings now on 70-5, some serious repair work was needed... Instead, what followed was a precession of wickets. Cruise picking up his fifth in the next over (70-6), Ansell taking his second the following over (71-7) and Cruise taking his first ever six wicket haul the next (75-8 in the 29th over). A brief stay of execution lasted 3 overs, when Ansell wrapped up a fine day for him and the team by taking 2 wickets in 2 balls to end the Theale innings on 82 all out, with the fifth ball of the 32nd over. Ansell finished with good figures of 15.5-4-4-44, but the bowling plaudits had to go to Cruise, who finished with quite superb figures of 16-5-6-31. A fabulous way to end the season, with a fantastic team performance, enough runs were scored and catches were held... well done all!! A win by 98 runs, 25 points and promotion to Level 7 next year :-)


A few words from the skipper now...


Many thanks to Gavin for this week’s report and for captaining the side in my absence on Saturday. And what superb result – 25 points to move us into 2nd place and clinch promotion.

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable season; we’ve had some great games, some tight finishes, massive crowds (Cove) and have seen tremendous performances throughout the squad. Everyone who has come into the side (38 players this year!) has played their part to make this year successful and enjoyable. With more and more players available as the season progressed I’m sure there have been disappointments when missing out in selection, but the response to such set-backs has always been positive.
We have I hope given everyone an opportunity, played to win, but kept it fun, which at the end of the day is what 4th XI cricket is all about.
Many thanks to everyone who played for the 4’s this year.
Andy


Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
180		        
Mick Stone Caught  30
Adrian Bromhead Bowled  2 1
Neil Stevenson Caught  2
Kieran Lynch Caught  13
Conor Southgate Caught  6 2
Tom Mahoney Bowled  27
Liam Redmond Bowled  4 2
Dave Wells Lbw  9
Nik Stewart Not Out  20
Gavin Ansell Bowled  53 1
Ben Cruise Not Out  2

Theale & Tilehurst III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Theale & Tilehurst III Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
82 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 4XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben Cruise16.053165.171.94
Gavin Ansell15.5444411.002.78