Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Windsor on Sat 31 Jul 2004 at 1.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won 46 runs

Match report Thatcham kept the heat firmly on North Maidenhead at Brownsfield on Saturday as they produced an excellent performance against Windsor for a maximum 25 point haul to claw back another 5 points on the leaders with 5 games left to play, the first of which is the top of the table clash at North Maidenhead next week.

Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson won the toss and decided to bat first on a baking hot afternoon and Brad Ediriweera and Jim Ettridge opened up for the home side.
Progress was steady until the introduction of South African paceman Justin Granger and his first delivery forced Ettridge to unluckily play on to his stumps and depart for 11. Huggins was bowling a controlled spell from the other end and his patience soon bought him the reward of the wicket of Matt Denness, well caught in the slips by Thompson without troubing the scorers. Granger then struck again to remove Steve Wyatt for 5 and then Huggins dealt his side a massive boost as Ediriweera fell for 38, pulling a ball that slightly stopped on him and spooning an easy catch to Davis at mid wicket. Danny Stone and the in-form Robb Fraser then got together, settled things down and looked to rebuild the innings, but Stone was then caught behind to give Huggins his third wicket of the game and leave Thatcham 95-5 at the halfway stage and in a spot of trouble. Stone had played well for his 17 and looked at ease throughout. Johnson joined Fraser in the middle, but after hitting Huggins for three consecutive boundaries on the off-side and out of the attack and then despatching his replacement Mohindru over extra cover for another, he then fell to Granger, trying to cut a loose wide delivery only to edge to Gould behind the stumps and depart for 18 off just 20 balls. James Theunissen immediately followed, trying to pull Granger, mis-timing and lobbing a catch to Gould and at 120-7, things looked bleak. It was again left to the Thatcham mid-lower order to rescue their side and Fraser, together with Chris Bird set about the task. They added 34 before Fraser fell to Mohindru for a fine 28, but Bird remained, pulling and cutting and scampering between the wickets with Pete Edgcombe before Edgcombe fell to spinner Mohindru, Gould taking a good running catch which bought last man Nik Stewart in to join Bird and they added 14 together, Bird hitting Spence for 11 off the 50th over, including a beautifully timed slog-sweep over midwicket for 6. Bird though was the last man out in the 52nd over, giving Granger his 5th wicket and justified reward for bowling at good pace, in good areas on a hot day to claim his 5-41. Huggins picked up 3-58 and Mohindru 2-31 as
Thatcham were bowled out for 180, which given that they had won the toss and decided to bat, seemed a relative disappointment at the time, but it was a total that was ultimately going to prove decisive in winning the game.

Quick wickets were once the order of the day when Windsor replied and Ediriweera thought he had Craig Bird with the 2nd ball of the session, well caught in the slips by Jim Ettridge, but umpire Harris signalled no-ball and Bird survived and together with Noble took the score upto 38 without loss through the first 10 overs, although Ediriweera and James Theunissen had no luck at all, both batsmen regularly playing and missing. Johnson replaced Theunissen and then Ediriweera took centre stage as the game took a dramatic twist. Noble went first, looping a slower ball up to Pete Edgcombe at mid-off and then the vital wicket of Bird, caught behind by Nik Stewart for 25 followed. Johnson then got Chorley for 3, caught by James Theunissen at mid-on and when Ediriweera nailed the dangerous Granger for 0, Nik Stewart taking a blinding catch behind the stumps, Windsor were suddenly 56-4 from 15 overs, and had lost 4 wickets for just 18 in 5 overs. Thompson and Gould staged a mini-recovery and got the score to 83 before Ediriweera struck again as Thompson fell for the slower ball and chipped the ball back to the jubilant Sri Lankan to depart for 14. Gould immediately followed without adding to the score, bowled by an absolute peach of a quicker ball from Johnson and Windsor were now 6 down for 83 and Thatcham sniffed an unlikely victory and went for the kill. Theunissen came back and snapped up the wicket of Davis, brilliantly caught in the gully by Ediriweera, who then bowled the big hitting Huggins for 8 and it was only a matter of time before Thatcham took the 2 wickets they needed for the 25 points.
Johnson bought himself back and duly obliged, Mohindru falling to the quicker ball without scoring and then last man Spence was bowled through the gate, leaving the Windsor skipper Watkins unbeaten on 27 and his side all out for 134. Ediriweera bowled superbly well for his 5-48 and was well backed by Johnson, who took 4-24 with his left arm spin. Credit to Windsor for going for the win, but 180 was always achievable for them, and in the end they were bowled out in just 37.1 overs with
10 remaining and only 46 runs needed for the win ! Thatcham had actually bowled the visitors out in just 26 overs, which some would of thought impossible based on the their bowling performances from previous weeks.

Thatcham recorded their first 25 point win of the season and now go to North Maidenhead next week full of confidence that they can reduce the gap on the leaders even more.
It’s 10 points in 2 weeks back now, and with 5 games left, it really is everything to play for.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
180		        
Bradman Ediriweera Caught  38 2
James Ettridge Bowled  11
Matthew Denness Caught  0
Steve Wyatt Caught  5
Dan Stone Caught  17
Robb Fraser Bowled  28
Duncan Johnson Caught  18
James Theunissen Caught  0 1
Chris Bird Caught  36
Peter Edgcombe Caught  2 1
Nik Stewart Not Out  0 2

Windsor Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Windsor Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
134 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bradman Ediriweera16.044859.603.00
James Theunissen11.0244144.004.00
Duncan Johnson8.122446.002.94
Chris Bird2.001800.009.00

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin