Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Cove on Sat 14 Aug 2004 at 12.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Lost 5 wickets

Match report Not for the first time this season Thatcham failed to capitalise when league leaders North Maidenhead dropped points as they lost at home to Cove on Saturday.

Robb Fraser, standing in as captain with Duncan Johnson on holiday, won the toss and elected to bat with a 25 point haul essential if Thatcham were to maintain their slim hopes of promotion.

They got off to the worst possible start when Bradman Ediriweera was adjudged lbw for 4 in the third over. Runs proved very difficult to come by with the wicket probably at its best for bowling but Jim Ettridge and Steve Wyatt seemed to be getting set until Wyatt tried to drive one that stopped a little and he was caught at mid off for 5.

Chris Wright followed soon after, having already hit one four, he went for another from Smith’s first ball and was easily caught at slip. 31-3 was soon 32-4 as Smith got one to go through quicker and with more bounce than anything else he’d bowled and Ettridge could only edge through to Randall behind the stumps.


Daniel Stone was the third man out for 5, dismissed in similar fashion to Wyatt and in the next over Fraser went lbw for 0 to one that may have kept a little low and James Theunissen followed three balls later. He hit his first two balls for four but was caught going for another. At 50-7 after 22 overs most people in the ground expected the game to last until tea time.

Fortunately for Thatcham no one told Rakesh Patel and Nick Bishop this. Smith decided to test Patel with a couple of short balls with the expected result, two big sixes over square leg. With Bishop soon getting in one the act too the visitors heads seemed to go down very quickly. The fifty partnership took only ten overs and thoughts turned to maybe getting a total of around 150.

Patel continued to attack anything loose, never missing the chance to score, and he went from 30 to 50 in five balls with two fours and two more sixes. Bishop helped him add 91 before he was caught for an excellent and valuable 26 but Chris Bird ensured the hard work wasn’t wasted, picking up singles to give as much strike to Patel as possible.

The spin of Marisa proved to be to both players liking as they took 21 from the 48th over of the innings to give Thatcham a chance of maximum batting points. It was also the over when Patel reached his century. He avoided the nervous nineties by going from 89 to 101 with two big blows over midwicket. His innings also contained 11 fours and was one of the best seen at Thatcham for some time considering the state of the game when he came in. He showed the way as he refused to let the situation prevent him from playing his natural game.

Bird was eventually dismissed for 17 but Edgcombe ensured the 200 was reached before he was lbw to the second ball of the 51st over. Audsley, Smith and Jones picked up three wickets each for the visitors.

Marsh and Jones got Cove off to a steady start against some good tight bowling from Ediriweera and Edgcombe, with only 23 runs coming in the first ten overs. Both bowlers passed the bat on a number of occasions, as did Theunissen when he replaced Edgcombe after 12 overs.

Thatcham thought they’d got rid of Marsh in the 15th over as he drove one back at Ediriweera who grabbed the ball comfortably diving forward and then placed the ball on the ground for the umpire. The batsman and the standing umpire were happy the catch had been taken but when the Cove captain saw the ball on the deck he shouted at the batsman to stand his ground. The umpire, who had a poor game to say the least, then changed his mind and with the square leg umpire claiming he didn’t think the ball had ever been under control Marsh was allowed to remain.

Cove picked up the run rate and had reached 82 in the 22nd over when Theunissen did Jones for pace with a short one and the ball skied towards midwicket where Stone made ground and took a superb diving catch.

The dangerous Randall followed soon after, perhaps unlucky to be given lbw to Theunissen for 5. Marisa, the overseas player, was given a torrid time by Theunissen against the short ball and he eventually succumbed to Nick Bishop’s arm ball for 13. This left Cove needing 87 from 19 overs with seven wickets left and still favourites to take the game.

Marsh passed fifty and with Reed’s help took the score past 150 before Chris Bird tempted him down the track to give Wright a straightforward stumping. The run rate was up to six an over and when Ediriweera was re-introduced he dismissed Howell with his third ball to make it 160-5.

Tomsett and Reed ran well to keep up with the rate but Thatcham thought they’d broken the partnership when a superb piece of fielding from Ettridge saw a direct hit with Reed well short of his ground and with his bat in the air. Unfortunately the umpire, who made no effort to get into position to make a decision gave it not out and Thatcham’s last chance was gone.

11 was needed from two but Bird only conceded four from the first five balls, of the over, plus a leg bye, but a boundary from the last ball all but sealed victory. Ediriweera bowled two snorters but Reed edged the third ball down to third man for the two runs required. Edriweera finished with 1-40, Theunissen 2-47, Bishop 1-39 and Bird 1-43. None of the figures really reflected how well all the bowlers bowled.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
200		        
Bradman Ediriweera Lbw  4
James Ettridge Caught  13
Steve Wyatt Caught  5
Chris Wright Caught  5 1
Dan Stone Caught  5 1
Rakesh Patel Not Out  103
Robb Fraser Lbw  0
James Theunissen Caught  8
Nick Bishop Caught  26
Chris Bird Caught  17
Peter Edgcombe Lbw  6

Cove Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Cove Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
201 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bradman Ediriweera12.3040140.003.20
Peter Edgcombe6.012100.003.50
James Theunissen10.0047223.504.70
Nick Bishop12.0239139.003.25
Chris Bird8.0143143.005.37

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin