Scorecard

Harefield v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday on Sat 04 Sep 2004 at 12.30pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won 114 runs

Match report “OPENERS SIGN OFF IN STYLE”

Thatcham finished the 2004 campaign off in style with a crushing 114 run victory over Harefield to secure the runners up spot in the Morrant Thames Valley Division 1 with a club best 287 point total for the season.

On a gorgeous early September afternoon, Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson won the toss and predictably chose to bat on a Harefield track that looked worn and dusty and certainly would not improve with time. Bradman Ediriweera and James Ettridge opened up and from the very first ball from NZ overseas pro Cameron Faulkner, Ediriweera signalled his intentions as he drove, with a perfectly straight bat, back down the ground for a boundary and the Harefield players must have cast their mind back a few weeks when Ediriweera and Ettridge knocked off 245 without loss in just 36 overs for an earlier win over the hosts. Both players looked set for the duration and were very rarely troubled at any stage, making the batting look very easy on what was actually quite a tricky wicket, with very little pace and bounce. Harefield skipper Nick Lines switched his bowlers around, but with no success as Ediriweera in particular went on the attack. The visitors were 134 without loss at the halfway stage and the home sides heads were hanging. Ettridge was calmly going about his work with the minimum of fuss looking for the big score that had eluded the elegant left hander so far in the 2004 season and he was content to watch as his Sri Lankan partner smashed the ball to all parts, showing a vast array of strokes, one pull shot off the unfortunate Chris Lee, going many a mile over the mid-wicket boundary and it wasn’t long before
Ediriweera was raising his bat to celebrate a chanceless hundred off just 83 balls and one of the finest innings witnessed in Club cricket for some time. Both batsmen continued on relentlessly, and it wasn’t until Ediriweera had reached 150 that Harefield got their first success as the Sri Lankan edged Faulkner through to keeper Dan Lyall. In total Ediriweera and Ettridge had scored exactly 500 runs against Harefield without loss for the 2004 season, a quite remarkable achievement. With a massive platform, Chris Wright joined Ettridge and somehow survived a ‘stone dead’ LBW shout first ball from Faulkner, pitching in line and hitting middle which summed up Harefield’s day !
Wright then hit a quickfire 10 before he was caught and bowled by Lee and Steve Wyatt joined in the fun, partnering the jaded Ettridge through to a well deserved 100 and then cracking a quickfire 23 himself to see Thatcham past the 300 mark before he caught by Lines, also off the bowling of Lee. With just 4 balls to go in the 49th over, skipper Johnson joined his vice captain in the middle and was able to get off the mark with a lovely inside edge past the keeper for 1 and Ettridge was left unbeaten on 109 as the innings closed at a massive 304-3 from 50 overs.

With such a big target to reach it was vital the home side got off to a good start, although Johnson opted to go with the old ball and open with himself and Chris Bird to take the pace off the ball and make the batsman work as hard as possible for their runs in the afternoon heat. Dan Lyall and Sam Foley went out of the blocks quickly, with 4 boundaries coming off the first 2 overs as they looked to be positive and hit the Thatcham spinners off their lines, but Johnson then struck, bowling Foley for 9. Lyall was looking to sweep the left arm spin wherever possible and it was no surprise when he tried one too many and saw his leg stump disturbed by Bird for 14. Chris Lee was promoted to number 3, with both Richard McLeod and Akshay Reddy absent from the Harefield line up, and he was joined by McConnon and a good partnership of 52 developed for the home side before Johnson slipped a quicker ball through Lee’s defence and he was bowled for 44. Johnson then opted to take the new ball with 25 overs gone and Harefield at 89 for 3 and he called James Theunissen into the attack. It was the skipper though who struck again, the new ball swinging perfectly for the quicker one and McConnon’s leg stump was knocked back as he departed for 20.
Theunissen then got in the act with a deadly double strike, first Taylor nicked a quick away swinger to Chris Wright behind the stumps for 19 and then Faulkner completed a miserable day as Theunissen ripped through his defences first up to dismiss the big Kiwi for a golden duck and Thatcham were now right in the hunt. Pete Edgcombe replaced Johnson and bowled a tight spell and with Theunissen tiring, Ediriweera took over and again took centre stage as he bowled Collett for 12 and then ended a stubborn 53 run partnership between Webb and Young bowling the latter for 21. Another hat-trick opportunity was then created for the visitors as Lines was bowled first ball which bought last man Fazio in to join Webb. The hat-trick ball fizzed past the off stump and Fazio survived, but it merely delayed the inevitable as a couple of balls later, Webb, at the non-strikers end, called Fazio for a single, only for Johnson to return quickly to Ediriweera to throw down the stumps and end Harefield’s innings on 190 all out in the 48th over and give Thatcham a maximum 25 point haul to finish the season in style. Duncan Johnson was the pick of a fine bowling performance from the visitors finishing with 3-55 from 19 overs, whilst Ediriweera picked up 3-23 from 5.3,
Theunissen 2-30 from 6 and Chris Bird the other success with 1-32 from his 8 overs.
8 of the Harefield batsmen were clean bowled which is testimony to the discipline shown by the Thatcham attack.

So 2004 draws to an end in a season which had promised so much but ultimately has delivered nothing as Thatcham are once again left in the runners up spot and with nothing to show from some good cricket played. Overall though there is much to look back on positively and hopefully 2005 can be the season where everything fits into place and some success for the 1st XI can finally be achieved.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 3 wickets
0
304		        
Bradman Ediriweera Caught  150
James Ettridge Not Out  109
Chris Wright Caught  10 1
Steve Wyatt Caught  23
Duncan Johnson Not Out  1
Rakesh Patel  
Mike Beaumont  
James Theunissen  
Nick Bishop  
Chris Bird  
Peter Edgcombe  

Harefield Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Harefield Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
190 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Duncan Johnson19.0355318.332.89
Chris Bird8.0132132.004.00
Nick Bishop4.002300.005.75
James Theunissen6.0030215.005.00
Peter Edgcombe5.021300.002.60
Bradman Ediriweera5.302337.674.18

  • Umpire :
    Panel
  • Scorer :
    Ian Martin