Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday v Falkland on Mon 07 Jun 2004 at 6.15
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Lost 2 wickets

Match report A catastrophic decision by Thatcham skipper Duncan Johnson handed local rivals Falkland a Lakeside Final place after they won out by 2 wickets at Brownsfield on Monday evening. Had Johnson given the ball to Sri Lankan overseas star Bradman Ediriweera to bowl the vital 11th over of the innings, then surely the 18 runs that Johnson himself conceded would not have materialised and Thatcham would have closed the game out.

Falkland skipper Mark Foster won the toss and invited the home side to bat and it all started well for Thatcham, and although they lost Ediriweera early, smartly stumped by Mark Foster off Khalid Zafar for 8, the score moved along at 8 an over with James Ettridge and Chris Wright playing some great shots and running well. Wright eventually fell in the 9th over for 21 with the score at 74 as he tried to run Mark Baker to third man only to find the gloves of Foster. Steve Wyatt and Ettridge then shared a 23 run partnership before Ettridge fell for a fine 37, caught by James Morris, Baker again the successful bowler. With just 4 overs to play out it was a testing time for the incoming batsmen as Falkland’s overseas star Raheel Majeed tied them down with a great mix of spin bowling. With Zafar also operating at the close of the innings, much needed boundaries were difficult to find and inevitably batsmen perished. Wyatt was bowled by Majeed for 25 and then in the last over Zafar defeated both Andy Harland for 4 and Johnson for 11 and Thatcham closed their innings at 131-6 from the 15 eight ball overs.
Majeed was the pick of the attack, 4 overs 1-19 and he was well supported by Zafar 3-29 from 4, Nigel Trumper 0-37 from 4 and Mark Baker 2-44 from 3.

With such a powerful batting line-up, Falkland must have fancied their chances at the total, but when James Theunisson clean bowled the guesting Ryan Canning for 1 and Tom Heath for 9 in his 1st over, Thatcham sensed an upset. Nick Bishop then got in on the act as he cleaned bowled Berkshire and Basingstoke’s James Morris for 3 and in his next over he took the prize scalp of Majeed, bowled for 9 and at 32-4 from 5 overs, the visitor’s were in some trouble. It took a great knock from former Zimbabwe A star Mark Abrams to get his side back on track and he was supported really well by Thatcham old boy Steve Pope. The pair ran brilliantly between the wickets and took the total up to 81-4 from 10 overs, compared with Thatcham’s 91-2 at the same stage, to give themselves a chance of the win. It was then that Johnson bowled, what was to be, the over that turned the game firmly in the visitors favour as Abrams took the Thatcham skipper apart, hitting 4 boundaries in the over to take the score up to 99, and although Johnson took the wicket of Pope with the last ball of the over, the damage had been well and truly done. Thatcham now needed wickets and Theunissen was bought back, but 13 runs resulted from the over and Falkland were easing to victory with Abrams in sublime touch. Johnson threw the ball to Ediriweera for the 13th over, and he produced an over of absolute class to give his side a fighting chance in the tie. He clean bowled Abrams for a fine 47 and then trapped Zafar lbw without scoring as the over produced just 1 run and 2 wickets and left Falkland needing 19 off 2 overs. Theunissen roared in for the 14th and first ball took the wicket of South African Travis Townsend, well caught by Ediriweera on the mid wicket boundary and suddenly the home crowd sensed an unlikely victory. 9 runs came from the over to leave Mark Foster and Nigel Trumper the job of taking Ediriweera’s final over for 10 to get the win. Having just arrived at the crease, Falkland skipper Foster played a great innings and he swept the Sri Lankan for a couple of 2’s to leave 6 needed 4 balls. Disaster then struck for Thatcham as Foster went across his stumps for another sweep and was beaten, but an unsighted Nik Stewart behind the stumps had no chance and the ball raced down the hill for 4 byes and with it, Thatcham’s chance of victory.
The field was bought in with 2 required and Foster swept again, this time an inside edge taking the ball past Stewart and 4 was the end result, Falkland getting to 133 for the loss of 8 wickets in a pulsating encounter.
Thatcham can take great heart in the way they came back and very nearly matched a star studded Falkland line up, but it’s the Enborne Lodge side who take their place in the final to meet the winners of Purley or Newbury.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
131		        
Bradman Ediriweera Stumped  8 1
James Ettridge Caught  37
Chris Wright Caught  21
Steve Wyatt Bowled  25
Duncan Johnson Bowled  11 1
Andy Harland Bowled  4
Matthew Denness Not Out  3
James Theunissen Not Out  1
Chris Bird  
Nick Bishop  
Nik Stewart  

Falkland Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Falkland Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
133 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham 1XI- Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nick Bishop4.0024212.006.00
James Theunissen4.0030310.007.50
Chris Bird3.003000.0010.00
Duncan Johnson2.0031131.0015.50
Bradman Ediriweera1.60824.004.00