Newbury Weekly News - May 11th 2017

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Newbury Weekly News

Email: sport@newburynews.co.uk

Cricket

OXFORDSHIRE CA LEAGUE : West Ilsley sustained a second successive Division Four defeat when going down by 16 runs at Deddington. The Ilsley attack was on top as Andy Brown and Nicole Beesley each claimed three wickets and Wayne Lyford and Patrick MacKenzie-Charrington two apiece, but 32 extras and last batsmen David Victor (32) and Robert Preston (16) hoisted the total to 141. Adam Barnes held together Ilsley’s upper order with us 32 before Lyford (19) and Tom Carlisle (12) propped up the middle. But despite Chris Walker’s unbeaten 20, the tail went cheaply and Ilsley dropped short at 125 all out. Bedwyn’s shaky start WEST OF ENGLAND PREMIER LEAGUE : Great Bedwyn’s bid to improve upon last season got off to a shaky start with a 103-run home defeat at the hands of Devizes. Openers David Bromley (34) and Joe Wookey put on 80 for the visitors, Wookey going on to slam three sixes and 14 fours in his 100 as Devizes posted 259-8 in their 50 overs, Max Andrews leading the Bedwyn attack with his 4-45. The home side never got going and were soon 19-2 and laboured to 36-4 as John Palmer attempted to hold things together with his 31. He went at 103-6, leaving Josh Quinn (31) and Chris Blundy (24 not out) to add some resistance as Bedwyn were all out inside 45 overs from 156 with Tim Saye taking 4-14 in 10 overs and Tom Pike 4-46. Henderson Alleyne added 21 and John Westbrook 15 to maintain the momentum as Park reached their target at 160-5 with just over 10 overs to spare. l l l Falkland Development failed to take advantage of excellent batting condi- tions as they went down by four wickets at home to Sulhamstead III in Division Four. They posted a modest 140 in 40 overs, which could have been worse but for some lusty late order hitting by George Hawkins (36) and Chris Garrett (19). Despite losing a wicket in the first over, Sulhamstead were soon well ahead of the rate with Bob Norris (21) and Singh Digvijay (24) hitting out before veteran Chris Garrett pegged them back with 2-25 and keen fielding and steady bowling from the Falkland youngsters made some inroads into the visitors’ middle order. Skipper Richard Graham kept his nerve with an unbeaten 24 however, and the visitors hit their target at 142-6 with plenty of overs remaining. THAMES VALLEY LEAGUE: Rhodri Lewis claimed eight wickets and an unbeaten 70 but still could not steer his Thatcham III side to victory over North Maidenhead III in Division Seven A. The visitors were steered away by openers Adam (93) and Danyal Mumtaz (44) until both fell to Lewis, who went on to claim every wicket to fall for 58 runs his 13 overs as Maidenhead declared at 248-8 after 45 overs. The target was a tough call, despite Evan Pocock’s 53, and Lewis’ unbeaten 70 and 28 not out from Jack North took them safely to 181-3 at the close. Rhodri’s double blast resisted Ilsley downed at Deddington

Single shot downs Thatcham

severe bout of cramp forced Wood off the field, and although replacement Jamie Young started confidently, Wood’s departure for 29 undoubtedly lifted the home side, who were further boosted when four wickets fell for only 15 runs inside eight overs with the loss of O’Flynn for 35 a massive blow when he was stumped by Collins off Anslow. Gilmour (33), Stephen Bird (14) and Bishop began a rebuilding operation, but there was ground to make up plenty to do when number 10 Chris Bird joined Bishop at the crease with 33 runs still required. Bishop took the senior role as the pair chipped away, and when Bishop smashed the returning Sean O’Dwyer for a towering straight six, Thatcham moved past 200 with victory in sight. In a final roll of the dice, skipper Hameed re-introduced young spinner Ibraaheem Ahmed and when Bird smashed him high over mid-on for what everyone thought to be a crucial maximum, the game seemed to be all but over. But as Thatcham began to celebrate, they were stunned into silence as Ahmed Faraz, sprinting from long-off, stuck out a speculative hand to pouch an unbelievable catch. Thatcham still needed nine to win as last man Ben Denton-Powell got to the crease, he and Bishop manoeuvring their way to 209 when Ahmed held his nerve to bowl Bishop for 21 and leave Thatcham with little to show for their efforts. Jordan made a careful start in putting on 78 before Batchelor holed out for 28. But Jordan batted with skill and maturity to hit the winning boundary, bringing up his maiden senior 100 with three overs to spare as Woodhay cruised to 156-3. p East Woodhay’s first XI coasted home by 10 wickets at home to Ellingham in their first game since winning promotion to County Two of the Hampshire League. The home side were limited to a total of 168 as Alan Williams claimed 3-25, Ben Lawrance 3-35 and Duncan Johnson 2-32, and the runs were knocked off by openers Tom Flack and skipper Joe Lawrance, who made 87 and 75 respectively as Woodhay hit the 171 mark in the 22nd over. and Neil Storkey (49) posting a first wicket stand of 126. Searancke fell for 84 and Will Bray for 19, but skipper Kingston (28 not out) and Steve Audsley (44 not out) put together an unbroken stand of 61 to take their side to 239-3 in the 45th over. l l l Sulhamstead II went down by eight wickets at Ibis Mapledurham after faltering in the middle. They reached 77-2 with Jason Doole making 33 and Matthew Burrows 35 but then had to rely upon tail-enders Gurunt (38) and Babu Loganathan (15) to take the all-out total to 177. Skipper Burrows claimed two early victims but there were no more successes as David Drury and skipper Matt Jones made 74 and 73 respectively in an unbroken third wicket stand of 152 to wrap it up inside 42 overs. l l l Bradfield signed on with a seven wicket win at home to Goring on Thames. Goring’s innings was dominated by number three Gary Niederheitmann’s

THATCHAMmade a disappointing start to their Thames Valley League Division Two B campaign when a single run handed newly-promoted Aldershot victory by the narrowest of margins. Hosts Aldershot struggled at first against Thatcham’s opening attack as Ryan Gilmour picked up the wicket of the prolific Rory Collins for six streaky runs, and with Josh O’Flynn also bowling well, the visitors appeared to be taking control. They kept the run rate in check as spinners Chris Bird and Nick Bishop – in as a late replacement for the injured John Williams and making his first senior XV appearance in six years - made life difficult for the batsmen with Bird conceding only 17 runs in his 10 overs as Aldershot laboured to 100-3 in 30 overs. The departure of opener Calum Grover for a watchful 54 saw Duncan Anslow (25) and skipper Amir Hameed (20) attempt to up the tempo, and it was Thatcham who began to toil as they struggled to control the late burst of runs. Occasional seamer Stephen Bartholomew picked up 2-54, but with Thatcham short of attacking options, Aldershot worked their way to 210-9 after 50 overs, some 40 runs above what Thatcham hoped would be the target. O’Flynn claimed the best figures of 3-47 in his 10 overs and he and Kieran Wood made a good start in chasing the target. They raced to 60 in nine overs before a NEWLY-promoted East Woodhay II opened their first campaign in the Hampshire League’s Regional One North with a seven-wicket win at Rotherwick ITW. On a usually difficult batting wicket, Woodhay inserted the home side, but faced stubborn resistance and despite conceding few runs, the bowlers were unable to break the opening partnership until they had reached 52 when skipper Mark Chapman got rid of Wheeler for a stubborn 19 via a superb catch in the gully from Daren Both. Thirteen-old debutant left-armer Alex Kerr delivered a fine spell to take 1-13 that helped to restrict Rotherwick to 155-7 in their 42 overs. With only a modest target, openers Adrian Batchelor and 14-year old Alex BERKSHIRE LEAGUE: It’s early days yet, but Sulhamstead’s nine-wicket dismissal of visiting Welford Park put them at the top of the embryo Premier Division table and Park at the bottom after the season’s opening day. The decision to make Park bat first paid off as the home bowlers cut into the ranks after openers Ben Myers and Stephen Yahia had put on 21. Myers departure for 23 of the first 33 runs signalled a collapse to 76 all out with only Greg Griffith adding double figures while Craig Palmer claimed 4-16, Shiva Aruna 3-22 and Phil Braithwaite 2-8. Steve Belcher (27) and Ryan Brown (29 not out) put on 53 in reply, Brown and Chris Mercer (16 not out) completing the job in 20 overs. l l l Mortimer West End’s first match following relegation to Division One produced a seven-wicket win over visitors Emmbrook and Bearwood. The visitors made decent progress to 191-4 with opener Ollie Williams (51) and Matt Smart (68) leading the way with a third wicket stand of 108 before West End took later wicket with Jay Patel claiming 3-35 and Nick Kingston 2-35 before Wokingham declared at 238-9 after 43 overs. But West End made good use of the overs handed to them, Jason Searancke

Promising start at the higher level

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Park knocked out by Sully attack

91 of a total of 189-9 in the 45 overs before he became one of Mike Reekie’s 3-29. Bradfield’s reply was given a head start by Tim Smith (64) and Ben Hardy (46) in an opening partnership worth 99, after which Paul Hale chipped in with 29 and James Fox and Matt Evans with 16 and 15 respectively as the hosts got home to 190-3 with more than four overs to spare. l l l Purley III squeezed out a one-run win over host West Reading III at their Sulhamstead home in Division Three. Krish Weerasamy top-scored for Purley in their 157 total, and they had Wests in trouble at 73-6 in reply. Wasim Akram lift Wests’ hopes with his 51, marshalling a late rally that saw Oman Bilal make 21 and Imran Razaq 10 before Pahirathan Selveratnam claimed the wicket of Bilal as one of his 3-28 to secure the narrowest of wins. l l l Mortimer’s Division Three arrival was marked by having the lesser

share of their draw at Peppard Stoke Row III. Opener Hugh Asquith and George Lee cut open the attack to make 110 and 85 respectively in a total of 155-5 in the 45 overs. Mortimer also had two stand-out batsmen in reply with opener Nigel Payne making 45 and Archie Fitz 76 in a second wicket stand of 114, but after that it was a question of survival as nobody else got into double figures and Mortimer saw out time at 159-8. l l l Welford Park II eased over the line to a five wicket win over visitors Bradfield II. Put in to bat, Bradfield looked well set at 61-1 when Dan Filmer fell for 32 after a stand of 55 with Ed Dack, who was left took usher home the innings with his unbeaten 62 as Bradfield reached 159-8 in their 45 overs. Park were given a solid start by Jacob McManus (32) and Manu Chadha (48) in an opening stand of 79.