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Weekend Review, July 6

Weekend Review, July 6

James Wheeler10 Jul 2019 - 21:18
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Last weekend saw wins for the Second and Third Teams, a draw for the First Team and defeat for the Fourth Team at Hayes.

PAYNE HUNDRED AS FIRST TEAM SECURE DRAW

The First Team travelled to High Wycombe where on a hot day the hosts won the toss and chose to bat. In the opening over Simon Stanway went up for a confident appeal against Conrad Louth who charged out of his crease and was brilliantly run out by David Burnell, one of two youngsters welcomed back from school duties.

High Wycombe moved along slowly as the First Team consistently chipped away at the wickets. In the 11th over, Stanway picked up his first, as Edmund Casterton was caught in the slips by Charlie Macdonell. The third wicket followed in the next over with Mo Choudhry finding the edge of opposition captain Dan Marles and Chloe Hill took an excellent catch behind.

It was now obvious that High Wycombe’s batsmen were intent on playing Stanway by moving out of their crease. The First Team responded with Hill standing up. This contributed to Stanway’s next wicket as Matthew Gouldstone was trapped LBW.

Andy Harris came into the attack and quickly gave Macdonell his second catch in the slips, which was shortly followed with a second, when he clean bowled Adam Dobb to finish with figures of 2-34. Michael Payne (pictured) also chipped in taking 3-57 from a 14 over spell.

With High Wycombe on 70-6, the First Team was in a very good position but with some solid batting from Cameron Parsons and Tom Hampton saw the hosts put put on 134 for the seventh wicket. Some power hitting at the end saw High Wycombe dismissed for 256 in the 64th over.

AJ Woodland had a new opening partner in Burnell and the pair looked solid and at ease at the crease. Woodland was then strangled down the leg side, caught behind for 22 and was immediately followed by Steve Clark. Burnell’s contributed 22 before being bowled and after a stand of 61 between Payne and Macdonell, Macdonell was next to go, stumped on 27.

Payne held the First Team innings together and responded with a brilliant century, his first for the club since 2015. He scored at a decent pace finishing 100 not out from only 104 balls. He received good support from Sheridon Gumbs who made a very good 3. Gumbs was run out and it was left to Choudhry to join Payne and see out the last few overs as the First Team finished on 229-6 to secure a draw.

ROLFE CENTURY SEES SECOND TEAM TO VICTORY

Amersham set the Second Team 225 for victory in 48 overs, a target well within the grasp of their batting line up. But at 72 for 4 in the twentieth over the momentum of the game had swung Amersham’s way.

Opener Scott Rolfe, playing his second game for the club was still there on 31. He carried on with an excellently paced innings, his first fifty coming from 65 balls, his second from 41 balls and his final 26 runs from just seven balls. He defended when necessary, but when the ball was short it was punished through or over midwicket and loose balls on the off side were cut powerfully through point.

The 14th of his 18 fours was another lofted leg side shot which brought up his century and five balls later a similar but stronger shot went for six to bring up the Second Team victory and leave Rolfe on 121. He was well supported in an unbeaten fifth wicket partnership of 153 by Toby Wastling who also paced his innings well. He profited particularly from the cut shot backward of point but brought up his first league half century since August 2017 in 67 balls with a straight drive to the boundary.

In dismissing Amersham for 224, the wickets were shared amongst six bowlers, but Tom Weymes was dominant with 4-57. He removed opener Acheen Rajapaksa as he lofted the ball to Sam Masters at mid on in his first spell and then returned to mop up the tail with 3 wickets for 14 runs, bowling with too much pace for the lower order.

Nick Grant took the first wicket as Joe Shuttle inside edged the ball on to his stumps after a solid opening partnership of 49. Paul Orton took the third with his second ball as Oliver Haddock played across the line of a straight delivery for his off stump to be knocked back.

Chris Fleming top scored with 63, but Wastling dismissed him at the third attempt. After having him dropped on 46 and then 54 he top edged a skier to mid wicket for Rolfe to take the catch. Brent Fleming was next to go as Rolfe bowled him second ball and then Matthew Chapman cut Lawrence Snookes to Wastling at backward point. This was during a spell as the Second Team came back into the game taking three wickets for 24 runs before the reintroduction of Weymes.

The Second Team move up from fifth to fourth in the table overtaking Amersham who were third.

THIRD TEAM TROUNCE TAPLOW

The Third Team produced one of their finest performances of the summer as they beat top of the table Taplow by seven wickets at London Road last weekend. The visitors won the toss and elected to make first use of an excellent batting wicket.

The decision backfired as opening bowler Jake Seagrave, playing his first game for the Third Team this summer destroyed the Taplow top order with an excellent spell of swing and seam bowling. Seagrave dismissed three of Taplow’s top four in an incisive 10 over spell.

Taplow’s number five Asif Butt looked to counter attack with some extraordinary strokes as he looked to grab the game back for the visitors. Captain Chris Curry brought himself into the attack and a tight 12 over spell saw him dismiss Butt LBW with a clever piece of bowling.

Teenage prodigy Ed Pike was introduced by Curry and tied up the Taplow middle order with an excellent spell of spin bowling. Pike who has switched to bowl spin full time in the recent months, bowled with great control and was rewarded with two wickets from 15 overs and conceded only 38 runs.

Aqarab Hussain and Summer Abbas put on 47 for the seventh wicket as Taplow pushed towards a competitive total. Toby Seagrave, held back by captain Curry, cleaned up the tail picking up 3-27 as the visitors were bowled out for 174.

The Third Team got off to the worst possible start when James Wheeler was dismissed in the first over. His opening partner Rory Wood fell shortly afterwards as the Third Team slipped to 24-2. With the match on a knife edge, Ant McCormack and Benn Kempster kept the Taplow bowling attack at bay. The batting styles of the pair complemented each other in the chase as they looked to give the Third Team the platform to win.

During his innings, Kempster picked up both a calf and groin injury which hampered his ability to run between the wickets. He took inspiration from the great Gordon Greenidge who always used to bat better with a limp as he decided to deal in boundaries as he struck the ball to all parts. With the pain getting worse, Rory Wood came out to act as a runner as the Third Team raced towards the target. Both men registered brilliant half centuries with McCormack using resolute defence and excellent timings while Kempster played powerful strokes all around the ground.

With victory only a few runs away, Kempster was dismissed two runs shy of a second century of the season and it was left to captain Curry to hit the winning runs as McCormack finished unbeaten on 58.

FOURTH TEAM BEATEN AT HAYES

The Fourth Team were put into bat on dodgy looking wicket that offering something for both sets of opening bowlers. The Hayes attack reduced the Fourth Team to 28-3 before the experienced pair of Alan Shepherd and Ian Ridley staged a recovery.

Shepherd was looking in fine form until he missed a straight delivery and was dismissed for 43. Krishna Kumar played a typical hard hitting knock to make 32, but it was left to Ridley to hold the innings together making his highest score for Tring as he finished on 84 as the Fourth Team were bowled out for 230.

The Fourth Team opening bowlers Stan Baughan and James Gurnett challenged the Hayes opening batsmen with the new ball. Baughan got one wicket and Gurnett was too good for them beating the bat on numerous occasions without luck .

A quality diving stop and run out from Robbie Grout helped the Fourth Team stay in the game, but they couldn’t get enough wickets and Hayes chased down the total for the loss of five wickets.

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