Theale and Tilehurst vs Valley End 18th September 2004

Report by Fingers

Some of the games played in September in recent years have been played in some of the best weather of the season and this year has been no exception. This, though, was a truly autumnal day which was cool and damp at best before being the game was finally rained off.

On arriving at the ground we were presented with what looked like it would be a perfect batting track and a short boundary on one side of the ground. If the skipper had done anything other than bat on winning the toss he would probably have been lynched - on winning the toss Fingers' duly elected to bat first.

It soon became apparent though that this was not the perfect batting strip that we had anticipated. The ball was not really coming on to the bat and some balls were keeping alarmingly low. After 39 had been put on for the first wicket Ed became the first victim of the low bounce when he was bowled by Hadley.

Now, Phil obviously had better things to do on Thursday evening than watch the fine Legends of Cricket series episode on Sir Richard Hadlee. During the programme a succession of high class players had been shown padding up to the Kiwi seamer and being out leg before. To his fourth ball Phil padded up to the Valley End Hadley and was given out lbw - it just goes to show that you can't be too meticulous in your preparation.

With the score at 102-4 off 27 overs what had been fairly persistent drizzle became too heavy to continue and the players came off for what became an early and excellent tea. On the resumption it became apparent that the rain had speeded up the pitch and made it easier for the batsman to get the ball away. After the dismissal of Spike there followed a blistering partnership between Jamil and Rog, the 50 partnership coming up in just 17 balls; 25 coming off one Messenger over.

At the fall off Jamil's wicket with the score at 189-6 off 34.4 overs T&T declared and gave what should have been 70 minutes plus 20 overs for Valley End to chase the target. Wellman and Readman got the Valley End innings off to a good start putting on 36 in 7 overs. Just when the game seemed to be brewing up the weather had the final word as a very heavy shower brought a premature end to the game.

BERKSHIRE LEAGUE SCORECARD
Home Team		Valley End						Away Team		Theale and Tilehurst
Date of Match		18 September 2004						Played at		Valley End

		Team						pts	Result	Team				pts
Result									Abandoned

1st Innings of		Theale and Tilehurst												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	E Ellis	bowled						C Hadley		3	0	24	1
2	E Choules	bowled						C Hadley		2	0	14	2
3	P Stephens	lbw						C Hadley		0	0	0	3
4	M Toyer	bowled						S Readman		1	1	30	4
5	M Jamil	ct			-			C Hadley		6	3	60	5
6	J Morris	ct			-			S Readman		2	0	15	6
7	R Puri	not out								3	1	23	7
8	O Mahmood	DNB											8
9	B Cooper	DNB											9
10	P Jenkins	DNB											10
11	R Williams	DNB											11
							Byes	14					12
							Leg Byes	3					13
							Wides	6					14
							No Balls	0					15
									Extras			23	16
													17
							Wickets	6	Total			189	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	C Hadley		13.4	2	49	4							21
2	C Caldwell		5	1	13	0							22
3	N Wellman		5	2	8	0							23
4	G Messenger		7	0	54	0							24
5	S Readman		5	0	41	2							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	39	2				39							32
2	39	3				0							33
3	58	4				19							34
4	90	1				32							35
5	129	6				39							36
6	189	5				60							37
7													38
8													39
9													40
10													41
													42
													43
													44
													45
2nd Innings of		Valley End												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	A Reedman	not out								-	-	18	1
2	I Wellman	not out								-	-	9	2
3													3
4													4
5													5
6													6
7													7
8													8
9													9
10													10
11													11
							Byes	1					12
							Leg Byes	1					13
							Wides	5					14
							No Balls	2					15
									Extras			9	16
													17
							Wickets	0	Total			36	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	O Mahmood		4	0	15	0							21
2	R Williams		3	0	19	0							22
3													23
4													24
5													25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1						0							32
2						0							33
3						0							34
4						0							35
5						0							36
6						0							37
7						0							38
8						0							39
9						0							40
10						0							41
													42
													43
													44
													45