Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Nettlebed and Swyncombe 28th May 2005

Report by Fingers

The two league games against N&S last year had ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous: in the first game they played very well and in a very high scoring game beat us by about 60 runs; in the second game we had bowled a much weakened side out for about 60 and won before tea.

The team we were playing against this time was closer to the team we had played second last year and when Cat won yet another toss he had no hesitation about putting N&S in to bat.

For how Chris bowled with the new ball see all previous match reports (i.e. bloody well but with no luck at all). Griffiths mixed good fortune with some good shots to get the N&S innings off to a good start as he and Leverett put on 43 for the first wicket. However, once Leverett had chipped Doc to AJ at mid-off wickets started to fall regularly. These were mainly to AJ who as he does when he is bowling well mixed his pace cleverly. As many of us have seen him bowl for years we perhaps take for granted all his variations and subtlety but those opposition batsman who seem him once or twice a season or perhaps for the first time can be taken a bit by surprise. It may come as news to Wood that he was bowled by the slower ball as with it came a Monica Seles type grunt to try and suggest that it was the effort ball, a perfect piece of deception.

It was not until Simon Vines came in at number ten that the flow of wickets stalled and the skipper decided it was time to put the pace back on the ball. It took Jamil five balls to bowl Byers and close the innings at 106. For the third game in a row T&T had put in a decent performance in the field. This time we had to make sure that we made no mistakes with the bat.

James was back at the top of the order to give it a more familiar and solid look and he and Phil got the T&T innings off to a flying start. Cat was the first to go when Wood uprooted his off stump. The arrival of Jamil at the crease was unlikely to slow the run rate in terms of runs per over but it did slow the run rate in terms of runs a minute. This was because he was clearly unhappy with some aspect of his bat and spent seemingly ages in between balls fiddling with it, the funny thing was that when he did let the bowler bowl the bat seemed to be working fine. Two large sixes were certainly testament to this.

The winning runs came in the 19th over to give T&T a comfortable win, one that should have been equalled in the first two games but wasn't quite. Hopefully it shows that we are coming in to form and can continue to win matches in what promises to be tougher matches in the weeks to come.

BERKSHIRE LEAGUE SCORECARD
Home Team		Theale and Tilehurst						Away Team		Nettlebed and Swyncombe
Date of Match		28th May 2005						Played at		Theale

		Team						pts	Result	Team				pts
Result		Theale and Tilehurst							beat	Nettlebed and Swyncombe

1st Innings of		Nettlebed and Swyncombe												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	P Leverett	ct			A Johnson			Neill Halliday		0	0	8	1
2	P Griffiths	lbw						A Johnson		4	0	32	2
3	J White	bowled						A Johnson		3	0	26	3
4	C Young	ct			P Jenkins			A Johnson		0	0	4	4
5	G Baker	bowled						A Johnson		0	0	0	5
6	G Bridges	lbw						B Cooper		0	0	3	6
7	M Ward	bowled						A Johnson		0	0	2	7
8	M Bryant	ct			Neill Halliday			B Cooper		0	0	0	8
9	S Armstrong	bowled						B Cooper		1	0	5	9
10	S Vines	not out								2	0	10	10
11	M Byers	bowled						M Jamil		1	0	4	11
							Byes	9					12
							Leg Byes	3					13
							Wides	0					14
							No Balls	0					15
									Extras			12	16
													17
							Wickets	10	Total			106	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	C Lemm		7	3	14	0							21
2	Neill Halliday		9	3	24	1							22
3	A Johnson		12	4	29	5							23
4	B Cooper		10	1	26	3							24
5	M Jamil		0.5	0	1	1							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	43	1				43							32
2	43	2				0							33
3	47	4				4							34
4	47	5				0							35
5	52	6				5							36
6	67	3				15							37
7	70	7				3							38
8	78	8				8							39
9	100	9				22							40
10	106	11				6							41
													42
													43
													44
													45
2nd Innings of		Theale and Tilehurst												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	J Codd	not out								4	0	39	1
2	P Stephens	bowled						M Wood		3	0	21	2
3	M Jamil	not out								1	2	29	3
4	D Robertson	DNB											4
5	T Sethi	DNB											5
6	A Johnson	DNB											6
7	J Morris	DNB											7
8	B Cooper	DNB											8
9	C Lemm	DNB											9
10	Neill Halliday	DNB											10
11	P Jenkins	DNB											11
							Byes	2					12
							Leg Byes	6					13
							Wides	12					14
							No Balls	0					15
									Extras			20	16
													17
							Wickets	1	Total			109	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	M Wood		7	1	38	1							21
2	G Baker		5	0	24	0							22
3	G Bridges		3	0	12	0							23
4	C Young		2	0	10	0							24
5	M Byas		2	0	17	0							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	45	2				45							32
2													33
3													34
4													35
5													36
6													37
7													38
8													39
9													40
10													41
													42
													43
													44
													45