Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Lower Earley 26th June 2005

Report by Fingers

Theale and Tilehurst travelled to the Berkshire County Sports ground in Sonning Lane for this match against Lower Earley. What was evident immediately on arriving at the ground was that ours wasn’t the only sporting event being played; there was a large hockey competition taking place that looked like it had been going on all weekend.

I don’t know who won the toss but assume that Bob did as we were in the field, not that he should have done here but he is completely incapable of saying “we’ll bat” and giving away the opportunity of using a new ball. Without ever really bowling well T&T took an early hold on the match as Lower Earley subsided to 61-8; Nehal took three wickets using the luck that he didn’t have last week and Bob picked up three also.

Three things then happened that changed the course of the match: firstly the hockey tournament tannoy announcer stated that the beer tent was selling off all bitter at 50p a pint, some of the fielders on that side of the ground suddenly seemed to be fielding a lot deeper. The man on the tannoy then announced that they were looking for volunteers to umpire the quarter final featuring a team named the Bonking Bunnies; a couple of us felt that our knowledge of hockey rules might be a bit rusty but were prepared to give it a go.

So with some T&T minds still contemplating beer at 50p a pint and others trying to work out where the Bonking Bunnies were playing our collective mind might not have been fully on the game. The third and most significant thing then happened: Wrigley and Doughty played really well as they added 88 for the ninth wicket, Wrigley making a fine 55 before being bowled in the penultimate over trying to lift the scoring rate.

150 was certainly more than we bargained on chasing when we had them at 61-8 although we might have settled for it at the start of the game, even if the pitch wasn’t all that easy to bat on.

The T&T reply got off to a disastrous start, 0-2 at the end of the first over with Fingers and Nehal both gone for ducks. To be honest things never really got much better, Mike very briefly threatened but it was Doughty again who was having a significant say in the course of the match. I remembered that Doughty swung the ball quite a lot before we batted but couldn’t remember whether it was in or out; this may explain why I got a duck (note to self for next year: he swings it in). Doughty finished with the excellent figures of 5-16 and T&T ended up well short on 65 all out; it seems that we’re such a close team than when we play badly we all play badly together.

BERKSHIRE LEAGUE SCORECARD
Home Team		Lower Earley						Away Team		Theale and Tilehurst
Date of Match		26th June 2005						Played at		Berkshire County Sports

		Team						pts	Result	Team				pts
Result		Lower Earley							beat	Theale and Tilehurst

1st Innings of		Lower Earley												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	S Maynard	ct			S Wallace			N Bhatt				15	1
2	G Wrigley	ct			J Morris			N Bhatt				3	2
3	J Riley	ct			R Williams			N Bhatt				1	3
4	P Baer	ct			M Toyer			R Williams				5	4
5	J Wrigley	bowled						T Greaves				55	5
6	I Ahmed	ct			S Wallace			R Williams				4	6
7	R Sherbourne	ct			E Choules			R Williams				0	7
8	G O'Grady	bowled						B Cooper				10	8
9	I Ishtaq	ct			E Choules			M Mason				1	9
10	C Doughty	run out										32	10
11	R Harwood	not out										0	11
							Byes	9					12
							Leg Byes	2					13
							Wides	13					14
							No Balls	0					15
									Extras			24	16
													17
							Wickets	10	Total			150	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	N Bhatt		8	1	30	3							21
2	R Williams		8	1	30	3							22
3	M Mason		7.4	1	29	1							23
4	B Cooper		8	1	26	1							24
5	T Greaves		8	1	27	1							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	18	2				18							32
2	20	1				2							33
3	24	3				4							34
4	31	4				7							35
5	42	6				11							36
6	42	7				0							37
7	61	8				19							38
8	61	9				0							39
9	149	5				88							40
10	150	10				1							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	B Cooper	bowled						C Doughty				0	1
2	E Choules	bowled						C Doughty				8	2
3	N Bhatt	lbw						C Doughty				0	3
4	M Toyer	bowled						J Wrigley				16	4
5	S Wallace	bowled						C Doughty				7	5
6	M Mason	ct			G Wrigley			J Wrigley				10	6
7	J Morris	ct			G Wrigley			C Doughty				0	7
8	I Reeves	bowled						R Harwood				8	8
9	M Dixon	ct			G Wrigley			I Ahmed				7	9
10	T Greaves	not out										0	10
11	R Williams	bowled						I Ahmed				0	11
							Byes	6					12
							Leg Byes	0					13
							Wides	2					14
							No Balls	1					15
									Extras			9	16
													17
							Wickets	10	Total			65	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	C Doughty		6	2	16	5							21
2	I Ahmed		6	2	19	2							22
3	J Wrigley		5	1	21	2							23
4	R Harwood		2	0	2	1							24
5													25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	0	1				0							32
2	0	3				0							33
3	13	2				13							34
4	31	4				18							35
5	31	5				0							36
6	31	7				0							37
7	48	6				17							38
8	59	8				11							39
9	65	9				6							40
10	65	11				0							41
													42
													43
													44
													45