Theale and Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Farley Hill 25th September 2005

Report by Fingers

The final game of the season and potentially AJ's final game before retirement. I sincerely hope this isn't the last of AJ we see on the field of play but just in case it is I would like to say thank you for all his efforts and how much I have enjoyed playing in the same team as him. For four years he was my vice captain in the firsts and he always had a wise word and was always a very positive influence on the team, I know that Cat will also have appreciated AJ's efforts in this role.

AJ was captain for the day and following Cat's example won the toss and put the opposition in to bat. The two opening spells showed how unfair cricket can be at times; Bob bowled well but without luck and remained wicketless whilst Arsalan was far from his best but had enough luck to pick up a couple of wickets.

The main partnership of the innings was between Trevor Clacey and Pete Shaw who out on 61 for the fifth wicket. The partnership was only broken when AJ took a magnificently mis-judged catch at long off. Having come in underneath the ball he did very well to take the catch falling backwards and stay inside the boundary.

Shaw continued to hold the innings together with McClaren adding in some lusty blows. The final wicket to fall was Cheung who was superbly run out by Oneal from mid wicket to go with the excellent catch he had taken in the same position earlier.

176 seemed about par for the course and within our reach after we had lunch. Things started badly though, Rog went in the first over and was soon followed by Meady and Dopey; 16-3.

Spike and Oneal steadied the ship and put on a good partnership of 56 at an increasing pace before both were dismissed by Cheung when looking for big shots on the leg side. Rags soon followed and when AJ was dismissed it seemed our chances of victory had gone.

There was one sideshow though still to be played out with the least prestigious batting award available, the duck cup, still to be decided. When I said at the start of the season I wanted to win a batting award this wasn't the one I hoped to be in contention for come the final day of the season, Bob and I level at six all going in to this game.

Bob had been promoted up to ten in the order and had got off the mark by the time I joined him, I knew that only one mistake was between me and the shame of taking the Mallard Trophy home from the dinner. Fortunately I managed to sneak a single off the third ball I faced although Bob did seem a little reluctant to run as he knew it would guarantee him the duck cup for a second time.

After a little bit of last wicket fun I became the final wicket of the season to give Farley Hill victory by 41 runs.

So ends what must count as the most successful season so far in T&T's short history; two promotions and lots of records broken. Hopefully we can take this momentum in to next season.

BERKSHIRE LEAGUE SCORECARD
Home Team		Farley Hill						Away Team		Theale and Tilehurst
Date of Match		25th September 2005						Played at		Farley Hill

		Team						pts	Result	Team				pts
Result		Farley Hill							beat	Theale and Tilehurst

1st Innings of		Farley Hill												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	J Harvey	ct & b						A Ahmed				8	1
2	M Harvey	ct			P Mead			A Ahmed				17	2
3	M Blake	ct			O Callender			B Cooper				18	3
4	D Scott	ct			R Williams			M Mason				11	4
5	T Clacey	ct			A Johnson			B Cooper				47	5
6	P Shaw	not out										35	6
7	C Butler	ct			M Mason			B Cooper				1	7
8	C McClaren	ct			P Mead			B Cooper				19	8
9	V Cheung	run out										6	9
10	P Guard	not out										1	10
11	R Ditchburn	DNB											11
							Byes	3					12
							Leg Byes	3					13
							Wides	4					14
							No Balls	3					15
									Extras			13	16
													17
							Wickets	8	Total			176	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	R Williams		9	3	30	0							21
2	A Ahmed		6	1	18	2							22
3	M Mason		10	2	37	1							23
4	B Cooper		14	2	52	4							24
5	A Johnson		6	0	34	0							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	13	1				13							32
2	37	2				24							33
3	70	3				33							34
4	70	4				0							35
5	131	5				61							36
6	136	7				5							37
7	163	8				27							38
8	171	9				8							39
9													40
10													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	P Mead	ct & b						P Guard				6	1
2	R Puri	ct			V Cheung			D Scott				0	2
3	D Robertson	st			L Harvey			P Guard				2	3
4	J Morris	ct			D Scott			V Cheung				38	4
5	O Callender	ct			M Harvey			V Cheung				24	5
6	M Mason	ct			P Shaw			V Cheung				1	6
7	A Johnson	ct			C Butler			P Shaw				18	7
8	T Beck	lbw						C Butler				1	8
9	A Ahmed	run out										3	9
10	R Williams	not out										3	10
11	B Cooper	bowled						P Guard				20	11
							Byes	6					12
							Leg Byes	0					13
							Wides	6					14
							No Balls	7					15
									Extras			19	16
													17
							Wickets	10	Total			135	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	D Scott		6	2	10	1							21
2	P Guard		7.2	1	18	3							22
3	P Shaw		12	5	24	1							23
4	R Ditchburn		4	1	14	0							24
5	V Cheung		3	0	22	3							25
6	C Butler		2	0	12	1							26
7	M Blake		1	0	6	0							27
8	M Harvey		2	0	14	0							28
9	J Harvey		2	0	9	0							29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	1	2				1							32
2	15	1				14							33
3	16	3				1							34
4	72	4				56							35
5	89	5				17							36
6	94	6				5							37
7	106	8				12							38
8	106	7				0							39
9	110	9				4							40
10	135	11				25							41
													42
													43
													44
													45