Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Crown Wood 30th April 2006

Report by Fingers

Having announced before the game that he had been struggling to raise a side the Crown Wood skipper surprised many in the T&T side by electing to bat first on winning the toss, not normally the action of someone uncertain about his team.

It wasn't long before the first wicket fell with Lodhi caught at mid off to give Bob his 500th wicket for T&T (amongst the thousands he's taken in all). Doc was unlucky not to take a wicket in his first spell as he found Ajay Bhatti's outside edge on a regular basis with two going to hand at second slip but being dropped; it would be unfair to say who dropped these catches but I'm sure that Lemmy will have more sympathy with any that go down of his bowling this season following this game.

The main innings for T&T was played by Matt Hammond as he dominated a partnership of 128 for the second wicket. This ensured that Crown Wood would have a competitive total but when they went in quick succession, including Lemmy safely taking a catch in his more customary long off position, they weren't going to be able to bat T&T out of the game.

Doc took a couple of wickets in his second spell as the new batsman tried to force the pace but in a straight 40 over a side game Crown Wood would have been reasonably happy with their score of 182 at tea.

Khadim and Rog opened up for T&T and against tight bowling from Singh in particular got the innings of to a steady start. However, when both went in relatively quick succession there was a need for a decent partnership which came from Os and Meady as they put on 88 for the third wicket.

When they were both at the crease it looked like T&T could cruise to victory but when Meady was bowled by Bhatti with 58 still needed it prompted a collapse of classic T&T proportions; 6 wickets going down for 12 runs in the space of 19 balls. This definitely seemed to leave Crown Wood in the position of favourites but with Doc and Fingers at the crease T&T still had a chance.

Doc played in his typically aggressive manner and chanced his arm on the odd occasion to find the boundary but with the run rate still within comfortable reach and the field still out there were plenty of singles to be taken to keep the scoreboard ticking. When Doc hit the second ball of the penultimate over for six over cover only 3 were needed of ten balls and after a couple of singles it was left to Fingers to hit the second ball of the last over for four to seal the victory; a partnership of 49 for the ninth wicket getting us across the winning line.

SCORECARD
Home Team		Theale and Tilehurst						Away Team		Crown Wood
Date of Match		30th April 2006						Played at		Theale

		Team						pts	Result	Team				pts
Result		Theale and Tilehurst							beat	Crown Wood

1st Innings of		Crown Wood												Rate Per Over
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score		Score	W	Bwl
1	Y Lodhi	ct			S Wallace			R Williams		1	0	7	1
2	A Bhatti	bowled						B Cooper		4	0	39	2
3	M Hammond	ct			C Lemm			B Cooper		8	3	81	3
4	A Bindra	not out								1	0	12	4
5	N Sarna	bowled						Neill Halliday		0	0	2	5
6	R Mana	bowled						Neill Halliday		1	0	7	6
7	K Singh	st			M Mason			B Cooper		0	1	14	7
8	S Collarbone	not out								0	0	0	8
9													9
10													10
11													11
							Byes	1					12
							Leg Byes	2					13
							Wides	17					14
							No Balls	0					15
									Extras			20	16
													17
							Wickets	6	Total			182	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	Neill Halliday		8	1	30	2							21
2	R Williams		8	1	34	1							22
3	C Lemm		8	1	22	0							23
4	O Mahmood		8	0	37	0							24
5	B Cooper		8	0	40	3							25
6													26
7													27
8													28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	7	1				7							32
2	135	2				128							33
3	147	3				12							34
4	153	5				6							35
5	170	6				17							36
6	179	7				9							37
7													38
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	R Puri	bowled						R Mann		1	0	9	1
2	K Aslam	bowled						K Singh		1	0	16	2
3	O Mahmood	lbw						Y Lodhi		3	0	42	3
4	P Mead	bowled						A Bhatti		5	1	47	4
5	M Mason	bowled						A Bhatti		1	0	6	5
6	S Wallace	bowled						A Bhatti		0	0	1	6
7	H Ali	bowled						Y Lodhi		0	0	0	7
8	C Lemm	bowled						Y Lodhi		0	0	0	8
9	Neill Halliday	not out								3	1	26	9
10	B Cooper	not out								2	0	18	10
11	R Williams	DNB											11
							Byes	1					12
							Leg Byes	4					13
							Wides	13					14
							No Balls	3					15
									Extras			21	16
													17
							Wickets	8	Total			186	18
													19
Bowling			O	M	R	W							20
1	K Singh		8	2	10	1							21
2	R Mann		8	0	27	1							22
3	S Clements		5	0	25	0							23
4	V Bhatti		5.2	0	23	0							24
5	N Sarna		2	0	13	0							25
6	A Bhatti		7	0	55	3							26
7	S Collarbone		1	0	7	0							27
8	Y Lodhi		3	0	21	3							28
													29
Fall of Wicket													30
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of							31
1	26	1				26							32
2	37	2				11							33
3	125	4				88							34
4	134	5				9							35
5	136	6				2							36
6	136	3				0							37
7	136	8				0							38
8	137	7				1							39
9													40
10													41
													42
													43
													44
													45