Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Peppard 29th July 2006

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Report by Fingers

Having got a good winning draw last week it was important to follow it up with another positive result this week. Cat lost the toss and we were put in to bat but our best results have come batting first this year so that was possibly no bad thing.

What was a bad thing was James going to the fourth ball of the innings edging to the 'keeper off Paul Vines. So far with the bat Cullam has looked very good but not got the scores to back it up; it was time for him to deliver and he did with a superb innings of 92 which dominated a partnership with Cat of 118 for the second wicket. Cullam peppered the car park as he raised his 50 off 42 balls and the biggest surprise of all was when he announced after his innings that it would have been his first hundred had he reached it.

Cat was the first to go of the two when he was bowled by Roy Hayden and this prompted a typical T&T collapse as the dominant position of 118-1 became a somewhat precarious 143-5. Since his return to the club Jamil has looked good with the bat but has sometimes not had long to bat, this time he had the best part of 20 overs and took full advantage as he and Mike set about rebuilding the innings with a partnership of 78 for the sixth wicket; Jamil finally going for an excellent 72 as he tried to force the pace in the last few overs.

The innings closed with us 254 all out in the final over. With Peppard missing the injured Tim Vines and Jason Lunnon and the holidaying Hugh Asquith this looked a very good total; Peppard would be relying on a few batsman to do most of the run scoring for them.

Cullam and Lemmy opened the bowling as Doc decided that he's now too old to try and run in to the wind and would rather wait and be first change with the wind.

Andy Watts and Ronnie Brock opened up in aggressive style and this brought about the fall of the first wicket when Brock edged a drive at a wide ball to Phil behind the stumps. Lemmy then followed this up with two wickets in one over, first bowling Ewan Brock and then having the dangerous Paul Vines caught at mid off.

The fall of early wickets allowed us to be patient although this was tested to some extent when Alan Mayers came out at number six and hit a very rapid 31 before Doc deceived him with a slower ball that he sliced to Chilly at point.

With pace and bounce in the pitch Doc was encouraged enough to sustain his pace beyond the end of his third over and this enabled him to find the outside edge of McAdam and Chard Jnr with successive balls for a catch behind the stumps and a well taken one by James at second slip. Roy Hayden soon followed also to Doc caught at mid off.

It seemed that the only thing standing between us an victory was Andy Watts as he continued to play changelessly for his 89. However, he finally went to another of Doc's slower balls superbly taken one handed by Cullam at leg gully. With four overs at the last pair we had a good chance of closing out the victory and fortunately we didn't have to wait too long as Cullam got one to lift to Daniel Hayden that he gloved to the 'keeper.

Thirty five points is a very welcome boost and back to back positive results shows that we are more than capable of performing at this level. It's just a shame that we get a week off next week and can't keep the momentum going.