Theale & Tilehurst 2nd  XI vs Beaconsfield 3rd XI

4th September 2010

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Report by Speedo.

I thought I'd finish the season with a match report which actually could cover the last two games as they were pretty similar.

With just 3 points needed to ensure division 6B survival we were inserted on a dry but slightly grassy looking Theale pitch. James and Hammad got us off to what appeared to be a good start but Hammad went after some flowing drives LBW Mehta. James and Meady soon followed after the out of shape new ball was changed to a ball that gripped much better. Crofty by now was looking well set hitting through Mid-off and extra cover with power in particular. He even survived talk of a ton from the spectators and moving the sight screen on the same ball! However went he'd reached 60 and was looking like it might be his day for a really big one he skied a catch to mid-off. When Ed and Rags were both out we'd subside to 121 to seven and still 4 runs short of our initial target of 125 and 4 points. Fortunately our form batsmen were all lurking down the order and three stands of about 30 all involving Ram got us up to a very healthy 209. Ram was last out hit wicket on the last ball.

Tea was taken and although my effort wasn't up to the standards of the previous Indian inspired home tea from Ram myself and Rags were particularly happy with the blueberry cheesecake cake.

We opened with he old ball which we suspected would be better than the new ball we had. Rag, Brian and Crofty all bowled tightly and although wickets didn't come the scoreboard pressure was mounting. Brian again was particularly unlucky with a drop and their young number 3 chipping the ball regularly into gaps. As we took the new ball they needed about 120 from 23 overs and we needed 9 wickets. I actually thought a draw was most likely as the pitch wasn't the easiest to score 6 an over on. Ram removed the well set opener who'd made a second fifty against us while at the other end Doc really got stuck in taking wickets regularly including setting up a hat-trick ball that he didn't remember he had (it was the first ball of the next over). Suddenly we were cruising to victory with only their number 6 who we tried to keep off strike holding us up. However the number 11 was much more solid than those ahead of him and although we had about 12 overs left he didn't look like he'd give us a sniff. Thankfully Ram returned to pick up the last wicket and our second successive 25 pointer.

Ram and Doc must take most of the credit for runs and wickets. 209 was a challenging score on the day. Congratulations to Doc on his T&T career best figures and Ram for his T&T career best score.

So the end of another league season with us finishing mid-table. Plenty to build on for next year.