Theale & Tilehurst 3rd XI vs Wokingham O&A XI

23rd July 2011

The Third XI in the house……(bad news) Rags sets it on fire!

If you look at it from Wokingham’s point of view (being the thoughtful young man that I am – I will), they must be sick to death of us by now and things didn’t improve a lot this time round, the curse of the Thirds continues to daunt them. Let me explain it this way whenever the mighty Third Xi is around there’s bad news, the last two times we have met the result hasn’t looked good for the oaks and acorns and to make matters worse Rags decided to appear! This is always a tormenting prospect (strictly speaking from a cricketing perspective of course).

With that said and the mandatory jab at Rags out the way early, let’s get to the cricket otherwise I could go on all day on that topic. Indy opened the bowling and despite his very economical figures it would be fair to say he was not bowling with his usual rhythm although he did look threatening at times. James Bozarth was also unable make a break through although he was on form and did bowl a good line and length. He was testing the batsman throughout his spell but was at times a little too short.
With the opening overs out of the way, the oaks and acorns managed to see themselves to a healthy start with the score being 48 for no loss.  At this point skipper Alan decided it was time for a change at both ends to shake things up a little. Rags came on and started to make his presence felt by trapping Davies Lbw who had looked like a decent batsman at the time and in hindsight no doubt their best. Rog also came on at the other end and looked tidy. He combined with Indy who took a well held catch at deep midwicket to earn Rog his first wicket of the day. With both openers out it opened up the rest of the batting order to the torcher that was to come. Indy followed up his first catch quickly by taking another from Rags to show there were no hard feelings towards the man who replaced him at the end of his spell. The next man in didn’t last long as Rags struck with his very next ball. The hat-trick ball was merely a dress rehearsal of the very next ball which was exactly the same but did the damage as he managed to get another wicket. Rog picked up another as he trapped Kumar Lbw and this left a very vulnerable looking line up with very little runs on the board. Rags was determined to take wickets and was only denied an 8th as Rog polished off the tail to finish with 3. It was a great performance all-round but Rags deserves the credit for his outstanding performance with 7 wickets and extremely well-polished figures.

The rest was easy; we went out and chased that sorry looking total without breaking much sweat. It was an early finish as it only took 12.4 overs. We did however lose 1 wicket for which I am personally responsible but I (me) and Aggz had pretty much put the finishing touches on the game by that time. Aggz top scored (33*)and gets a mention for his ability to put away those short balls in his usual convincing fashion. Imran also got the chance to play a small cameo and got his 8 runs in only three balls. This was more than enough to see us home. 

Things are still looking tight at the top of the table and picking up 20 points did us no harm. We go into next week looking to extend that lead and a top of the table clash is waiting in the works. I hope the time is not far off when we will be able to decide the big questions over who will win what but before that time comes its only right as the league leaders we serve our rivals notice, that they are all on the list and it doesn’t matter who they are because one by one we will be running through all of them >>>> and it won’t be getting any better than it was for Wokingham from now to the end of the season – lets keep it going till there’s nothing left! Bring on next week!!

 Till next time this is….
Arsalan
THEALE AND TILEHURST CC SCORECARD
Home Team Wokingham O&A Away Team Theale & Tilehurst 3
Date of Match 23rd July 2011 Played at Bearwood College
Team Result Team
Result Theale & Tilehurst 3 beat Wokingham O&A
1st Innings of Wokingham O&A  
Name How Out Who Bowler 4's 6's Score
1 C Davies lbw M Mason 38
2 R Archarya ct I Narwal R Puri 9
3 S Herrington ct I Narwal M Mason 0
4 A Kumar lbw R Puri 7
5 M Loxton ct P Robinson M Mason 4
6 P Timmons ct J Bozarth R Puri 13
7 D Healy ct R Why M Mason 0
8 V Kumar ct J Bozarth M Mason 0
9 T Kelkar bowled M Mason 1
10 P Hayter ct A Ahmed M Mason 0
11 A Clarke not out
Byes 6
Leg Byes 2
Wides 3
No Balls
Extras 11
  Wickets 10 Total 83
Bowling O M R W
1 I Narwal 6 2 16 0
2 J Bozarth 6 3 19 0
3 M Mason 8 2 22 7
4 R Puri 7.4 1 15 3
5
6
7
8
Fall of Wicket
Score Outgoing Bat Stand of
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
9 0
10 0
2nd Innings of Theale & Tilehurst 3
Name How Out Who Bowler 4's 6's Score
1 A Ahmed ct T Kelkar 4 31
2 P Ager not out 6 33
3 I Mahmood not out 2 8
4 P Robinson dnb
5 R Why dnb
6 A Why dnb
7 I Narwal dnb
8 J Bozarth dnb
9 M Mason dnb
10 R Puri dnb
11 T Beck dnb
Byes 11
Leg Byes
Wides 1
No Balls 1
Extras 13
  Wickets 1 Total 85
Bowling O M R W
1 A Clarke 3 17 0
2 M Loxton 2 17 0
3 T Kelkar 4 1 19 1
4 D Healy 3.3 21 0
5
6
7
8
Fall of Wicket
Score Outgoing Bat Stand of
1 69 69
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
9 0
10 0