Theale & Tilehurst 3rd XI vs Newbury 3rd XI

6th August 2011

The Short Straw (3rd XI) Report

We ended up batting first and I’m not even sure who won the toss. We got off to a good enough start on a wet day, until Aggz (12) was out trying to pull a ball which wasn’t short enough and was caught out comfortably. The very next ball produced a run out as Rog middled a cover drive and was keen to get some runs to show for it, unfortunately it hit the cover fielder at just the right angle which allowed a rebound to the fielder at point who put in a comfortable throw to complete the run out and finish my innings (31). Rog (1) was soon to depart as a good ball from Kemp was enough to beat his defence and bowl him. After a top order collapse Robbo and Imran then had to rebuild the innings and made steady progress. Robbo (46) managed to hit two sixes in very similar fashion both from Keep and in a fine leg direction into the tree overhanging the pitch on the short boundary. He was then bowled by Jefferies who had bowled well all day and now had a wicket to celebrate. Imran (24) was soon to follow and this brought back the Why?s to the crease to build another big scoring partnership, something which we have come to rely on often in the last few weeks. As ever Rob, with his much improved batting skill, was the main aggressor while Alan played the supporting role which was greatly needed as he ended up playing out the best part of 70 deliveries for his 27 runs. This did however allow Rob to score at almost a run a ball for his 42. Once Rob was out this sparked a collapse towards the end and we ended up on a modest total of 206 all out on a ground with very short boundaries.

We set out to defend our modest total by making use of the old ball and two bowlers who were just as experienced as the ball was old I can’t be too far off by assuming Rags and Rog have around 50 years of playing experience between them. Anyway it was a good policy as they got the batsman working hard for their runs very early on even though there were no breakthroughs right away. Eventually it was Rog who struck in quick succession as managed to hold a well hit caught and bowled chance which saw the end of Leadbeater. Gregory was next to follow as he was bowled through the gate with a classic off spinning delivery which was somehow bowled by Rog despite the fact he has never claimed to bowl gentle off spin! What looked like a solid start soon became 50 odd for three and gave us some hope at the drinks break of finding a way to victory. However the partnership between Duncan and Keep would prove to be a match deciding one as they put on a hundred partnership and both picked up 50s. Indy and Jordan bowled with the new ball and were both unlucky not to get any returns although Indy was a hit for a few boundaries in his last few overs. Imran was given the chance to break the partnership and on this occasion he too was unsuccessful. The successful candidate was Robbo, he managed to bowl out Keep but it was late on and Duncan was well set at the other end for any late disturbances. Duncan was however batting with some very nervous looking batsman at the other end, of which one fell victim to Rags in the dying stages of the game. This would all prove a little too late and Newbury were the comfortable winners by 5 wickets, chasing a total which never looked like it would be enough.

We lost our second game of the season but it wasn’t a total disaster as we did pick up some much needed pints and stopped Newbury getting the full 25.I have no more to add but the scorecard, which will tell its own tale if it’s worth the paper it was printed on! I’m out – till next time.

Arsalan

THEALE AND TILEHURST CC SCORECARD
Home Team		Newbury 3XI						Away Team		T&T 3 XI
Date of Match		6th August 2011						Played at		Park House School

		Team							Result	Team
Result		Newbury 3XI							beat	T&T 3 XI

1st Innings of		T&T 3 XI
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	A Ahmed	Run Out										31
2	P Ager	Ct						A Keep				12
3	R Puri	Bowled						A Keep				1
4	P Robinson	Bowled						K Jeffrey				46
5	I Mahmood	Ct						M Caine				24
6	A Why	LBW						A Keep				27
7	R Why	Bowled						A Keep				42
8	I Narwal	Bowled						A Keep				0
9	M Mason	Ct						A Keep				1
10	T Beck	Not Out										5
11	J Manning	Ct						S Thomas				6
							Byes	1
							Leg Byes	4
							Wides	6
							No Balls
									Extras			11

							Wickets	10	Total			206

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	K Jeffrey		12	3	34	1
2	A Keep		13	2	55	6
3	S Thomas		6.5		31	1
4	R Thornton		9		44	0
5	M Caine		10	2	37	1
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	46	2				46
2	46	1				0
3	52	3				6
4	121	4				69
5	132	5				11
6	192	7				60
7	194	8				2
8	194	9				0
9	194	6				0
10	206	11				12




2nd Innings of		Newbury 3XI
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	N Leadbetter	Ct&b			R Puri			R Puri				15
2	L Gregory	Bowled						R Puri				9
3	R Bartlett	ct			P Robinson			R Puri				6
4	D Duncan	Not Out										61
5	A Keep	Bowled						P Robinson				74
6	M Gregory	Bowled						M Mason				7
7	T Nicholas	Not Out										9
8	K Jeffrey
9	S Thomas
10	R Thornton
11	M Caine
							Byes	21
							Leg Byes	2
							Wides	5
							No Balls	1
									Extras			29

							Wickets	5	Total			210

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	M Mason		15	2	45	1
2	R Puri		11	1	31	3
3	I Narwal		6		27	0
4	J Manning		6	2	11	0
5	I Mahmood		2		21	0
6	R Why		2		17	0
7	P Robinson		4.3		35	1
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