Buckingham Town Cricket Club - July 24th 2004

Buckingham Town vs Kidlington

Oxford Times Cherwell Cricket League, Division One.

In quite a dramatic turn of events, Kidlington, chasing 237 for victory, appeared to be gaining the upper hand with Shabaz Ali and Andy Buckingham at the crease after openers Prabhua (40) and Strong (48) giving them a solid base.

Strong's dismissal was as bizarre as Bourton Road will ever see. He edged Jeetan Patel to slip where Rob Large's hand kept the ball airborne, despite the fact his balance was taking him in the opposite direction. Large, somehow, managed to take the catch at full stretch in the back of his hand to the astonishment of his watching team mates.

With the foundations laid, Buckingham, one of the leading run scorers in the league, and Ali took their side towards their target with wickets in the bank.

The return of Paul Streater, who toiled for his side, saw him trap Buckingham (44) in front before Hussain joined Ali, who was in flamboyant mood, playing a number of reverse sweeps during his knock.

Patel's men stuck to their task though and it was the skipper who used his experience to bowl Ali (35) and whilst Town were unlikely to be defeated they pushed for victory.

Streater then made Hussian (21) edge to wicket keeper Cater while Bryn Jones took a skier to put Town in command.

Kidlington were still looking for points and this urgency was being shown in their batting.

With three wickets required in the final over, to be bowled by Streater, the game panned out to a dramatic conclusion.

Streater bowled Wilmot with his first delivery before trapping Kris Howes leg before with his fifth ball, leaving Town requiring one wicket from the final ball of the game.

Blackford's solid forward defensive had appeared to have given his side a draw before the umpires disagreed with the scorers and informed Town there was one ball remaining.

Blackford calmly repeated the feat although Town's performance had shown character.

The in-form Streater closed on five for 41 from a tidy 11 over spell, while Jason Ell and Patel chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Earlier in the day, an opening stand of 137 runs between Bryn Jones and Alex Romaine gave Town a platform to go on and post their highest score of the season.

The pair's partnership last three minutes short of two hours and, on route, Jones raced to a 66-ball half century.

Romaine played the anchor role in the partnership, although his effortless six over the mid wicket boundary was one of the shots of the day.

Town continued to work the ball around before both openers fell in quick succession.

Jones was stumped for an excellent 75 runs before Romaine was well caught just one run short of a deserved half century.

Anthony Romaine (20) used innovative shot selection in exploiting the gap on the mid wicket boundary, before Rob Large's powerful hitting took Town past the two hundred mark.

Large's hard hit innings saw him finally trapped in front for a 33-ball 43 runs, including five boundaries.

Good late order runs saw Town close on 236 for 6 from their 50 overs, with Howes collecting three for 70.

Town collected 19 points, the maximum that can be gained for a drawn match, while their visitors closed with nine.

Innings of Buckingham Town

1.B.Jones       st Crawford b Blackford     75
2.Al.Romaine    c Wilmot b Blackford        49
3.Ant Romaine   b Howes                     20
4.J.Gear        run out                      5
5.R.Large       Lbw b Howes                 43
6.D.Harris      not out                     12
7.J.Patel       b Howes                      9
8.P.Streater    not out                      2
Extras                                      21
TOTAL                                      236 for 6 wickets in 50 overs

K.Howes         13-2-70-3
J.Blackford     25-4-94-2
S.Ali           4-0-17-0
M.Strong        8-0-43-0

1 - 137
2 - 140
3 - 146
4 - 196
5 - 215
6 - 227

Innings of Kidlington

1.S.Prabhu      b Ell                   40
2.M.Strong      c Large b Patel         48
3.A.Buckingham  Lbw b Streater          44
4.S.Khan        c Jones b Ell            5
5.S.Ali         b Patel                 35
6.S.Hussain     c Cater b Streater      21
7.A.Crawford    c Jones b Streater       0
8.J.Kitson      not out                  1
9.E.Wilmot      b Streater               7
10.K.Howes      Lbw b Streater           1
11.J.Blackford  not out                  0
Extras                                  10
TOTAL                                  212 for 9 in 50 overs

P.Streater      11-2-41-5
V.Valambhia     7-3-22-0
J.Patel         19-2-78-2
J.Ell           11-2-51-2
J.Gear          2-0-18-0

1 - 63
2 - 112
3 - 123
4 - 171
5 - 185
6 - 202
7 - 202
8 - 210
9 - 212

Hanborough vs Buckingham Town 2nd XI

Although winning the toss and inserting Handborough, Town found it a struggle to get into a game which drifted away from them as they were unable to take chances that came along.Suresh Talsania 3-69) bowled his nineteen overs well but the remainder of the attack struggled to break partnerships, not helped by dropped catches. Gorman(74), Wood(41) Lovick(51) did most of the damage for Hanborough as they piled on the runs to reach 259 for 5 at the halfway stage.

Town were soon in trouble with Talsania, Board and Jones back in the pavillion within the space of ten overs, all out to careless shots, which immediately put the middle order under pressure. Andy Thatcher(64) batted really well with some classy strokeplay and looked to be giving Town a glimmer of hope but was then neadlessly run out by Peter Heady. Some late resistance from Spragg (14) and Talsania(14) pushed the score along to some respectability until the innings limped to a close at 179.

Innings of Hanborough

Sillence        b Talsania              19
Dove            c Board b Spragg        35
Gorman          b Arnull                74
Wood            c Jones b Talsania      41
Lovick          not out                 51
Leach           c Board b Talsania       1
Simpson         not out                  8
Extras                                  30
Total                                  259 for 5

Talsania    19-2-3-69
Heady       7-1-28-0
Spragg      8-2-38-1
Arnull      6-0-38-1
Pengelly    10-0-75-0

Innings of Buckingham Town

Taylor          c Simpson b Rose        20
Talsania        c Simpson b Cotcroft     2
Board           c&b Rose                 3
Jones           b Cotcroft               3
Thatcher        run out                 64
Arnull          b Leach                 18
Heady           b Leach                  5
Pengelly        c Wood b Gorman          2
Talsania K      c Wood b Rose           14
Talsania S      not out                 14
Spragg          run out                 14
Extras                                  18
Total                                  179 all out

Cotcroft    9-1-43-2
Rose        9-3-32-2
Brown       9-0-34-0
Leach       7-1-27-2

Buckingham Town 3rd XI vs Morris Motors Exiles 2nd XI

Without all rounder and skipper Stuart Helps acting skipper Bob Hutt put the Oxon side into bat. Dominic Pritchard and Matt Dipple did well early on to keep the scoring rate down but a late surge saw the visitors close on 195-6. Ben Stafford produced a superb run out throw to dismiss opener I.Munday.

Dom Pritchard bowled very well with only 64 runs coming from his 23 overs and Matt Dipple took 3-51 and young Nick Wilkes 1-18. Buckingham lost three cheap wickets but Paul Board(67) and young Robin Pritchard(34) both batted well and steadily and at the end Dom Pritchard and skipper Hutt saw Buckingham home with seven boundaries between them and just nine balls left as Dom finished with 29 n.o.

Innings of Morris Motors Exiles 3rds

Mundy           run out                  5
Katak           b Dipple                 0
Nicol-Harper    b Dipple                61
T.Khan          b Wilkes                57
Majeed          c N.Pritchard b Dipple  27
Angrish         run out                 24
Mehmood         not out                  4
Ahmed           not out                  4
Extras                                  13
Total                                  195-6

Dom Pritchard   23-6-64-0
M.Dipple        11-2-51-3
S.Board         7-0-37-0
B.Stafford      3-0-25-0
N.Wilkes        2-0-18-1

Innings of Buckingham Town 3rds

P.Board         st b Ullah              67
T.Archdeacon    b Nicol-Harper           5
R.Thompson      c Moore b Ullah         17
N.Pritchard     b Nicol-Harper           6
R.Pritchard     b Mehmood               34
D.Pritchard     not out                 29
R.Hutt          not out                  8
Extras                                  30
Total                                  199-5

Nicol-Harper    15.3-3-57-2
K.Ahmed         8-0-36-0
D.Harvey        9-2-26-0
S.Ullah         7-0-42-2
U.Memmood       3-0-17-1
T.Khan          2-0-9-0

Result: Buckingham Town 3rds(30pts) beat Morris Motors Exiles 3rds(13pts) by 5 wickets.