Buckingham Town Cricket Club - June 17th 2006

Skipper Rob Large travelled to South Oxfordshire missing Jason Ell (wedding), Chris Harris (work commitments) and Dan Harris (unavailable) so elected to call up the in-form Adam Izzard, Vish Valambhia and Ben Stafford for his first team debut.

Greg Pearson opened the bowling for Town after the home side won the toss and elected to bat. The seamer soon had Julian Penny caught by Large before Vish Valambhia accepted a chance to remove Owen Dimbylow (25). Pearson finished with two for 30 from 14 overs.

The slow right arm of Gear saw wickets tumble as only opener Glyn Lumb offered any resistance as he grafted out a solid half century.

Ian Demain was caught by Stafford off the bowling of Gear before Khan sparked life into the game as two direct hits ran out Phillips (8) and Lynch (2).

Gear then castled Australian Moroske (1) before trapping Konshell (2) leg before.

Lumb reached a fine century before the off spin of Stafford had him caught by Graham Judd for a dogged 102 runs then Gear picked up his fourth wicket thanks to a stumping by Jonny Cater when he removed number ten Stevens.

Challow were finally dismissed for 172 when an alert Stafford ran out the backing up Dunn off of his own bowling.

Gear returned with four for 49 from 15 overs, Pearson finished with two for 30 in 14 overs while Stafford picked up one for 24 from his 5.3 overs. The three run outs were testament to how well Large's side had fielded and supported the bowlers, who had also excelled.

In reply, Town were restricted to 20 for 2 early on but it was Khan who came in at number four and he soon steadied the innings as he shared a 40-run stand with Leigh Tomlinson (20).

Jonny Cater (5) played a sensible knock to support Khan who reached a fine half century before Town reached three figures.

At 115 for 5 the experienced Gear (21 not out) joined Khan to see Town home with an unbeaten 61-run stand for the sixth wicket and their third consecutive victory.

Khan hit a four to level the scores before hitting another boundary two balls later which saw him finish undefeated on 102 not out. The Kiwi hit twelve fours and five sixes in his match winning knock.

Electing to bat first, Town lost opener Thatcher in the third over but this made the way for James Tomlinson to join the in form Mike Taylor. Together they shared a superb partnership of 209 before Taylor(82) was caught and bowled in the forty third over.

Tomlinson then took the lead role, hitting down the ground with some excellent drives, as Town piled on the runs averaging over five runs per over. At tea, Tomlinson was undefeated on 106 as Town declared on 267-5.

In reply, opening bowler Paul Judd (4-30) gave Town the start they needed when he removed both Bicester openers with the score on 17 although, at this early stage, this signalled the start of a defensive response to the situation by the visitors. With the wicket becoming flatter and slower, Bicester had crawlled to seventy two for the loss of three wickets at the half way stage.

With Bicester showing little interest in gaining batting points, they opted not to lose the match and decided to take advantage of the points system by denying Town maximum points and progressing at a little over two runs per over.

Dom Pritchard(1-11) and Paul Sly(1-23) bowled well picking up a wicket each but they were unable to remove Humphreys(59) who batted reslolutely for 46 overs to protect his lower order. At the end of their innings Bicester had reached a modest 121 for the loss of 6 wickets.

Skipper Nick Board commented "this was just one of those unfortunate situations when one team tries to be positive and completely dominates the game but doesn't get its just result in terms of points awarded. In hindsight, we should have batted second, then maybe we could have scooped maximum points"

Buckingham invited the Oxon side to bat first and Matt Dipple grabbed two early wickets.

Witney went to 106-2 but then struggled onto 179-8 from their 46 overs.

S. Helps 3-40 and Nick Wilkes 2-44 bowled well along with Hirsh Jethra and Matt Dipple. Nick Wilkes aslo took a superb catch.

After losing T. Murray(26) Town coasted home thanks to Peter Arnold 71n.o. and Nigel Norman 64n.o.

Innings of Witney Mills 2nds

D. Sarbutts     c Peshavaria    b Dipple         1
J. Sarbutts                     b Helps         47
P. Magnusson    c Wilkes        b Dipple         5
H. Sellman      c Wilkes        b Helps         37
T. Ayres        c Peshavaria    b Helps         12
S. Lawrence     c Jethra        b Wilkes        19
D. Harvey       run     out                     15
N. Singh                        b Wilkes         1
B. Mills        not             out             13
                                Extras          22
                                Total          179-8

M. Dipple       12-3-43-2
H. Jethra       5-0-25-0
A. Norman       5-1-23-0
N. Wilkes       12-0-44-2
S. Helps        12-1-40-3

Innings of Buckingham Town 3rds

N. Norman       not             out             64
T. Murray                       b Petty         26
P. Arnold       not             out             71
                                Extras          23
                                Total          184-1

B. Evans        7-2-21-0
Petty           7-1-25-1
S.Lawrence      8-1-28-0
P.Magnusson     5-0-27-0
D. Harvey       7-0-24-0
N. Singh        4-0-27-0
T. Ayres        1.3-0-20-0
D. Sarbutts     1-0-7-0