Home Counties: Slough tighten grip on top spot with four-wicket win over Chesham

Slough’s Mohammed Avas

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Having defeated closest rivals Wokingham by six wickets the previous week, Slough backed it up on Saturday with another assured victory at Chesham.

Nadeem Syed’s side eased to a four-wicket victory at The Meadow, chasing down their hosts total of 153-all-out to win with a score of 157-6.

There were a few wobbles during the chase, with six wickets falling, but it took the visitors just 24 overs to reach their target and the victory lifts them 25 points clear of Wokingham at the top of Home Counties Division 2 with just five matches left to play.

Slough elected to field on winning the toss and they made life difficult for Chesham at the crease.

Openers Matthew Rance (26) and Moiz Rana (28) scored well, but wickets then fell in clusters with Mujtaba Ghayyas bowling Daniel Ward for nought and Mark Eteen for 1. He finished with figures of 4-66 with Syed taking 2-44 and Faeez Shamsi 2-18.

In their reply, Humza Ishaq batted well for his 38 from 35 balls and Mohammad Avas (34) and Vishnu Solanki (34no) drove the visitors towards their target. Sahaan Sahaan also chipped in with a useful 22.

Third placed Gerrards Cross and fourth placed Horspath remain in title and promotion contention on 196 and 190 points respectively, but it now seems very likely this season’s title winner will come from one of these four sides.

Slough are in pole position for now, having won three of their last four matches, with the other cancelled due to poor weather.

They host fifth placed Thame Town on Saturday looking to extend their advantage over their rivals.

Horspath did them something of a favour on Saturday as they hammered second placed Wokingham by 144 runs. Derval Green’s undefeated 144 from just 91 balls gave the visitors an insurmountable run chase, with Robbie Eason also chipping in with a dependable 69. Third placed Gerrards Cross defeated Oxford by six wickets away from home.

Datchet find themselves down in sixth place following Saturday's six-wicket defeat to Thame Town. 

Batting first, the visitors made 231-All out from 56.3 overs, but Thame confidently chased them down, finishing on 233-4 in 45.4 overs.

In Division 1, Wargrave dropped back to the foot of the table after Saturday’s 17-run defeat at Oxford Downs.

Having elected to field on winning the toss, Wargrave bowled out their hosts for 202 in 60.3 overs, with Nilesh Bhandari taking 4-39 and Jack Clark and Euan Woods both taking three wickets apiece. They’ll be disappointed by the costly number of runs they gave away to Oxford Down’s lower order as Tom Costley (36) and Oliver Armstrong (31) helped the hosts’ tail wag.

Wargrave couldn’t follow suit, despite the best efforts of Woods who scored 76. They began their chase well, moving past 160 runs for the loss of only four wickets, but from a position of strength they were bowled out for 185 in 49.4 overs.

In the same division, Stoke Green lifted themselves out of the relegation places with a three wicket win over Henley in a low scoring contest.

After electing to field, the hosts bowled Henley out for just 103 in 43.2 overs with W Ahmed (3-23) and M Tanzil (3-15) both taking three wickets.

Zaib (42) and Karanpreet Singh (20) then stoked Green’s reply and although several batsmen fell without reaching double figures, Singh’s side were able to secure a vital win. They next go to second placed Finchampstead on Saturday while Wargrave host the leaders High Wycombe. Those fixtures could present second bottom Great Brickhill with an opportunity to move out of the bottom two as they visit Henley.

Brickhill were beaten by 28 runs at home to Banbury on Saturday.