Determined Hurley struggle against on-form Welford

As summer morphed into meteorological autumn, the warm weather returned to Shepherds Lane as HURLEY suffered a seven-wicket home defeat to WELFORD PARK.

The match also saw the return of Dave Walton after three years out of the game. The visitors won the toss and invited Hurley to bat first in a 40-over contest.

Openers Shoaib Kayani and Josh Cole struggled early on against some tight bowling from Andy Cale and John Fletcher. The score had reached a dozen runs in the seventh over when a seaming delivery from Cale proved too good for Kayani.

Mubashir Nabi soon followed, stumped off Fletcher without scoring. The talented Archie Wild joined Cole in a partnership of 48 for the third wicket. Despite being hampered by a broken thumb, Wild looked to be in good nick until he slapped a delivery from Andy Tipton to mid-wicket where Cale took the catch.

Hamzah Zaman joined Cole and the pair pushed the score along at a good rate and it looked like Hurley were on their way to a good total. Unfortunately, it was not to be as Zaman (22) was stumped off Zoe Toms, Joban Singh only managed a couple of runs before heaving Toms to Cow Corner and Cole (78) chipped a return catch to Ian Herrington.

Dave Walton strode to the middle and showed he had not lost his ability to block the straight delivery, taking 15 balls to get off the mark. The loss of Ajmal Ali for a single saw Mike Walton join his brother in the middle.

The younger Walton brother’s innings was cut short by a hamstring injury causing him to retire hurt on two. Some good running between the wickets by Liam Cole (3no) and Mike Walton (12no) at least saw Hurley to 150 but this was a below par total.

The Welford openers Mike Harrison and Suvo Datta got their side off to a good start in the chase, posting 42 in the ninth over before Wild held on to a sharp chance at mid-wicket off Joban to dismiss Datta (26).

A couple of chances went begging before Harrison holed out to Kayani at long-on to give Joban his second wicket. JP Van der Walt played an unbeaten match- winning knock of 61 aided by Abassi (10) and Tipton (24no). Hurley’s spinners, Liam Cole and Faizan Javed both bowled well without any luck and Mubashir Nabi bowled a very tidy spell of four overs for 11, but Welford were not to be denied, easing home with six overs to spare.

READING LIONS entertained CHECKENDON for a 40-over match at Highmoor and reduced them at one point to 104-8 thanks to youthful opening bowler Hardik, who finished with
3-24 and, and spinner Aditya (3-21). However, Sathia Jobe led a convincing recovery, hitting an undefeated 70 in 54 balls, with four sixes and six fours, taking the visitors to 193-9. The home team’s response was heavily dependent on Shiva Aruna, whose 82 took only 74 deliveries and included seven sixes.

Checkendon held their nerve and were indebted to medium pacer Taruni Gandham for his 3-10 in six overs as Reading Lions were dismissed for 166 with eight balls remaining.

For the second week in a row GREYS GREEN were involved in a very tight finish, this time ending on the winning side as they beat STONOR by two wickets with one ball to spare.

On a glorious afternoon at Stonor the home side chose to bat first. But on a pitch where batting was not easy they soon struggled against accurate Greys bowling.

Wickets fell at regular intervals until Powell joined Farr in a fourth wicket stand of 54. Having held the innings together very well, Farr was finally out for 66, with Powell scoring 27. Another flurry of wickets swung the game back in Greys’ favour and they ended their allocated 35 overs on 141-8. Maidlaw contributed a lively 14 not out at the end. All the Greys bowlers bowled tight spells and the wickets were shared, with Rugg, Stanger and Shafqat taking two each.

Greys also found the going tough in the face of some disciplined bowling. They too lost wickets at regular intervals with only Shafqat (23) and Ahmed (22) making a major contribution as Greys fell to 95-6.

The game swung again with a good sixth wicket partnership between Cross and Jenkins, the latter playing an aggressive innings before he was out for a splendid 35.

Six runs were still needed when Fox joined Cross, and in another nail-biting conclusion they edged their way towards the target of 142 with Fox hitting the winning run.

Great credit to Cross for navigating the closing stages so well and also to the Stonor bowlers for sticking to their task with Powell particularly effective taking 3-11 in four overs.

A classy century by John Acland-Hood inspired OLD LEIGHTONIANS to a dominant 89-run away success in their fixture at PEPPARD STOKE ROW UNICORNS.

Gary Shacklady (53no) was also among the runs as the visitors amassed a commanding 234-5 in their 35 overs, albeit aided and abetted by a few chances going amiss among the PSR fielders.

Some tight opening bowling pushed the hosts behind the rate, and despite the best efforts of Mark Harper (41), they were only able to limp to 145-8 in reply.