Green confirmed as champs despite heavy final day loss
Thames Valley Cricket League
Stoke Green’s Thames Valley League Division 1 title win was confirmed on Saturday, despite the side losing to Ickenham by 123 runs.
Sukh Dhillon’s side went into the final weekend knowing they couldn’t mathematically be caught, short of being handed a points penalty, so they took the title by nine points from Gerrards Cross, who defeated Cookham Dean by 12 runs in an exciting clash.
Having elected to field on winning the toss, Green watched as Elliot Evans (94) inspired Ickenham to 256-10 in the 50th over. There were also chunky contributions from Dan O’Driscoll (43), Virek Nair (32) and Scott Wilsher (31).
Munir-ur Rehman Tanzil took 630 in an impressive personal display with the ball, but his teammates failed to match him either with the ball or bat. In response Jamie O’Dell was their top scorer with 29 as Stoke Green collapsed to 133 all out in the 28th over, however, fortunately for them the hard work had already been done and, subject to meeting ground grading criteria, they’ll be playing Home Counties Cricket next season.
Elsewhere in Division 1, Boyne Hill finished off with a four-wicket win over Beaconsfield, chasing down 211 to take their 10th league win of the season.
Having been put into bat, Beaconsfield scored well with Adam Francis (26), David Justus (28), Johnny Bowers (34), and Joseph Bracey (31) moving the scoreboard along at a decent rate. Ziya Mohamed took 4-49 to hold up their progress and those wickets proved crucial as Hill produced one of their batting displays of the season, chasing their target in just 44.4 overs. Sajid Ali (66) top scored for the hosts while Usman Ilyas (38) and Hamid Riaz (28) also got starts. Hill, who finished the campaign strongly, ended in fourth place, just a point behind third placed Falkland, who defeated Slough 2nds by eight wickets on the final day.
Shahzad Asghar took 5-17, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cookham Dean from slipping to a 12-run defeat to Gerrards Cross. Having been put into bat, Cross made 198 before being dismissed in the 47th over. Dan Hampton was their top scorer with 69, and Chris Marrow chipped in with 47.
Ben Millar (36) and James Isbell (49) ensured Dean were always in contention, but in the end, they just fell short, reaching 186-9 from their 50 overs, with James Dalby taking 4-49.