Boyne Hill’s high Hopes deflated
Thames Valley Cricket League: Ziya Mohamed's side make stuttering
Boyne Hill have high hopes for this season, but their TVL Division 1 campaign got off to a stuttering start as they lost to Ickenham at home by seven wickets on Saturday.
Captain Ziya Mohamed believes his side can challenge for promotion to the Home Counties Cricket League this summer, but their opening day display was a disappointing one.
Put into bat after losing the toss, they made heavy weather of scoring runs with Mohamed's 38 a rare highlight in an otherwise underwhelming scorecard. Ickenham needed just 35.4 overs to wrap up their innings for 139 and promptly chased it down in improving conditions in just over 30 overs. Dan O'Driscoll drove their run-chase along with an unbeaten 64 while Scott Wilsher added 42. Paul Sims finished with Ickenham's best bowling figures, taking 4-8 to wrap up the Hill tail, however, it was Hill's top order who really underperformed with Usman Ilyas (9), Humza Ishaq (0), Nabeel Janed (9) and Hamid Riaz (6) all failing to reach double figures.
Burnham's first match back in TVL Division resulted in defeat as they lost by nine wickets to Gerrards Cross, who once again look capable of challenging for promotion. Having been bowled out for just 180, Cross raced to their target for the loss of just one wicket with Chris Marrow top scoring with 74no.
Cookham Dean fielded three u18s players and have more teenagers pushing for first team positions - as they lost by 66 runs to Henley 2nds on Saturday. Dean are determined to give youth a chance this season and know that will come at the cost of a few victories. Having inserted their visitors, they toiled to take wickets, with Shahzad Asghar taking 3-26 and Wasim Ahmed 2-37, but runs flowed freely from the bats of Henley's openers, with Liam Hilditch (26), Matt Dalrymple (33), Aakash Radhakrishan (43) and Charlie Homewood (62) all scoring well.
In reply, Dean managed to reach the 200 mark with Deswin Currency (79) and Greg Davis (27) scoring well but ultimately, they came up short, finishing on 218-10 in 46 overs.
Stoke Green got their title defence underway with a seven wicket win over Beaconsfield, chasing down their opponents total of 131 for the loss of only three wickets.
In Division 2A Marlow were edged out in a close game at Wraysbury, going down by just 10 runs with the game in the balance until the dying embers.
Having won the toss, Marlow inserted their hosts, a decision which made less sense when Andy Prassad (42) and the imperious Jayesh Mohan (120) piled on the runs. Wraysbury finished their overs on 272-9, wickets having tumbled around Mohan, and - while Marlow made an excellent start to their chase - they just weren't able to maintain the momentum needed for victory. Opener
Imran Nawaz (59) and Dominic Spencer (65) drove the innings on and although Sam
North (38) did his best to sustain the chase, they were eventually bowled out for 262 in the 50th over.
In Division 2B Hurst made an impressive start beating Sulhampstead & Ufton by eight wickets. Having been set 204-10 to chase, they eased to their target for the loss of just two wickets.
Elsewhere Royal Ascot lost by 156 runs to a free-scoring Wokingham 2nds side who smashed an impressive 386-7 from their overs. In response Ascot could only manage 230-10.
Dropping down a division to 3A, White Waltham defeated Thatcham Town by six wickets with Dan Molloy hitting an unbeaten 85 in their chase.
Set 212-6 in 45, Waltham mercilessly chased it down in 42 overs, with solid contributions from Chris Metherell (35), Kelvin Baillie (29) and Callum Thompson (52no).
Windsor struggled to post a competitive total as they were beaten by four wickets at Harpsden in Division 3A on Saturday.
Having elected to bat they made an under par 193-10, despite the best efforts of Vamshi Lingala (41).
Stefan Franklin then super-charged Harpsden's response, scoring 70 not out as they blazed to 194-6 in 28.3 overs.
Sonning made a solid start to the season in the same division, scoring almost 300 runs as they defeated Aldershot by 116 runs. Duncan Parr top scored for the visitors with 79 and Peter and Louis Dean both scored 61 as Sonning posted 297-7. With Zanoxolo Kwatsha taking 4-31, Aldershot finished on 181-10.
In Division 3B Maidenhead & Bray got the better of OMT thanks to an excellent bowling display.
Having been put into bat Bray made 206-5 from their 45 overs with Kurt Heigl reaching 90 not out in a determined effort at the crease. However, it was with the ball that Bray truly excelled as they bowled out OMT for 160 runs in 40.1 overs, with Heigl finishing with 3-17 in a top all round display.
In the same division Burnham 2nds beat Farnham Royal by five wickets in a low scoring affair, the visitors chasing down Royals' 151 in 37.1 overs.
Taplow got their Division 4A season up and running with a 46 run defeat at Finchampstead, despite showing some courage at the crease to go after their hosts' total of 311. They fell 46 runs short on 265-6 but Muhammad Nasir did manage a half century 54.
In Division 4B Wooburn Narkovians lost their opening game to Slough 3rds by just one wicket, despite having plenty of overs in hand. Chasing a target of 144-9 they were bowled out for 141 in the 42nd over. it was a day when ball beat bat with Himanshu Rohella taking 4-23 for Slough and John Henry Kelly taking 4-26 for Wooburn.
Ruislip defeated Farnham Common by two wickets in the same division. chasing down 230 for victory in 45 overs.