Late arrival Solia
Home Counties League: Overseas player puts visa delay behind him
Datchet made it three wins from three matches in Home Counties League Division 1 and remain perched in first place having defeated High Wycombe by five wickets at the weekend.
At the Wally Gage Memorial Ground, High Wycombe won the toss and elected to bat first managing a respectable target of 236 all out in 48.3 overs.
After a relatively sluggish opening, captain Dan Marles (28) and Christopher McBride (55) had a consistent spell at the crease to help accelerate the score.
Sean Solia, meanwhile, performed the best with the ball and claimed 4-32.
In reply, Datchet imposed themselves with the bat right from the off as captain Joe Barrett hit 30 runs and Calvin Dickinson smashed 63 in the top order.
Billy Mead (49) and Solia (40) followed up with some impressive scores themselves as Datchet finished the second innings 237-5 from 50 overs.
“It’s been very good given that in the first few weeks we had something of a depleted squad,” said Barrett on his side’s start to the season.
“We had some visa delays with our overseas player, Sean Solia, and he only got here last Thursday (May 19). It was quite a challenge to get him playing on the Saturday but we managed to do that and he played very well.
“We also signed another seamer this week, a guy called Sam Harris, who was previously playing at Teddington. He lives locally, in Maidenhead, and has some loose connections to the club.
“I think we did well to pick up the two wins before the match against High Wycombe because we basically had one seamer.
“It was a big test playing High Wycombe but we put together a pretty complete performance.”
Barrett added: “This is my second year as captain. Last year, we had quite a few new faces and I think a lot of us were figuring out what our roles were in the side and how we all fit together.
“I think things are starting to slot together quite nicely now. We’ve got 15 games left to go but we are happy to be in this position after three.
“It’s just a matter of not getting ahead of ourselves after a good start and we need to take each game as it comes.
“There are a lot of strong sides in the league this year. I think the two that have come up, Slough and Wokingham, both of those will be top half this year. The division is a lot stronger than it has been before and it will be competitive to the end I imagine.
“We’ve got a long away trip to Banbury on Saturday and then we have them again in the second round of the National Club Championship on Sunday.”
Three places below Datchet, in fourth, sit Slough after they won at Buckingham Town by three wickets.
Batting first, Leigh Tomlinson’s men set a target of 210-7 from 50 overs, with Michael Wells (28) and Ewan Cox (76) recording the best numbers with the bat.
Notable contributions from Saif Zaib (39),
Mohammed Avas Anwar (50no), and captain Nadeem Syed (41no) thoroughly helped Slough in the chase, the side managing 212-7 from 39 overs.
The best bowlers on the day were Zaib (223) for Slough and Lahiru Panagamuwa Gamage (2-35) for Town.
Wargrave now sit confidently at the top of Home Counties League Division 2 with 60 points after snatching a three-wicket win at Great Brickhill.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first, the home side were restricted to 185 all out from 48.3 overs, with Euan Woods taking 3-39 to stifle any meaningful partnerships.
In reply, Woods proved to be just as adept with the bat and knocked 48 runs before being caught out as Wargrave’s third batsman.
Partner at the crease, Toby Greatwood, maintained the momentum with 52no however, before Alex Woods had the last notable contribution of 20 runs.
From 44 overs, Wargrave posted a total of 188-7.