Cookham’s weekend of contrasting fortunes
Cookham Dean CC: Davis’ side beaten by Burnham but bounce back in Village Cup
It was a weekend of contrasting fortunes for Cookham Dean as they were well beaten by bottom of the table Burnham before recovering to knock White Waltham out of the Voneus Village Cup 24 hours later.
Skipper Greg Davis was much happier to reflect on his side's performance in the Berkshire final of the Village Cup, where Dean edged a competitive game by 14 runs.
Having set their hosts a target of 221-10 from 33.4 overs, they managed to effectively apply the brake to Waltham's reply, bowling them out for 207 in the 40th over.
“It was a really good team performance other than the fact that we didn't manage to bat out our overs,” said Davis. “Two days on the spin we didn't manage to do that so it's something we must work on. We could have added another 50 runs which would have made the game a lot more comfortable.
“We then bowled really well, using seven of our eight bowlers, with the seventh taking four wickets (Sohil Mangat, 4-36).
“We weren't relying on two or three and you think it's got to be someone's day when you've got seven, you'd hope.”
He added: “Our score of 220 was competitive.
“If you’ve got that on the board it’s quite hard to chase that down.
“If we had batted the last seven over it would have made the game more comfortable, but even with that I was quietly confident at the halfway stage with the bowlers we had.
“We managed to get their captain, Ben (Scarborough), who’d got 99 the previous day, out for five and at that stage it felt like we were in the driving seat.”
They'll host either Goatacre or Winsley from Wiltshire in the first of the national rounds on Sunday, June 19. Goatacre appeared to be in the driving seat for victory on Sunday before wet weather intervened and saw the game postponed.
They'll replay for the chance to visit Dean this Sunday.
Elsewhere, Stoke Green's 90 run victory over Bledlow Village in the Bucks final will see Gagan Singh's side travel to Findon in two weeks’ time.
“Goatacre have won it a few times before and are a club that always seem to be representing Wiltshire in the national draws,” added Davis. “They looked to be cruising to victory in that match when bad weather stopped play, but we've got two big games to play before that comes around.
“We've got Boyne Hill this weekend, who managed to get a win, almost a shock win really, against Stoke Green. They absolutely pumped them so that was a very interesting result.
“It looks like they have a new recruit, a Sri Lankan ( Tharushan Iddamalgoda) who's going to be a crucial
wicket for us on Saturday, however, they've only won one in five so there's no reason why we can’t beat them. That being said, they do have a strong squad this year.”
Another of the weekend's eye-catching results in TVL Division 1 was Dean's eight wicket loss to bottom club Burnham. Davis described it as a 'day to forget' for the whole club, with each of their four league sides losing the toss before going on to taste defeat.
The most surprising of them came for Davis' first team, who produced a below par batting display as they were bowled out for 145. With Sri Lankan batsman Lasan Kumara De Silva Wijemuni (117no) in magnificent form the hosts chased it down in
comfortable fashion.
“It was a day to forget for the whole club,” said Davis.
“All four of our teams lost the toss and all four lost their games. It happens, maybe once a season. We just didn't bat well and didn't apply ourselves. The outfield was fast, but players didn't apply themselves and left it to others, which you can't do in Division 1.
“Despite them having not won, Burnham are still a good team in this division. Funnily enough, they also have a Sri Lankan batsman and, if we could have got him out for 20, it might have been a very different game.
“When you’re defending 150 you have to take consistent and early wickets which we failed to do on the day.”