Hurst struggle after collapse against Thatcham Lovegrove’s second straight century keeps his side on top
HURST’S struggles in Division 2b continued with a resounding defeat against Thatcham Town.
Still seeking a first win of the season, Hurst are 15 points adrift at the foot of the table after collapsing to 92 all out at home on Saturday.
The hosts began well, claiming two early Thatcham wickets thanks to the bowling of Aryan Joshi and Nick Reynolds.
Joshi went on to become the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-38 as wickets steadily tumbled with the visitors closing on 194-9.
But Hurst got off to a nightmare start in reply with Alex Kayser, Usman Ijaz and James Watt scoring a paltry one run between them, leaving the home side wobbling on 3-2.
Kelvin Baillie’s 17 was the top score of the second innings as Thatcham ripped through the order to win by 102 runs.
In the same league, WARGRAVE are up to second thanks to a 126-run win over Beaconsfield.
Imran Malik (91), Neal Robinson (77no) and Mandip Sohi (46) all contributed well as Wargrave set a total of 275 to win.
And with Robinson (3-22) and Mark Firth (4-35) in good form with the ball, Beaconsfield could not build up enough momentum to chase down the big total as the home side cruised to victory.
WOKINGHAM 2s slip to eighth after a tight 16-run loss at Aldershot. Keelan Shoulders’ figures of 3-7 saw Aldershot bowled out for 158 but with Tauseef Medhi (43) top scoring in reply, the Oaks fell just short. In an even closer contest,
FINCHAMPSTEAD 2s came out on top against High Wycombe 2s, winning a high-scoring clash by seven runs.
Batting first, Finches burst through the 300 mark to close on 304-6 with Edward Oliver (94no), Mac Keast (50) and Matt Eldridge (41) the stand-out trio.
Asim Hussain (4-50) and James Eaglesham (3-85) did well with the ball in return but High Wycombe ploughed on, reaching 297-9 before their overs ran out.
Over in 2a, EVERSLEY suffered their first defeat of the season.
The Boars sat top of the table heading into the weekend, but end it in fourth after a 107-run thrashing at Kidmore End.
James Magowan (4-32) and
Stuart Lipo (3-33) bowled well for Eversley to keep Kidmore down to 193-9 off their 50 overs.
But the second innings was one to forget as the former leaders were skittled out for just 86. FINCHAMPSTEAD 3s remain in the 3a relegation zone following their four-wicket defeat against Purley-on-Thames.
A half century from Sam Jenkins (53) and good knock by Sean Woodward (40) helped Finches up to 194-8, but Purley reached the target in 42.4 overs.
SONNING are up to sixth in 3b after a narrow 19-run success at Datchet 2s.
Sonning looked in trouble after being bowled out for 148 with Mark Richards (44) top scoring.
But Richards was not done there, taking over with the ball as well to post figures of 4-30 to bowl out Datchet for 129 to give the visitors a dramatic victory.
A two-wicket defeat against Royal Ascot 2s could not shift
BINFIELD off top spot in 4a.
Eddie Lee (50), Chris Morgan (30) and Alex Jackson (29) top scored as previously unbeaten Binfield posted a total of 197-9.
Matt Hayman (4-23) did his best with the ball in reply, but Ascot got over the line with four balls to spare.
Centuries from both Manpreet Singh (112) and Jake Turner (100) guided WOKINGHAM 3s to a huge 218-run success at Thatcham Town 2s in 5b.
The Oaks won the toss and opted to bat first, which proved an inspired decision as Singh and Turner let loose with Gary Fleming (45) also contributing to a 50-over total of 335-6.
In truth, it was never likely to be chased down and Wokingham also did well with the ball, bowling out Thatcham for 117 with David Healey (3-26) the pick of the bowlers. EVERSLEY 2s secured a second win of the campaign by seeing off Aldershot 2s at Cross Green.
Rezaul Roni (67), Ian Smith
(40) and Joe Tucker (32) helped the Boars to 242-9 and with Tom Magowan (5-9) in scintillating form with the ball, victory was never in doubt. WARGRAVE 2s remain top despite a 34-run loss at Falkland
3s, in which Arul Appavoo posted bowling figures of 5-26, while
SONNING 2s lost by 62 runs against Boyne Hill 3s.