Dean rise clear of the battle beneath them
Having lost to them only nine weeks before, Cookham Dean picked up a crucial five-wicket win over bottom-of-thetable Burnham on Saturday to move themselves further clear of relegation danger.
Greg Davis’ side have found form when they’ve needed it most in recent weeks, beating leaders and likely champions Stoke Green and drawing with Eversley before this weekend’s deserved win over Adnan Shabbir’s side.
Having been sucked right into the mire, Dean are now 28 points clear of the bottom two with four matches left to play and will take on a wounded Boyne Hill away from home this Saturday.
This was another fine all-round display as
Dean chased down Burnham's decent total of 248-10 for the loss of five wickets in 45 overs.
Only Obaid Sarwar, 48, and Adnan Shabbir 90, really cut loose for the visitors, with Deswin Currency 4-41, and
James le Fleming 3-67, reining in the run-rate.
In response Dean attacked with real discipline and determination with Ben Millar 42, Shahzad Asghar 49, Jake Lawson 33, top scorer James Isbell 71no and Davis 25, all getting their eye in at the crease.
Afterwards Davis said: “It was a massive win for us having lost to them nine weeks before,” said Davis. “It was a mustwin to continue our good form. It was the form we were hoping to find going into the last few games of the season.
“We’ve got a big game against Boyne Hill at their place this weekend. They appear to have been thumped this week by Stoke Green, and that might have taken the sting out of their title chase, and we're going into the game in good form. There were a couple of standout performers but it's not just one person, it’s a whole team performance.
“They got off to a flyer and were on 55 after five overs, but we took consistent wickets and had them at 101-7. At one stage I thought we might be chasing 130/140 but some good batting from their captain and some big hitting from others set a very competitive total. It was a game of ups and downs.
“Chasing 250 it meant that everyone had to pull their weight, and everyone did a very good job. There was some very good batting from James (Isbell), who is one of our younger players at 15, but he played a very mature innings scoring 71.”
On Burnham’s poor season, and likely relegation to Division 2, Davis added: “I wouldn't look too much into it, they’ve lost a lot of players, which is a bit of a shame.
“They weren’t quite good enough for Home Counties 2, but the players thought they were, so they went and found other clubs rather than trying to push their team back up to the Home Counties.
“It’s a shame, but yes, they have struggled this year, but if we hadn’t lost to them nine weeks ago, we might have had a much more competitive season.”