GREAT KINGSHILL 1^ST X1 v LITTLE MARLOW 1^ST X1

Saturday 16^th June 2007

Rain saved Little Marlow from the prospect of heavy defeat at Great Kingshill.

Chasing a 242 target, the visitors were in dire straits at 64 for 5 on a drying pitch, Anwar Mahmood (35) having made the only noteworthy contribution. However, a combination of strong resistance from Arfan Sharif, whose 40 dominated a 46 runs stand with Mike Bath, and the loss nine overs baled them out. The innings closed on 127 for 7.

Kingshill’s 241 for 6 was built around a 2^nd wicket partnership of 139 between A. Swain, who made 95, and J De Beer (84). They were eventually dismissed by Little Marlow’s seventh bowler, Mohammed Siddique, who also removed Goodwin and Anderson to record an analysis of 4 for 27 from 5 overs.

LITTLE MARLOW 2^ND X1 v GREAT KINGSHILL 2^ND X1

Saturday 16^th June 2007

Little Marlow 2nds had to settle for a draw in their home match against Great Kingshill.

Having been inserted on a wet surface, the visitors lost their first five batsmen for a combined score of 19; danger man Sam Gunarathne falling to an outstanding running catch by Dave Armitage. However, opener Auld survived to score 36 and contribute towards a recovery orchestrated by Stretton. The latter also received support from Carl Selby (21*) and Stockwell (20*) as his intelligently paced half-century carried Kingshill to 160 for 7.

Gunarathne removed Nigel Matthews and Les Ryan before Little Marlow’s reply had reached double figures, and Armitage followed them back to the pavilion at 26 for 3. Chris Creffield and Jake Smith then stopped the rot by adding 57 before the latter hit a return catch to Jackson for 19.

With 78 required from 9 overs Ged Holmes raised the tempo whilst Creffield continued to put the bad ball away and rotate the strike. He reached a fine half-century, but then fell victim to a Comptonesque piece of running between the wickets.

Neil Coupland helped his captain maintain the asking rate until the last over began with 10 needed. Holmes managed a single from the first delivery, but Jackson held his nerve as Coupland failed to score from the next four before hitting the last to the boundary.

The innings closed on 156 for 5, with Holmes undefeated on 44.

GREYS GREEN v LITTLE MARLOW

Sunday 17^th June 2007

Little Marlow’s Sunday team enjoyed a low scoring encounter on the picturesque village green at Rotherfield Greys.

Batting first the visitors lost wickets at close intervals as they struggled to come to terms with the difficulties imposed by steady bowling on an unreliable, pudding-like pitch. Only Farooq Hussain (37) and Tahir Rashid (18) managed to survive for long until a few lusty blows from Mohammed Siddique (14*) and Paul Slatter (13) carried Little Marlow past three figures.

The tidy slow medium pace of Matt Skilleter claimed five scalps, whilst Hussain’s sensible knock was ended by an excellent catch by Ted Rooke, who ran in from the square leg boundary and dived forward to take the ball inches from the ground.

The innings finished at 113 all out from 38 overs.

Greys Green’s top order appeared to have no idea how to play in such conditions, as a succession of irresponsible shots and reliable catching saw them freefall to 21 for 5. Skipper Mo Shafqat showed much greater stickability and, with assistance from Nick Head (18) and Tony Howse (12), managed to survive with few alarms. However, the stodgy surface and efficient bowling made run scoring extremely difficult before time was finally called at 98 for 8 after 42 overs.

WARGRAVE v LITTLE MARLOW

Monday 18^th June 2007

Little Marlow lost their Morrant Chilterns League Knock-Out quarterfinal at Wargrave.

Having elected to bat on a true, if slow pitch they posted a respectable 124 for 4. Ged Holmes top scored with an undefeated 32 after Tim Potter had made 30. However, despite Little Marlow’s sound bowling and fielding, the hosts ran out comfortable winners, reaching their target with five balls and seven wickets in hand.