HURLEY 1^ST X1 v LITTLE MARLOW 1^ST X1

Saturday 4^th August 2007

Little Marlow weren’t quite able to recover from a poor start at Hurley.

Asked to bat first, they lost Dave Glennerster for no score to a Mike Cole delivery that kept low, and then saw debutant Munsha bowled by Hussain to make the score 5 for 2.

Iain Angus dug in to play the anchor role and shared partnerships of 47 with Anwar Mahmood (25), 61 with Arfan Sharif (24) and 40 with Dave Armitage (21) before the sixth wicket fell at 153 in the 42^nd over.

Imran Ali departed a few balls later, but Mohammed Umar then began a counter-offensive whilst Angus rotated the strike. The latter eventually fell for 46 after 44 overs of dogged resistance, prior to Umar launching Hussain for three consecutive 6s. However, the medium pacer enjoyed sweet revenge next delivery, bowling his tormentor for a swashbuckling 41.

Ben Bryant became a deserved final victim for Cole, who returned impressive figure of 5 for 27 as the visitors were dismissed for 202 in the 50^th over. Hussain finished with 4 for 70.

Most of Hurley’s innings followed a similar course to that of their opponents. Opener Lewies’ 59 fronted a rescue act after the loss of 2 early wickets, but at 138 for 6 the match was delicately balanced.

Wicket-keeper Denis Day played solidly whilst Cole, lucky to survive an early l.b.w. appeal, attacked anything loose. They added 27 before Munsha bowled the latter for 19. Hussain then picked up the reins and he and Day steadily carried their team towards the line.

The performance of young slow left-armer Bryant was a highlight for Little Marlow. He bowled the last 9 overs at the Shepherds Lane end, found some turn and varied his pace and flight cleverly. Hussain (22) was a well-earned second wicket for him, but by then the scores were level. Day hit a single to finish undefeated on 29 as Hurley completed a 2 wickets victory with 9.1 overs in hand.

LITTLE MARLOW 2^ND X1 v CHALFONT ST GILES 2^ND X1

Saturday 4^th August 2007

An appalling Little Marlow 2^nd X1 batting performance wasted some excellent work in the field.

Visitors Chalfont St Giles elected to bat first on a beautiful, hard pitch but soon found themselves in trouble against impressive bowling from Ged Holmes, Tim Potter and Brian Robinson. They were backed up by Nigel Matthews’ outstanding slip fielding. A keen fisherman, he reeled in four beauties, including an absolute stunner low to his left-hand side.

Chalfont were indebted to opener Chris Hardy, who carried his bat for an undefeated 68 as his team staggered to a seemingly inadequate 156 for 9. Payne’s 21 was the only other double figures contribution as Potter recorded an analysis of 3 for 19 in 11 overs.

Little Marlow reply started badly and soon fell into freefall. Most batsmen contributed to their dismissals, including two senseless run outs. The only partnership of note was one of 54 for the sixth wicket between Potter (34) and Harry Rodger (20).

Tight bowling from Bryant (3-30), Cross (3-36) and skipper Cedric Ayres earned its reward as Little Marlow slid woefully to 116 for 9. Robinson and Quentin Falk managed to survive the last 23 deliveries, although Falk was dropped at slip from the first ball of the last over, but they returned to a downcast dressing room. With relegation rivals Wraysbury beating Taplow this was an opportunity that Little Marlow could ill afford to miss.

LITTLE MARLOW v B.B.C. BUSHMEN

Sunday 5^th August 2007

Harry Rodger’s maiden half-century for the club was not enough to propel Little Marlow’s Sunday team to victory over visitors B.B.C. Bushmen.

Chasing a target of 204, the hosts were struggling at 43 for 4 when the in-form all-rounder joined Iain Angus. However, he quickly began to assert himself whilst his partner gave him as much of the strike as he could. Strong off his legs and blessed with sharp eyes, he raced to his fifty before Angus played across the line and departed leg before to Clyde Jeavons for an invaluable 32.

Steve Shore came to the crease, but disaster struck in the next over when he turned down an easy single in order to let Rodger keep the strike. Too far down to regain his ground, the latter was run out for an excellent 65.

Shore (19*) and Andy West added 31, but after they were separated the end came quickly as Little Marlow’s innings closed at 177 all out. Mike Cockerell’s naggingly accurate medium pace earned him figures of 4 for 32 from 12 overs.

Chris Ancil’s fluent 96 was the centrepiece of the Bushmen’s 203 for 3 declared. Fine shot selection throughout and good use of his feet against the spinners deserved a century. Little Marlow’s bowlers generally stuck to their tasks well on a hot day, but some sloppy ground fielding did not help them.