The news round-up for week 15 in 2024 Home Counties Premier League, Division One.
Feature Image
Sravan Konidena (Wargrave) – Courtesy: Andy Bone (Sports Shots)
League table
REPORT: ETDC DIGITAL MEDIA
Finchampstead has led the charge throughout most of the season and has seemingly been unchallenged in their 8 wins and 2 draws. With only 3 games remaining, they find themselves 15 points clear of second place and 28 points clear of third.
Yet, cricket is famously a funny game, and we’ve seen some dramatic results in the past. So, why expect anything different? Finchampstead will lose Smith and Britz, arguably two of their best players this season – Britz leading in the runs across Division One.
Although Smith made it back to New Zealand, it didn’t stop Finchampstead from picking up another victory against Wokingham.
Having won the toss and electing to bat first, Finchampstead put on a decent total of 220-9. Whilst none of the batters were able to go big with their scores, Predgen (36), Pistorius (29) and O’Donoghue (38) all chipped in—a few twenties scattered around the XI, which helped them get to a defendable total.
Ali Akbar Raja was the pick of the Wokingham bowlers, having scalped 3 of the Finch batters and only conceded 39 runs from his ten overs. Peploe and Nawaz were equally as economic around three an over.
On the other hand, Ben Curran started the Wokingham innings well, injecting some hope into their disappointing season. His 86 runs came from 117 balls as he remained at the crease throughout the innings.
A stand of 72 between Curran and Barson (30) steadied the innings amid a flurry of wickets that saw the Wokingham side fall to 59-4. But at 179-7 and Curran removed, the last three batters were all dismissed for 6 runs combined.
While Curran, Peploe (33*) and Barson gave their team an opportunity, they would always struggle with everyone else stepping up or going on to reach a milestone.
As such, Wokingham were bowled out for 205, 15 runs short, extending Finchampstead’s lead at the top of the table.
Aston Rowant secured the win against Datchet, having totalled an unbeatable 365-9 from their overs.
It was an innings filled with scores for Rowant, as Ebsworth-Burland (63) and Tristan Rossouw (88) went past 50. However, the spotlight was placed on Luke Hayes as he went past 100 for the first time this season.
Hayes totalled 116 from just 91 deliveries, sending 20 to the ropes, including 3 sixes. Having targeted the short Datchet boundary ropes, Hayes gave his team the best hopes of presenting an unshakeable score alongside Ebsworth-Burland and Rossouw.
With three partnerships going past 50, Ebsworth-Burland and Hayes (122), Hayes and Rossouw (77) and Rossouw & Smith (96), it made it challenging for Datchet to stem the flow of runs. But Sulaiman Akhtar, although expensive, managed to pick up four wickets, including Rossouw.
Datchet equally had three players go past the half-century mark: Billy Mead (53), Calvin Dickinson (72) & Arjun Tendulkar (52). It looked relatively promising at 106-3, but without a batter managing to go on and get a big hundred as Aston Rowant had with Hayes, they failed to meet 365.
Maximillian Mannering was undoubtedly helpful for Aston Rowant as he picked up four wickets, including three of the top four batters. Removing them was always going to be an uphill climb, and considering the form of Datchet this year, it made it nearly impossible.
At 305 all out and giving the victory to Aston Rowant, Datchet still picked up ten crucial points. They sit at 9th in the league and have a relegation spot but are only three points away from Banbury at eighth.
Banbury’s decisive win over Great Brickhill allowed them to move three points out of the relegation zone.
Waqas Hussain picked up most of the runs as Banbury achieved 275-9 from 50 overs. He batted aggressively with 71 runs to his name, having only faced 60 balls. Eleven were sent to the ropes, including 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Three other batsmen hit the thirty mark, including Sabin (31), Coyne (39) and Brooks (33). With four partnerships getting either just short or over 50, the momentum was in Banbury’s favour as Great Brickhill had to work hard for their wickets.
Kavikara and Davson picked up three each at the same rate, which helped Great Brickhill maintain some aspect of the game. Yet, Banbury was still able to get up to 275.
It was difficult for Great Brickhill to get started, as other than Aadi Sharma, who reached 42 from 44 balls, no one else really got going.
Davson (18), Kavikara (23) and Nicholas (30) each chipped in, but failed to bring up the momentum. Even with Aris reaching 66* off 57 balls, there was no one with him at the other end to help tick off the Banbury total. With 50 overs finished, Great Brickhill got to 249-8, falling 26 runs short.
In an exhilarating game, High Wycombe just sneaked the win against Oxford Downs by 3 runs in a terrific final-over affair.
Winning the toss, Wycombe struggled early on, falling to 61-5. But the lower-order came through strong, Cameron Parsons registering 49 with the bat. Conner Haddow (35) and George Russell (33) chipped in some much-need runs, and Russell injected some momentum with some aggressive batting.
Wycombe managed to crawl their way to 206-9 from their 50 overs and thought it would be defendable. But Oxford Downs started brilliantly, crossing the hundred runs mark for no wickets lost.
But their run rate was slow; the first hundred coming from just over 30 overs needed as many runs in just 20 more overs. Will Watts and Freddie Smith were the enablers of the Oxford Downs innings, having set a good foundation.
Some tight bowling from Henry Chapman, Conner Haddow and Cameron Parsons kept the run rate low, and the pressure started to pile on to Oxford Downs as they began to lose wickets. Cameron Parsons has been Wycombe’s best seam bowler, and his 10 overs only went for 14 runs, which meant that Uttley, Haddow and Chapman could take the wickets as the pressure rose.
Max Uttley picked up 3 wickets, whilst AJ Woodland picked up the equivalent against the lower order. A 6 off the penultimate over meant that Oxford Downs only required 12 from the final over.
Two wides started it off before Woodland picked up another wicket. Oxford Downs could not get a much-needed boundary and fell short, 203-9.
Henley picked up another win, securing their spot at second in the league table after bowling Wargrave out for 302.
Both Henley openers set the foundation for their side with a 94-run partnership to open up their account. Whilst Carter could only get 24 of them, Johnny Connell struck 67 from 62 deliveries. With 10 fours to his name, he batted aggressively and positively with a 108 strike rate.
John Child was able to remove both openers as he picked up 2-60 off his 10 overs, but with Henley 150-3 within the first 30 overs, it looked harrowing for Wargrave. Michael Roberts picked up another half-century from 56 deliveries, but Matt Dalrymple was the pick of the batters.
He played aggressively and took risks where he needed to. Totalling 72 from 42 balls, he struck at over 170. His blistering attack kept the momentum in Henley’s favour, but Wargrave knew they had the talent to chase down the score.
With thanks to Nilesh Bhandari (3-42), Wargrave was able to restrict Henley to 328-8, a positive total but one that Wargrave wouldn’t have been shy of chasing.
Sravan Konidena took it upon himself to chase down the score with a graceful 101 from 109 deliveries. Euan Woods (32) and Josh Lincoln (25) could chip in and add some support from the other end; Toby Greatwood could take the game forward with Konidena.
With an innings of 52 from 53, the bowling all-rounder has found some incredible form at the lower order of the Wargrave batting line-up, saving them on multiple occasions. But with a lack of ruthlessness from the collective Wargrave team, Konidena had to achieve a score much more significant than just a century.
When he was dismissed quickly after reaching the three figures, Wargrave seemed to collapse from 260-6 to 287-9, leaving it almost impossible to chase down the rest of the total.
Whilst Wargrave gave it a good shot, unfortunately, the experienced Henley side could take the crown in this fixture, with both Dunnett and Nugent picking up three wickets each.
