Cricket round-up July 15 - Wolves miss their chance
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Cherwell League
Division Two
WOLVERTON let a golden opportunity to climb off the foot of the table pass them by on Saturday as rivals Twyford were beaten, but they themselves lost out at home to Leighton Buzzard.
A recent revival, including a five-wicket triumph over Tiddington last time out, has given Wolves room for optimism in their bid to avoid relegation. But Saturday's 96-run defeat to third placed Leighton leaves them 14 points from safety going into the second half of the campaign.
The game started well with Andy Gosling winning the toss and asking Leighton to bat. It only took until the second over for Gosling to remove Ben Friday for seven, Zack Wade taking the catch. Wolverton bowled well and it fell to Sameer Rehamn to pick up the next two wickets as he dismissed Thompson for 24 and Whatmore for 26. Scott played well for a well made 55 off 62 balls before Jamil Raja took his wicket,
Jack Kempster chipped in 25 as the away side found themselves 159-5 in the 34th. Bishop added 19 not out to the score and after 50 overs Leighton were 192 all out. Gosling picked up 6-62 from his 24.3 overs while Sameer Rehman added 2-25.
Wolves won't get many better chances to secure another much needed win, but they have struggled with the bat so far this term and so it proved again. Jamil Raja and Jake Yeo opened and in the 10th over with the dismissal of Raja were 22-1, and he was followed shortly after by Kabir Arif for one.
Yeo (16) and Aky Hussain (16) helped Wolves along but it was not enough as Kempster made them pay by picking up 5-23 as the hosts capitulated to just 96, Al Priestley also in the wickets with 3-23.
Division One
BLETCHLEY Town upset the form book with a Tom Joraslafsky inspired victory against local rivals Buckingham at Bourton Meadow. The visitors went into the clash having suffered three defeats on the bounce, but their best performance of the season saw them record a much needed first away day win by 37 runs, lifting them to eighth place.
James Clark won the toss for Bletchley and elected to bat first on a good looking pitch. Graham Simpson and Ed Packard opened, and despite a lively opening burst from Buckingham's attack, they settled to put on a stand of 51.
Just as the home side's bowlers began to wilt, Packard (28) - who looked to have rediscovered his touch - drove Jason Ell to mid-on. Simpson was looking comfortable and in partnership with Kenzie Hollis took the score onto 83 before Vish Valambhia trapped Hollis lbw with his slower ball.
A mini-collapse ensued where Valambhia and off-spinner Dan Harris helped reduce Bletchley to 106-5. Joraslafsky and Cooper went cheaply to Harris and then Simpson (44) - who played calmly and with authority - was undone by another great delivery by that man Valambhia.
Skipper Clark, in partnership with keeper James Ward, looked to get the innings back on track. The pair put on 48 in eight overs until Clark (38) was trapped lbw just as he was getting into top gear.
Sadly for Bletchley, the innings fell away quickly thereafter as the tail folded against Harris who took 5-47 and Valambhia who was impressive in taking 4-25 in 13 overs.
Ward was unbeaten on 15 as Bletchley closed on 169 all out - a total that left them thinking they'd probably fallen a bit short of what was required, although they have been bowling extremely well in recent weeks. And so it would prove again.
A good start would be needed against Buckingham's much vaunted batting line up. And Bletchley received a real boost in the first over when danger-man Rob Large played an uncharacteristically loose shot and was caught by Joraslafsky at point off the bowling of paceman Mark Roberts.
The home side soon settled though as Leigh Tomlinson and Jonny Cater - fresh from a double hundred for Oxfordshire's Development XI - looked set to chase down Bletchley's total. But the visitors had not read the script and turned to spin, with Aussie Joraslafsky and Wasim Fayyaz bowling in tandem in a bid to repeat their recent devastating form.
It was Joraslafsky who made the initial breakthrough when a sharp piece of work by keeper Ward saw Cater stumped for 23, leaving Buckingham on 50-2. And with the score on 64, Joraslafsky induced the edge of Ashley Pearson's bat to give Bletchley a sniff of victory.
Harris came in and quickly went on the offensive, and the home side must have felt confident at 96-3 ahead of the run rate. But Joraslafsky was in a good rhythm by now, continuing to probe away, and he made a crucial breakthrough when Harris smashed one to mid-wicket where Clark took a smart catch.
This and the following over turned the match firmly in Bletchley's favour. Clark then replaced Fayyaz, and his slower ball deceived Tomlinson (38) who was splendidly caught by Joraslafsky at mid-wicket.
Bletchley now sensed victory and quickly introduced Simpson into the attack, and he was immediately rewarded with two more wickets - when Joraslafsky snaffled Judd caught behind, before Simpson pinned Valambhia lbw - Buckingham now in big trouble at 110-7.
Joraslafsky continued to wheel away in superb form and he picked up his fifth and sixth wickets in consecutive balls when he had James Tomlinson lbw before Josh Nix inexplicably hit his first ball high into the air for Ward to complete the catch.
The last pair of Coates and Jason Ell tried hard to stall Bletchley, but Roberts returned and had Coates caught behind by Ward to send Buckingham packing for 132 and give the visitors a priceless 37-run victory.
Ward had a great day, taking four catches and a stumping, but the man of the moment was Joraslafsky who bowled unchanged in 18 overs to take a season's best 6-42.
It was a much deserved victory against their much fancied near neighbours and one that moves Bletchley out of the bottom two. And this weekend they have the perfect chance to build on their win when basement boys Challow & Childrey visit Manor Fields.
Division Three
GREAT Brickhill continued their march to top spot with a comfortable six-wicket win at bottom side Oxford 3rds, moving them up to second place and with leaders Dinton 2nds in their sights.
Brickhill won the toss and opted to bowl first on what looked to be a typical flat and slow Oxfordshire wicket. This proved to be the case as the Oxford batsmen settled in and made life difficult for the bowlers.
Julian Blackwell and Nick Tweed bowled well but on a pretty lifeless wicket chances were few and far between. Blackwell did provide a breakthrough with the score on 30, bowling the opener for 16. But the field soon realised that containment would be required so looked to stay on top of the run rate.
Oxford were slowly moving themselves into a fairly good position, mainly through opener Hall who scored an excellent 87. But throughout they struggled to accelerate the scoring rate. Morgan and Carter bowled the majority of the overs claiming 3-72 from 17 overs and 2-52 from 13 respectively.
Some suicidal running came in to play as the pressure built and Oxford lost their last three wickets to run-outs as they closed on 201-9 from their 53 overs.
Brickhill were confident of chasing the required runs on this type of wicket and in Arran Aris and Chris Jones they had the perfect pair to get them off to a good start, hitting 45 runs for the first wicket from nine overs until Jones was caught behind.
This brought the in-form Graeme Carter to the crease who pushed things along nicely with Aris until the latter fell for an excellent 52 at better than a run a ball. With the score at 80-2, Liam Rice joined Carter as the pair looked to push on for victory.
And another 110 runs were added for the third wicket until Carter fell for a superb 56. Brickhill suffered one further slight setback when Andy Ward was unlucky to be caught at mid-off looking to go over the top to bring up victory, but with Rice hitting 50 of his own, he and John Cook saw Brickhill home with almost 10 overs to spare.
The win sees Brickhill leapfrog Oxford Downs and Aston Rowant into second and hot on the heels of leaders Dinton ahead of Saturday's game with Bledlow Village.
Northants League
Premier Division
STONY Stratford's recent run of good results came to an end with a two-wicket defeat to Northants Academy at Campbell Park on Saturday. In an almost carbon copy of the game between the two sides on the opening day of the season, it was ultimately a poor display in the field which cost Stony the win which would have taken them up to eighth place in the table.
Stony skipper Steve Bellew won the toss and once again chose to give his batsmen first use of a flat wicket in hot conditions. This formula of winning the toss and batting first goes against the norm in the NCL, but it has proved successful for Stony in recent weeks, and once again their batsmen took advantage of the opportunity to post a good total.
They suffered an early blow, losing the in-form Garth Davson for nine, but fellow opener Mitz Choksi has also been in good touch and he raced to a fluent 44, and with Dion Ebrahim at the other end the pair added 55 for the second wicket.
Choksi was then given out caught at short mid-off despite appearing to hit the ball directly into the ground. Ebrahim was joined by Paul West and the veteran left-hander produced his best knock of what has been a productive season to give Stony a platform.
West timed the ball brilliantly and was quickly on to anything over pitched or wide, and he raced to a fine half century. Ebrahim also brought up his own half century - his third in a row as Stony looked to post a big score. However, once West (50) and then Nick Allen (13) followed soon after, the score was 195-5 from 45 overs and Stony lost the momentum.
Ebrahim soon perished for 69 - caught at mid-off attempting to push the score along - and Jarrod Pretorius had looked in good touch making 19 before he was run out for 19 in the chase for late runs as Stony struggled to score quickly late on.
Habib Ullah bludgeoned a quick 18 to push the score up to 237 from 54 overs before he was the last man out. The score was probably around 20 runs light of par on what was a good wicket and a lightening fast outfield.
But Stony got off to the best possible start in reply as Bellew swung one back into the pads of Northants first XI opener Vishal Tripathi in the first over to dismiss him for a duck.
The Academy soon regrouped though and the impressive Robert Keogh - who had earlier taken four wickets with his off spinners - stroked the ball confidently and with George Thurstance the pair got the score to 50-1 in the first 10 overs. It was the sort of wicket that was easier to bat on the faster the bowling was, and so Bellew soon turned to spin and also brought Ebrahim into the attack.
Stony were rewarded with the wickets of Keogh (32) and Thurstance (40) before a useful partnership between England U18's Christian Davies (61) and Primesh Patel (25) put the Academy back in control.
With the run-rate required never going above five an over, the Acedemy were in control and Stony's only hope was to bowl the home side out. And they had plenty of chances to do so, but spilled five catches in what was a shoddy fielding display that let down what was a great effort from Stony's bowlers.
Bellew accounted for Patel and Davies was run out, and Ullah came back into the attack impressively to claim two quick wickets to give his side hope.
The Academy still needed 25 with three wickets remaining, but Paul Summerskill (14) and Vicram Sochal (18) kept cool heads and although Summerskill was caught by Choksi off Ullah at mid-off with three to get, Sochal hit the winning runs with three overs in hand. It consigned Stony to a fifth defeat of the season - the only difference between the sides being Stony's poor fielding.
Stony travel to champions and league leaders Finedon this weekend in good form with the bat and in the knowledge that they ran them extremely close in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. But they will need a dramatic improvement in the field if they are to make an impression on the title favourites.
Division Three
THERE was better news for Stony 2nds who ended a run of poor results with a winning draw at home to Old Northamptonians 3rds. Stony, who lost the toss and were asked to bat first, posted 252-8 from their 50 overs which was always going to be too many for the division's second from bottom side.
Chris Swain cracked 90 before being run out and there was also an impressive 41 from James Bell - in his 2nds debut - and 26 from Tom Moore. In reply ONs were well short on 197-6, Dave Avery continuing his impressive form with 3-38 from 15 overs.
Division Six
STONY 3rds made the short trip to table topping Stoke Bruerne and came away with a winning draw having dominated the game from the first ball to the last.
Stony batted first and smashed 248-5 from 45 overs. Michael Brown followed last week's century with an unbeaten 77 that included five 6s. James Canwell had got the innings off to a great start with 68 and there was 46 for veteran Ian West. In reply, Stoke hung on at 148-8 with Canwell adding to his runs with 4-26 supported by Harsh Jethra (2-25) as Stony took most of the points.
Four Counties League
Division One
ASIM Hussain's excellent 71 not out inspired New Bradwell back to winning ways after a couple of dodgy results. He came in at number five to fire off what proved the decisive runs during another high scoring Bradwell innings. They made 289-5 to which Biddenham fell 77 runs short of in reply, although they put in a decent effort in reaching 212 before Harry Singh's 3-41 took its toll.
On their day no team can score runs like New Bradwell, five of their seven batsmen to feature hitting upwards of 30, including 49 from Allen Bridgeman and 43 from Andy Overton. When the roles were reversed there were two wickets apiece for Naseem Malik and Nadeem Aftab, with the other falling to James McMillan as they won the game.
Cublington (239-6) are leading the chase for top spot and they were 52-run winners against Newport Pagnell (187) who remain second from bottom, James Mead's 42 the only highlight for them.
North Crawley (119-5) won the battle of third against fourth by seeing off MK City (116) by five wickets. A very disappointing day for City was made worse by Dean Bryce (4-18) who ripped through their order with only three batsmen making double figures. Matt Goss (65) saw Crawley well on their way and Sam Howe hit the winnings runs.
Division Two
ROB Codrington's century helped his Milton Keynes (232-4) side to a 78-run victory against Buckland & Aston Clinton (154) and they sit proudly top of the pile. Their nearest challengers in second are Old Bradwell (130) but they fell to a shock six-wicket defeat to a rejuvenated New City (133-4), and Shenley Church End (134) lost to Milton Bryan (135-2) by eight wickets.
Division Three
WILLEN kept the pressure on league leaders Cublington thanks to a winning draw in their game with Open University. Two huge efforts from Keith Marley (88) and Robbie Whittaker (78) helped Willen set a total of 246-4 before OU held on with 174-7 as Tom Richens top scored for them with 53.
New Bradwell are hot on the heels of the top two but were left frustrated by a Stoke Hammond side who held firm to share the spoils. Fred Godfrey (48) and Peter Cook (40) got Bradwell on their way to 226-7 and despite the efforts of Dave Little (3-38) and Joel Langley (3-38), Stoke totalled 196-9 thanks to Roger Rolls' unbeaten 49.
Elsewhere MK City 2nds were narrowly beaten at Wilden, the hosts setting a target of 146 before City fell 11 runs short despite the efforts of Jeff Wisdom (33) and George Nelson (32).
Division Four
LIFE goes from bad to worse for Newport Pagnell 2nds (174) who are starting to look cut adrift at the bottom following their most recent defeat by 45 runs to Tring Park 4ths (219-4).
Immediately above them in the table are Old Bradwell who made a decent fist of their game against leaders Totternhoe, but went down by four wickets. Batting first Bradwell were skittled for a mere 121, but a couple of superb bowling efforts from Jimmy Daniel (3-15) and Michael Nourse (2-23) gave their side a chance before the inevitable.
Division Five
MILTON Keynes 2nds (194-8) were the big winners as they moved fourth thanks to a 39-run success over Elstow 2nds (155) while Stony Stratford 4ths (134) lost out to Milton Bryan 2nds (176-8) by 42 runs and New City 2nds (259) had a winning draw against Wing who settled on 214-6.
Division Six
WOLVERTON 3rds (143) lost their place at the top after a surprise defeat to Bletchley Town 3rds (144-2) by eight wickets, Tom Woodwards (43) and Ali Dawson (31) scoring the runs for Bletchley after Tom Heenan had claimed 5-30 to help dismiss Wolves.
Great Brickhill 3rds (260-6) were winners by four wickets at Aspley Guise 2nds (259) and North Crawley 2nds (224-9) edged past Stoke Hammond 2nds (220-6) by just one wicket.
MK Midweek League
Premier Division
WOLVERTON kept in touch with the top two thanks to their 37-run success over MK City. Zaheer Khan top scored with 40 not out and there was 37 for Jamil Raja as Wolves made 145-7 before City fell short on 108-8.
Speedline Warriors (97-2) thrashed Azad (96) by eight wickets, Asif Khan making 40 after Tanveer Sikander (3-9) helped to see off Azad in comfortable fashion.
Shenley Church End (140-2) had a super innings from Colin Wayman to thank for an eight-wicket victory over Overseas (139-7). His 48 not out set the scene for Shenley as they recorded their first win of the season.
In Division One leaders New Bradwell are still going strong, their five-wicket win over Eversholt their fifth win from six. Stewart Phillipson (66) and Allen Bridgeman (52no) got Bradwell up and running as they cruised home after Eversholt had recorded a total of 161-7, David Garrat's fantastic 92 proving to be in vain.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
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