Cricket round-up July 22 - Brickhill battered (for first time since May 2008)
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Cherwell League
Division Three
GREAT Brickhill's incredible undefeated run finally came to an end on Saturday when Bledlow Village left the village as the first side to beat them in over two years.
Back-to-back promotions from Division Five and Four saw Brickhill go unbeaten in league action since losing out to Aston Rowant in May 2008.
That sensational sequence of results continued into the opening 10 games of this season as the village side set about overhauling Division Three pace-setters Dinton and Oxford Downs.
Their shock 61-run defeat to Bledlow will come as a shock to the system, but they still remain well placed in fourth and could yet challenge for a hat-trick of titles.
Having won the toss Brickhill elected to bowl first against the side immediately below them in the table. And that looked to be a good move as Nick Tweed and Julian Blackwell took a wicket apiece in the early exchanges.
With the score at 20-2 and both openers gone, it looked like another routine day at the office for Brickhill, although Bledlow skipper Matt Bolton was next up and he looked to settle the innings down.
And that he did by proving to be the main resistance, compiling a well made 65 before holing out to deep midwicket off the bowling of skipper Lee Morgan. Floyd and Harman offered good support to Bolton, each making 31 as Bledlow edged their way up to a modest 198-9 off 53 overs, Morgan the main protagonist for Brickhill by returning 3-29 from 14 overs.
That target was obviously well within the hosts' capability - Brickhill have regularly hit more than 200 when they've had to, including their 288-5 score against Dinton last month. But something clearly went wrong on this occasion and the signs were there when the in-form Arran Aris fell for just 10. Graeme Carter joined Adam Boad as the scoreboard ticked over nicely, that until the latter was caught behind for five.
Liam Rice then joined Carter and the pair looked to be moving Brickhill into a winning position before Carter was sent packing for his well made 34, the score 80-3 and the hosts still with all to play for. But Doug Aris soon followed and when Rice was caught and bowled for 34, Brickhill were suddenly struggling.
And things didn't get any better as the tail failed to wag, only Matt Boad providing any resistance with a determined 15 not out, with Spooner (5-40) and King (3-20) ripping their way through the middle and lower order as Brickhilll fell to just 138.
Brickhill have the perfect chance to put the defeat behind them this weekend when they travel to second placed Oxford Downs where a win would put their title challenge back on track.
>> On Friday evening Brickhill retained the Twenty20 Coronation Cup. In a repeat of last year's final Brickhill once again held off the challenge of Division Two side Long Marston to win by 16 runs.
Brickhill batted first and posted a very competitive 148 all out, thanks mainly to Carter's 67. In reply Long Marston looked to be cruising at 80-0 from 10 overs, but Brickhill turned things around in the field and bowled out their rivals for 132.
Division One
BLETCHLEY saw off the spirited challenge of basement boys Challow and Childrey to record back-to-back victories and in doing so boost their chances of survival.
In fact, despite sitting third bottom, Town can probably afford to start looking up and not over their shoulder with the four teams above them just one more win out of reach.
The game began well for Town skipper James Clark who won the toss and had no hesitation in inserting the visitors after some overnight rain.
His side were rewarded by an excellent start by opening pair Ed Packard and Mark Roberts. It was Packard who made the first breakthrough when he nipped one back through Owen Dimbylow's defences to give the home side a great start.
It got even better when Roberts removed Challow danger man Ian Demain - who hit a century when the sides met earlier in the season - for just three, caught at square leg by Wasim Fayyaz. And two balls later, Hume nicked to Clark at slip to leave the visitors in all sorts of trouble at 15-3.
Challow slowly began to rebuild their innings through promising left-handed opener James Phillips and Nigel Hill, although runs were hard to find against Town's miserly attack.
Bletchley turned to spin to try and force a breakthrough when the in-form Tom Joraslafsky replaced Packard (1-24) at the Football Ground End. With his second ball, the South Australian twirler deceived Hill who gave the simplest of catches to the grateful Graham Simpson at slip.
The away side were now really struggling against Joraslafsky who settled into a good early rhythm, and more wickets followed as Lunch and Podbury were dismissed cheaply, while Phillips was still going strong at the other end as his team-mates floundered.
With the score on 78, and with the overs ticking away, Clark forced Phillips into a shot too many and he was well caught by Ed Fountaine for a vital 48. Challow captain Olly Dimbylow made an unbeaten 16, and he was the only other player to reach double figures as Bletchley continued to dominate.
Off-spinner Simpson collected the final two wickets to mop up the tail to take 2-6 and earlier Roberts had impressed taking 2-19 in 14 overs bowling with good control. Joraslafsky was denied his second consecutive five-wicket haul, but was the pick of the bowlers taking 4-20 in 16 overs as Challow were all out for 106 and Town sensed a comfortable victory.
They got off to a good start despite some good bowling by Challow's opening attack, and just as a big win seemed to be around the corner, Packard played a loose shot and was caught at mid-off for 16.
Worse was to follow when 25-0 became 27-3 as Fountaine went without score before Hollis was involved in a kamikaze piece of running with Simpson and was run out for a duck. When Dimbylow removed Joraslafsky lbw for three, Bletchley were unsettled.
Off-spinner Lee Stevens came in for Dimbylow and in his first over he got one to prodigiously turn out off the rough and bowled Clark for five. And Challow's hopes were raised even further when in the next Stevens over, Simpson prodded forwards and his edge to slip was adjudged to have carried despite initially being given not out.
Bletchley's talismanic opener was on his way for 24 and the home side were in big trouble at 49-6, with defeat in a match they couldn't afford to lose now staring them in the face.
Enter combative wicket keeper James Ward and the effervescent Mark Grass who had the job of trying to score over half the runs required. With the collapse and defeat against Great and Little Tew still fresh in Town minds, the pair - who had missed that game - played with positive intent to get their side back on the straight and narrow.
Ward decided the best form of defence was attack, and he hit Stevens and Phillips out of sight to make the Challow skipper bring back his opening bowlers, Dimbylow and David Slade.
But that move only served to help Town further as Grass in particular tucked into the bowling of Slade, hitting him for three majestic boundaries in consecutive balls as Bletchley closed in on a priceless victory.
With Ward going well at the other end, the game hurried to a conclusion. But it was left to Grass - who made a welcome return to form with an unbeaten 30 - to smash the winning runs and take Bletchley home by four wickets. Ward finished unbeaten on 28 and Town had another 25 points in the bag.
This Saturday Town make the long trip to Bourton Vale, in a dress rehearsal of their Cherwell Cup semi-final in a few weeks.
Division Two
BOTTOM side Wolverton made the daunting trip to leaders Oxford and Bletchingdon and succumbed to a sixth defeat of the season as their fight to avoide the drop goes on.
Wolves won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. and made some early in-roads with Andy Gosling dismissing Guthrie in the fourth over for four.
Sameer Rehman bowled tightly from the other end but was not rewarded with a wicket as his nine overs went for 17 runs. Gosling set himself up for another long spell but it took him until the 24th over to pick up another wicket as two fell in quick succession, bowling Wood for 10 before trapping Andy Brown lbw for no score.
Jamil Raja had the ball at the other end as Wolves kept the pressure on, and when Mukhejee was caught by Rob Ford off the bowling of Gosling for 40 in the 34th over, the visitors looked in control.
Apart from a stubborn 17 via Rob Brown at the end of the innings, Oxford were all out for 132 in the 53rd over. Gosling picked up a superb 6-39 off his 26 overs and Jamil Raja returned figures of 3-59 from 17.5.
Matt Chammings and Ford opened up the innings for Wolverton, but the batting woes continued as by the third over they found themselves three men down with just 14 on the board, Chammings and Ford both gone for ducks while Asim Hussain fell on eight.
Oakley then picked up the wicket of Kabir Arif for six as Wolves continued to struggle against the hosts' bowling attack before a well made 50 from Sean Potter brought a glimmer of hope for the visitors.
But in the end it was just too much for them to chase and they fell to 107 all out inside of 35 overs. Oakley picked up figures of 5-56 while Shipperley claimed 2-17.
Wolves host third bottom Abingdon Vale on Saturday knowing a victory could take them above Twyford and to safety.
Northants League
Premier Division
STONY Stratford received something of a cricketing lesson from champions Finedon Dolben on Saturday as their disappointing season continued.
A sixth defeat of the season still leaves Stony in 10th and two places above the relegation place, but with plenty to do to secure survival for another season.
Home skipper Chris Goode won the toss on a worn, used wicket which was always going to offer turn to the spinners - Finedon's bowling strength.
Goode asked Stony to bat first and was rewarded in only the second over as Garth Davson edged Will Sneath behind for seven. Stony's overseas star Dion Ebrahim has been in excellent form of late, but he has never scored runs against Finedon and that trend continued as he also edged Sneath behind soon after to depart for 10.
Paul West and Mitz Choksi got the score to 48 before Choksi, having already taken eight off a Jack Chopping over, needlessly flashed at a wide delivery to edge a third catch of the innings to Herbert.
West was hampered by a bruised foot he received earlier in the day, but continued his good form of recent weeks, and with Nick Allen getting his innings off to an impressive start, Stony recovered well to get to 111-3 off 29 overs before Nelson well and truly struck once Finedon had turned to spin.
First Allen chipped a return catch back to leg spinner Dan Bendon to fall for 26. Then two balls later Chris Bolton was adjudged lbw to the same bowler before West, by now batting with a runner, was run out in bizarre circumstances.
Still batting on instinct, West charged off his crease to run and even though his runner made safety at the bowler's end, West was incorrectly given out for 43 - the umpires later acknowledged their error and apologised to West and Stony skipper Steve Bellew.
So a mad few minutes cost Stony dear and the innings pretty much died a swift death from this point. From 111-3, Stony collapsed to 148 all out with Bendon (4-30) and Tom Brett (2-30) providing the most damage after Sneath's early impact.
Stony have been involved in some very tight matches against the champions in recent years, but on a flat wicket and with a paltry total to defend, an upset was never really likely. And Finedon got off to a pretty good start thanks to Andy Daniels and Greg Evans who reached 50 inside the first 10 overs. Habib Ullah, who has been a lynchpin of the Stony attack in recent weeks, was blasted out of the action after three overs cost 24 runs.
Bellew, who has enjoyed success against the champions in the past, did get Daniels soon after, lbw for 30, but that was as good as it got for the visitors as Finedon showed their class.
Man of the match Bendon joined Evans and both men patiently made their way to unbeaten half centuries to give their side a nine-wicket win and to leave Stony with much to ponder as they strive for Premier Division security over the coming weeks.
Division Three
STONY 2nds halted a horrible run without a win by knocking over relegation threatened Wellingborough Old Grammarians in an impressive display at Ostlers Lane.
Batting first, Stony captain Chris Swain's recent fine form continued, as his 107 led Stony to a hefty 254-5 declared, and there were also good runs for Steve Underdown (49) and John Lambe (47).
Stony declared early to give themselves and extra couple of overs at OG's, but in the end they did the job of bowling them out inside 36 overs. The wickets were shared around with two each for George Humphries, Andy Humphries, Neil Allen and Andrew Ellemore.
Dave Avery and Stuart Gulliver ended with a wicket apiece to finish things off nicely to put Stony's promotion hunt back on a firmer footing as they sit third and with the top two back within sight.
Division Six
STONY 3rds suffered a blow to their hopes of promotion with a 14-run defeat at Weldon.
Stony looked to have restricted the hosts to an achievable 164 as Harsh Jethra led the way with a fine 4-21. And after a fine opening stand between James Pickles (42) and Jethra (24) they looked to be on their way.
However, with the openers gone, only Oswin Peter (45) and Jamie Baxter (19) made double figures as the Stony middle order folded and they fell to 150 all out and realistically a fourth successive promotion looks unlikely as they sit sixth in the table.
Four Counties League
Division One
STRUGGLING Newport Pagnell put up a good fight against leaders New Bradwell but eventually fell to a predictable 43-run defeat on Saturday.
Hovering precariously above bottom spot and with just one win to their name so far this season, Newport would have feared the worst when Harry Singh smashed his way to 100 not out as Bradwell opened the batting.
There were also good scores for Allen Bridgeman (39) and Naseem Malik (34) as Gary Hefferon returned a useful 3-42 and Bradwell declared on 247-5, confident they could wrap up the win relatively quickly.
But Newport's Paul Braddy obviously had other ideas and he set about putting his side in contention for an unlikely success, hitting an impressive 82.
Unfortunately for him though, no support could match or even get near his efforts and Newport inevitably collapsed with 204 on the board, although they should take some heart from a decent performance.
Cublington (167) are the side nearest to challenging New Bradwell's dominance, but they lost further ground by losing to North Crawley (170-8) by two wickets.
An incredible bowling spell from Richard Bryce (6-38) helped cut Cublington short before Sam Howe came in at number seven to top score on 54 and give Crawley the win after a shaky start.
That success keeps Crawley in third and just behind them are MK City (162-9) who shared the spoils from their game against Elstow (167-9).
Division Two
MILTON Keynes are still the team to beat in the second tier, but that's exactly what Olney Town did when they upset the odds to score a two-wicket victory.
Stuart Keeping produced the display of his life to help see Olney narrowly home. He bowled a breathtaking 5-12 to see MK all out for 190 before hitting 43 of the winning runs to help his side to 191-8.
Old Bradwell (124) lost the battle of third against second as Caddington (221-6) won by 97 runs while New City (224-3) scored a seven-wicket victory against Milton Bryan (220-8) and Cranfield University (230) and Shenley Church End (208-9) drew.
Division Three
SECOND bottom MK City 2nds (150-8) held on to take a share of the spoils against North Crawley 2nds (254-5) with Sam Chapman's 88 the highlight for them and Imran Ul-Haq (61) top scoring for City.
Open University (171-9) produced a good performance to hold the leaders Cublington 2nds (161-7) to a draw and Stoke Hammond (131-7) were frustrated by Wilden (131-9).
Division Four
NEWPORT Pagnell 2nds remain rooted to the foot of the table despite a convincing seven-wicket victory over Whitchurch.
Mick Broad returned excellent figures of 4-19 to help dismiss Whitchurch for 116 and his side wasted no time in reply with Simon Bracey leading the charge on 50 as Newport took the points on 117-3.
Newport's relegation rivals Old Bradwell 2nds (137-9) were also in good form as they saw off Printers (136) by one wicket, Chris Long (4-18) the star man for Bradwell.
Division Five
OLNEY Town 2nds (161-8) and Milton Keynes 2nds (163) shared the points while Stony Stratford 4ths (228-7) were winners by 64 runs over Winslow Town 2nds (164), Stephen Orchard hitting 63 not out for the winners.
Division Six
WOLVERTON Town 3rds (262) are hot on the heels of Crawley Green Nomads at the top after they recorded a huge 192-run win over lowly Aspley Guise (70). Boddie Arthur scored a well made 93 and Ashley Dawson 94 not out in an emphatic Wolves display.
Crawley Green (346-5) thumped a below par Bletchley Town 3rds (75) by 271 runs, while Great Brickhill 3rds (156-3) recorded a seven-wicket victory over North Crawley 3rds (154) and Stoke Hammond 2nds (131-6) beat Caddington 2nds (127) by four wickets.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
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