AMERSHAM CC

Scorecard

North Maidenhead v AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 on Sat 30 May 2009 at 13:30
AMERSHAM CC Won by 1 wicket

Match report MAYER & ATKINSON LEAD AMERSHAM TO UNEXPECTED TRIUMPH

Amersham extended their winning run in the league to 3 consecutive games on Saturday in extraordinary fashion. Chasing 190 for victory having bowled and fielded well on a hot afternoon all seemed lost when the 9th wicket fell with only 151 on the board. However, 25 minutes later number 11 David Atkinson drove Australian opening bowler Ricky Martin through the covers for 4 to register a victory which had never seemed probable during the Amersham innings.

The day had begun well for Amersham with captain Luke Jackson winning the toss and deciding to field first. The North Maidenhead batsmen demonstrated attacking intent from the very beginning, but this also proved their undoing on a number of occasions. Chris Cann (2-36) benefited from this as he dismissed both openers, Stewart and Ashraf to attacking shots. A mixup between the batsmen while Andy Viney (2-32) kept a cool head led to a run out, and then claimed the 4th wicket when Ferrar was caught behind by brother Rob. All this happened at breakneck pace, and a partnership of 55 between Ricky Martin and Majid Khan saw North Maidenhead reach the drinks break in the promising position of 117-4, having rattled along at nearly 5 runs per over.

Clearly the bowlers needed to exert some pressure from this point onwards and spinners David Atkinson (2-39) and Abhay Mayer (1-40) did just that-little knowing the major part they would have in the game's conclusion later on. The first 7 overs after the drinks break yielded just 15 runs and both Martin and Khan were dismissed. Martin fell to a good catch at deep long off by Andy Viney of Mayer, while Khan was sharply taken in his follow through by Atkinson. This allowed Amersham to maintain pressure and both spinners rose to the challenge admirably. Atkinson bowled the potentially dangerous Simon Carter for 9, and, as the tail attempted to reach 200 Andy Viney and Alex Lines (2-36) bowled straight and full. This eliminated boundaries and the last three batsmen were bowled trying to force the pace.

Amersham were confident that 189 was well within their reach but things started to go wrong almost immediately. Asif Aziz found conditions to his liking and started swinging the ball considerably. A fine delivery accounted for Andy Viney, though Chris Fleming was a little unlucky to under edge a pull onto leg stump. Rob Viney and Luke Jackson followed in quick succession, all to the same bowler, leaving Chris Cann and Hugh Jackson to rebuild from the precarious position of 24-4. This they did effectively, mixing conservative watchfulness with fluent despatch of bad balls. With the score on 92, however, Hugh Jackson was caught and bowled for 46 and the match swung back in North Maidenhead's favour. Cann followed for 33 with the score on 110, and the game ebbed and flowed for the next 11 overs. Runs were added, but wickets fell as well, and it appeared that victory would be North Maidenhead's.

Abhay Mayer is a skilful operator with bat and ball and after his successful spell earlier in the afternoon he arrived at the wicket with the score on 123-7. He put on 19 with Chris Owen and then, briefly, 9 with Alex Lines. However, it was the 10th wicket partnership that changed the game. It is an unusual cricket match where the 10th wicket partnership of one side is the 3rd largest of the game, but this, clearly, was no usual day. It would be fair to say that your correspondent did not expect that Amersham would be celebrating victory 25 minutes after the 9th wicket fell. David Atkinson has, in 93 previous matches for Amersham, reached double figures with the bat 5 times & has yet to score 50 runs in a season for the club. However, he does have some ability as a blocker so there was hope of a draw. Mayer worked the situation skillfully, picking up runs through a mixture of tip and run and occasional boundaries while Atkinson kept the bowlers at bay. Gradually the required runs diminished and Carter turned to his most successful bowler, Aziz in a final bid for victory. This was the final twist of the game, but the most surprising element was that the key player was Atkinson. Mayer began the over by pulling Aziz for a comfortable 4 and took a single off the next ball. Atkinson then hit the next three balls for 4, cutting and gliding them all to the third man boundary. A single off the last ball meant that 18 had been taken off the over and suddenly victory was only one scoring shot away. Understandably, the watching crowd feared that the extra pace of Martin may prove Atkinson's undoing but he crashed the third ball of the over through the covers for the winning boundary.

All in all, for the Amersham team, this was a ultimately an entertaining game in which victory was achieved despite a few problems along the way. No doubt, however, that the strength in depth of the team was crucial to this win since the key batsmen-Hugh Jackson & Abhay Mayer- have not been required to bat for 3 weeks and the wickets were shared around the bowling attack.

Man of the match......Hugh? Abhay? Atko? I'll let you choose.

North Maidenhead Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
189 (0.0 overs)		     
J Srewart ct  Mayer b Cann 23
M Ashraf ct  A Viney b Cann 3
P Malpass Run out  16
R Martin ct  A Viney b Mayer 35
D Ferrar ct  R Viney b A Viney 5
M Khan ct  & bowled Atkinson 30
S Carter b  Atkinson 9
A Kuahe Not Out  33
M Saleem b  Lines 16
A Aziz b  A Viney 2
M Dozell b  Lines 0

AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alex Lines7.3036218.004.80
Chris Cann7.0027213.503.86
Andrew Viney7.0032216.004.57
David Atkinson15.0439219.502.60
Chris Owen1.00600.006.00
Abhay Mayer11.0140140.003.64

AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
190		        
Chris Fleming b  Aziz 12
Andrew Viney b  Aziz 0 2 1
Robert Viney lbw  Aziz 4 1
Chris Cann ct  Carter b Martin 33
Luke Jackson ct  Carter b Aziz 0
Hugh Jackson ct  & bowled Dozell 46
Richard Stephenson ct  Khan b Aziz 11
Chris Owen lbw  Saleem 17
Abhay Mayer Not Out  26 1
Alex Lines lbw  Dozell 4
David Atkinson Not Out  22 1

North Maidenhead Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R Martin11.3132132.002.78
A Aziz15.0274514.804.93
D Ferrar6.003300.005.50
M Dozell8.0126213.003.25
M Saleem6.0218118.003.00

  • Umpire :
    League
  • Scorer :
    Peter Davies