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Winchmore Hill 1st XI v Denham 1st XI

July 8th 2006

Russell Bowry's AND James Nicholas's Reports

Denham put in one of their best performances of the season on Saturday, against arch-rivals Winchmore Hill, who were still unbeaten this season.

The day didn't start well, as the toss was lost for the 4th consecutive time in this fixture, and Denham were asked to bat first. However, Rai and Nicholas took to the task well and put on a solid opening partnership before Rai fell for 8. Then Usman Khan (36) came in and scored freely as usual, whilst James Nicholas (44) peppered the third man boundary with cultured edge after cultured edge, whilst grittily blocking out the good ball with his "sumo" forward defensive.

Unfortunately both were out in quick succession (93/4) and this meant it was imperative for Bowry and Maynard to rebuild the innings slowly. Runs were hard to come by in a period of tight spin bowling by Winchmore, and Denham didn't look as though they would get much past 200.

But in a decision that was as successful as a group of paraplegics trying to play Twister™, the Winchmore captain replaced his 2 most economical bowlers with his opening duo, who were subsequently given the treatment by the Bowry (76) and Maynard (61) show, and for a brief moment 300 looked possible. But when the exciting partnership of 131 was ended, the innings collapsed rather badly, culminating in a hilariously shambolic run-out between O'Hara and Grover. Denham were all out for 249 in the 51st over - just about par for the small Winchmore Hill ground, commented skipper James Nicholas.

After a satisfying tea interval, where the players enjoyed an easily accessible and nicely varied range of snacks, Winchmore started their innings. They raced to 32-0 off 6 overs and doubts were creeping in as to whether 249 was enough.

Just as Nicholas was contemplating replacing the openers Jamil Shaikh and Faisal Mahmood, both found their line and lengths and both claimed a wicket, thanks to excellent catches from Joe O'Hara and Mark Sheperd. Then Jack Grover (2/23) came into the attack and in his superb spell he picked up the wickets of Winchmore's best 2 batsmen, Banham and Shuttle.

With Winchmore 80-4 at drinks, Denham looked like they might force a 30 point win. The cheap tactics of the opposition though, who only poured out half a glass of orange squash for their visitors, meant that Denham did not have enough energy for the win.

Consistent pressure from Denham's bowlers brought 2 more wickets, thanks to Sheperd and Khan, but Winchmore shut up shop shortly after the 30th over and batted out for a draw, with Simon Dudderidge amassing a patient 77 not out. They finished on 183-6 after Denham had totally outplayed them, and put in the kind of performance that will have the remaining visitors to Cheapside Lane this season literally shitting their pants.

Denham 15 pts Winchmore Hill 9 pts

Next game Home to Wraysbury.

Denham 2nd XI v Amersham Hill 2nd XI

July 8th 2006

Skipper Mark Dalton's Report

There are some little ones at Legoland, Windsor. A big one at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Many huge ones in North America. What am I talking about: rollercoasters. A physical, mental and emotional journey full of highs and lows. This is exactly what we got at The Way and Tillard (the home of Denham CC) on Saturday afternoon: highs and lows aplenty. Playing cricket for Denham is never devoid of incident, action and entertainment (I guess one of the reasons I've been playing at DCC for 20 years...) whether winning or losing.

All aboard!

The toss was lost (yet again!) and we were in the field. Amersham Hill amassed a huge 309 for 3 declared after 45 overs. Rehman (157*) and Attley (70*) were the main destroyers. The ball was cast, bludgeoned, smote, slogged (chose the appropriate adjective) to all corners of the ground with the boundary rope being exceeded on 11 occasions. Channi (15-4-48-2) bowled admirably but the rest was pretty poor fare.

We trudged off. Feeling pretty low at this point. Another game gone by half time. Oh well there's always next week. Why do I play ? because I love the game.

I felt the game was gone so we just had to bat for pride and ourselves. We got a tidy start but then lost wickets regularly to reach 135 for 6 with only Ambrose remaining steadfast. Peter 'The Rock' Schembri (20*) joined Ambrose and slowly but surely the game started to take on a chameleon like appearance.

Runs came and kept on coming. AH's bowling was quite possibly poorer than our own. And the runs kept coming and coming. We got to 220~230ish with plenty of overs left. There was a murmur on the side line....if we keep going like this we could, we might, maybe just maybe, we could win. No. Get real. Denham don't win games like this. And the runs kept coming.

Schembers took one on the glove, got a bloodied finger and was out of the game temporarily. We lost another wicket but the runs kept coming and coming. Nail-biting stuff. We can, we will, we are.....going to win.....Ambrose crashed another 4 through the covers and we WON! A magnificent, magical, muscular 157 not out from Ambrose took us to a fantastic win and huge stomach churning high! Wow!

It was ultimately a game of two halves, two innings (2 x 157 not out), two poor bowling performances and plenty of highs and lows. A real rollercoaster ride that is everything usually associated with.....a Denham win!

All aboard! Stop, stop I want to get off.

Denham 30 pts AH 8 pts

Next game Away at Hurley

Sunday XI Versus Birkbeck College 2nd XI

Sunday July 9th

Game Cancelled