Ist XI: Centuries Galore

On a cold windy day Denham lost the toss and were put into bat by Little Marlow, Tobin and Khan opened the batting and Usman Khan playing some magnificent shots early on highlighting his potential before Tobin was out for 1 and the score was 36.

In came skipper James Nicholas who also played some magnificent shots, showing the burden of captaining the side is not getting to him. They both put on 171 for the next wicket before Usman was out for an excellent 112 which included 6 sixes.

In came Bowry to support Nicholas in continuing the run spree with some good running between the wickets and some elegant shots. This helped Nicholas to reach his century and he was out for an excellent 103.

The score now was 259 and big hitter O’Hara was sent in with Paul Hazell to quicken the run rate for a possibly early declaration but he was bowled for 1, and in came Maynard to steer the final score to 307-5 off 51 overs, with Paul Hazell 29 not out and Dave Maynard 7 not out.

This was much to the annoyance of the opposition who felt we had scored too many runs - but judge for yourself!

Denham began the defence of their score with their opening bowling partnership of Faisal Mahmood and Phil Dickson. Both struggled to find their line and length and Little Marlow got off to an excellent start with 95 partnership for the first wicket, before Glennerster was bowled by the tight bowling of Jamil Shaikh for 35.

Marlow's other opening bat Callaghan was still continuing to despatch the Denham bowling (tending to be too short or full tosses) to all parts of the ground and he reached an excellent score of 120 before he was bowled by Captain Nicholas.

The score was now 200 with 9 overs remaining. In came Sharif and Fenwick who dispatched the bowling to any of the parts of the ground missed by Callaghan to accelerate the score to 275 before Fenwick was caught by Nicholas bowled Gurp Gharkal for 25.

Little Marlow now needed 32 off the last 4 overs. Captain Nicholas, struggling for bowlers, decided to let Usman Khan, who who had bowled too short in his earlier spell, return to bowl. He had obviously learnt from the lesson and bowled an excellent over in only conceding 5 runs and taking the valuable wicket of Sharif for 47 with an excellent catch from Joe O’Hara on the boundary.

Nicholas then turned to Joe O’Hara to bowl the last couple of overs in which he produced an excellent spell of bowling in conceding only 6 runs. These helped Denham to save the match and restrict Little Marlow to 280-8 off 49 overs and Denham achieve a winning draw (Denham 16pts, Little Marlow 7pts)

DENHAM INNINGS
C.TOBIN CT. BATH B. FENWICK 1
U.KHAN CT. STOOLMAN B. SHARIF 112
J.NICHOLAS CT. GLENNERSTER B. SHARIF 103
R.BOWRY CT. GRICE B. DAD 16
J.O’HARA B. SHARIF 1
P.HAZELL NOT OUT 29
D.MAYNARD NOT OUT 7
TOTAL 307-5 OFF 51 OVERS

BOWLING Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Econ-Rate Avge R.FENWICK 14 2 48 1 48 3.42, I.ANGUS 2 1 11 0 5.5, M.BATH 9 1 28 0 3.11, D.GLENNERSTER 3 1 23 0 7.66, A.SHARIF 10 0 78 3 26 7.80, A.CALLAGHAN 6 0 42 0 7.00, R.DAD 7 0 42 1 42 6.00

LITTLE MARLOW INNINGS
D.GLENNERSTER B. SHAIKH 35
A.CALLAGHAN B. NICHOLAS 120
P.WESSON B. SHAIKH 8
D.STOOLMAN LBW B. SHAIKH 1
M.BATH CT. KHAN B. NICHOLAS 24
M.KHIZER CT. TOBIN B. SHAIKH 6
A.SHARIF CT. O’HARA B. KHAN 47
R.FENWICK CT. NICHOLAS B. GHARKAL 25
N.GRICE NOT OUT 2
I.ANGUS NOT OUT 2
TOTAL 280-8 OFF 49 OVERS

BOWLING Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Econ-Rate Avge P.DICKSON 5 0 34 0 6.80, F.MAHMOOD 8 0 55 0 6.87, J.SHAIKH 15 1 57 4 14.25 3.80, U.KHAN 5 1 29 1 29.00 5.80, J.NICHOLAS 12 1 72 2 36.00 6.00, G.GHARKAL 2 0 19 1 19.00 9.50, J.O’HARA 2 0 6 0 3.00

2nd XI: Nunc Dimittis

Denham had the worse end of a draw against Englefield on Saturday.

At a beautiful setting in the grounds of Englefield House, Denham won the toss and inserted the home side.

With Jack Grover sliding one through opener's Everett's defence, we soon had them at 23 for 1, but good batting on batsman friendly wicket saw Englefied score 264 for 5, with Cleeney scoring 100 not out, and Zeeman a fine 87. Only Jack's 3 for 43 held up for inspection.

Denham set out in pursuit of the total, only to lose Bobbie Rai, yours truly and Ambrose Treacy with only 37 on the board.

Stubborn defence was now the only option. Akhil Saberwhal with a gritty 45 not out, ably assisted by Jeff Simpson with 35, saw us through to a determined draw.

Englefield 15 pts, Denham 4 pts

Sunday XI 15th May: Best end of a draw

Local rivals Uxbridge 2nd XI had been weakened by call ups to their 1st team for their Evening Satandard Cup tie with Ickenham.

On a fine, sunny day, Skippers Rai and Tinsley decided a timed game was the best option. Denham batted positively, and with 36 from Faisal Mahmood, 71 from Russell Bowery, and a brisk 58 from Paul Hazell, we posted 218 for 4.

Uxbridge soon found themselves in trouble, with Joe O'Hara taking 2 quick wickets. However Jeffrey and Tinsley proved hard to budge, and only the introduction of spin wizard Hazell drastically changed the balance.

Taking a wicket with his first ball, he was denied a hat trick when bucket hands O'Hara proved there was a hole in his bucket where the straw should have been, shelling a dolly at slip.

Uxbridge then hung on for a draw.