Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms

Summary

James Nicholas shone with bat and ball on both days (same sentence as last week!), but this week Denham won both the games he excelled in, while the 2nd XI just failed to make it three wins out of three at the weekend.

Denham v Little Kingshill 1st XI (Scorecard )

Denham dismissed Little Kingshill for 203 in 49 overs. Star bowling performer was Trevor Blackburn (3/42), with James Nicholas nipping in for a brace (2/36) and the others shared out at one apiece.

James Nicholas was soon stamping his authority on the match with his bat, in particular in a lusty century partnership with Jeff Simpson (lacking in practice, but soon found his old form and carved out an aggressive 57). Was this to be his first League century of the sesason, we wondered, but he went back to one that surprised him and was out for 97. Dave Maynard and Joe O'Hara soon polished off the runs , with Denham reaching their taget in the 35th over for the loss of just 3 wickets.

Despite getting the full 30 points for the match (against 9 for the visitors), Denham could could quite catch Little Kingshill and so finished eighth for the season.

Denham v Little Kingshill 2nd XI (No scorecard - book not available)

Little Kingshill were restricted to 222/9 (all out) off 51.4 overs, with Faisal taking 4 for 51 and Ambrose Treacy picking up a couple.

Considering the 2nd XI's form of recent weeks, you would have backed them to get to the target, but although a number of Denham batsmen, including skipper Mark Dalton, got a start into the twenties and thirties, no one went on to make a big score.

It came down to the last over with Denham needing 24 to win but only being able to get 3 of them, finishing at 202/7.

The 9 points for the draw took them above Braywood (193) and Wargrave (192) to finish fifth for the season.

Sunday XI Match v Pinner (Scorecard )

Phil Dickson got stuck into the Pinner batsmen right away. Soon the visitors were struggling at 57/5 with Phil having taken all five (5/32). Pinner's last pair of Barrett and Shah rallied and took the score to 141. All of the Denham bowlers peformed well with Andy the Stallion Leach (2/35) picking up a couple, including a very fine diving caught-and-bowled. Sandy Ghandi topscored for Pinner with a fine 26.

Andy 'Flax' Leach (54) was in aggressive, no nonsense mode with the bat, which set the scene for James Nicholas's elegant and well-paced 53, well supported by Alan Coulson. Denham reached their target with almost 5 overs to spare and for the loss of 5 wickets.

For Pinner, Ridley bowled a very hostile spell, while Coady was very economical, while Brown and Shah got a brace of wickets each.