September 14th 2008

Last Ball Thriller: Alan Coulson's Report

At last (no games for a month) a game of cricket took place on Sunday at Denham. Everyone was optimismic because of the beautiful weather, but this was quickly deflated by the damp outfield with long grass, the slow wicket and the loss of the toss, which meant batting first.

The gloom deepened as Denham slumped to 13 for 3, but then a rai of hope, yes Bobby Rai started to dominate the bowling, ably supported by Richie Brathwaite, whose beligerent 32 was made in typical style ie. all on the leg side. Bobby made eventually 82 in a total of 157, which Denham were pleased with, considering the slow wicket and outfield.

Chesham Bois began slowly but effectively and despite accurate bowling from Morgan Rees, Hemen Mehta, Phil Ashworth and Harish Bhatt, no wickets fell.

At 72 for 0 after 20 overs, Chesham looked as though they had the game won, but more accurate bowling from James Nicholas (2 for 26) and Bobby (1 for 39) kept the score down, leaving Chesham to score 10 from the final over.

Three runs were needed from the last ball, so fielders disappeared to the boundary, knowing it was almost impossible to run three with the outfield in its poor state. The last ball went for a single, with a runout on the second as Chesham went for a tied match.

Denham had won by one run with Chesham ending on 156 for 5.

Champagne moment : The single run manufactured by Gareth Rees, who was press-ganged into batting following the failure of Joe O'Hara to appear. It won us the game Gareth !!

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