Home Counties Premier Cricket League Division 2: Wokingham 1st XI (221-4) beat Burnham 1st XI (219-9)
WOKINGHAM helped themselves to their fifth win of the league season with a six timed wicket win over Burnham.
The Oaks won the toss and elected to field first and had to be patient before they took the first wicket of the day. Having formed a strong platform, Burnham’s opening pair were eventually disbanded as Simon Myles took his first wicket of the match, with Nehman Nadeem caught out by Sukhmeet Kang on 35.
Having surpassed the half century mark, Burnham lost their second wicket as Fahad Raja fell to the bowling of Max Uttley on 22 runs with the hosts on 62-2. Myles then caught out Raza Ali Dar (6) as Uttley gained his second wicket with Burnham on 72-3.
Karan Kumar joined his captain Rizwan Nadeem at the crease as they took Burnham past the century mark and formed a formidable pairing.
Uttley’s bowling then broke the partnership as he was caught out by Michael Bates and Wokingham then gained the crucial wicket of Nadeem (35) shortly after as he was run out by Simon Myles with Burnham on 134-5.
A few respectable innings in the middle order took the home side onto 181, before they lost two quick wickets as Myles picked up another two wickets. He then took his fourth and final wicket of the day as Bates took his third catch, with Burnham on 199-9.
The hosts posted some valuable runs at the end of their innings to take their total to 219 before they finished their allotted 58 overs.
Wokingham made a fantastic start to their chase with the opening pair of Stuart PArsons and Archie Carter both knocking fine innings.
The first wicket fell with Wokingham on 87 as Carter fell for 41. The captain Parsons was next to go as he contributed a fine score of 55 in an innings which included eight fours and a six.
Danny Housego and Simon Myles knocked their side well on their way to victory with Burnham struggling to keep the run rate down. Myles lost his wicket on 30, but Wokingham were in a commanding position in the match on 178-3 with plenty of overs and wickets to spare.
Bates could only contribute 12 before he was bowled by Ali Dar who gained his third wicket, but the Oaks were close to victory on 202-4.
Kang joined Housego as they saw Wokingham over the line. Housego batted a superb innings as he remained not out having scored 75 runs from 75 balls, hitting ten fours and a six.
“It was a really strong performance from the boys, the batters fired on what was a good wicket,” said Wokingham Head Coach/player Danny Housego.
“I believe they (Burnham) were about 60 runs short with their score and I always think we’re more comfortable chasing a score, we’ve been successful at doing that for a number of years.
“We know that our main strength is batting, even if at times this season we’ve been below par but today the batting from our side was excellent.
“It was also a very pleasing bowling display from us in the first innings. Simon Myles always gives us control as such an experienced bowler and it also helped having Iain Muirden back from injury. Max Uttley also performed well once again and he’s been such a great character for the team.
Wokingham currently sit in fourth position in the Home Counties Division 2, and Housego is hopeful that his side can climb up the table and fight for a promotion place.
“We certainly hope we can achieve promotion this season, that’s our aim. We don’t want to look too far ahead and get carried away but that is the goal and we know that we have the quality to achieve it.
Wokingham’s next fixture at the weekend sees them travel away to Cookham Dean, who sit just above the relegation places.
“Cookham Dean have a very good left arm spinner and a few good batsman in their line-up too so we know that it will be a tricky game.
“We beat them fairly comfortably earlier in the season, but we’re expecting a completely different game this time around playing away from home on a wicket that we expect will turn quite a bit.”
Wokingham batting: Parsons 55, Carter 41, Housego 75, Myles 30, Bates 12, Kang 6, Bird dnb, Clark dnb, Muirden dnb, Uttley dnb, Dewick dnb.
Wokingham bowling: Clark 0-21, Muirden 1-40, Myles 4-46, Uttley 3-85, Dewick 0-25.
