Berkshire Cricket League Premier Division: Crowthorne & Crown Wood 1st XI (189-8) beat Woodley 1st XI (163 all out)
Crowthorne & Crown Wood remain in third place after they beat Woodley in a closely contested match which saw the hosts victorious by 26-runs.
Woodley won the toss and elected to field first. They took the early wicket of Crowthorne’s opening batsman Ganes Pun after he was run out by Arshad Mohamed having amassed five runs.
Nick Outram was next to be dismissed as his innings was ended on 11 runs after he was clean bowled by Sri Harsha.
Anthony Cluett remained strong and the number one batsman produced a fine innings, partnered by Will Avrili who joined him at the crease after the first two wickets fell.
Cluett was removed having hit a valuable innings of 40 as he was caught out by Amol Lotke from the bowling of Upendra Deshpande.
Wicketkeeper Mike Brundish was only at the crease for a short time before being removed for three runs and was then followed by Avrili who’s innings of 52 came to an end.
Daniel Cartledge and Jeff Cluett (31) formed a useful duo in the middle order as Cartledge scored 15 before he was caught by Lotke, bowled Deshpande.
With Crowthorne’s innings nearing an end, Woodley took two more wickets as Julian O’Loughlin fell for seven as Mohamed took his third wicket of the match.
Crowthorne batted out their remaining overs and ended on 189-8 from 45 overs.
The hosts made a fast start to their bowling and fielding as they took the early wicket of the opening batsman and Woodley captain Fasul Nufail, for a duck.
Woodley struggled to recover from losing one of their opening pair early in the innings, and despite several decent performances, particularly towards the end of the order, they were unable to build many consistent partnerships.
Deshpande was dismissed after a totalling a very useful score of 32 as Anthony Cluett took his first wicket of the match, caught by Christopher Emes.
Woodley continued to progress towards the 190 target set by Crowthorne as they made a strong push to snatch victory, but the Crows continued to bowl and field valiantly.
Cluett took another two vital wickets in the middle order as wicketkeeper Amol Lotke fell for 12 before Mohamed Rimzan was dismissed on 19.
Naveed Asghar was then also removed on 19 as Cluett caught and bowled the batsman to claim his fourth wicket of the match.
With the overs fleeting quickly, Woodley desperately tried to total some runs to take them towards the chase but they would eventually fall. Sinith Chandran caught and bowled Mohamed Gadafi to take the final wicket of the innings as Woodley were all out for 163 after 43.4 overs.
Crowthorne & Crown Wood batting: A Cluett 40, Pun 5, Outram 11, Avrili 52, Brundish 3, Cartledge 15, J Cluett 31, O’Loughlin 7, Emes 1no, Sussex 2no, Chandran dnb.
Woodley bowling: Rimzan 0-27, Mohamed 3-41, Asghar 0-19, Harsha 1-18, Gadafi 0-13, Deshpande 2-35, Kadloor 1-29.
Woodley batting: Deshpande 32, Nufail 0, Nilamdeen 15, Mohamed 5, Kadloor 16, Lotke 12, Rimzan 19, Asghar 19, Badurdeen 18, Harsha 14no, Gadafi 1.
Crowthorne & Crown Wood bowling: Chandran 2-16, Sussex 0-15, J Cluett 1-29, Emes 2-27, A Cluett 4-39, O’Loughlin 1-34.
