Match Reports

[Sam Musk]

Skippers will be posting the weekend's reports here! Feel free to post your own versions of events..!

[Matt Dillon]

I shall indeed provide my own insight into the efforts of the 3's, with my usual wit and banter of course, yes that does mean it will be all bollox!

[Jon Mahood]

Beaconsfield 262-6; Wokingham 2nd's 42; Beaconsfield win by 220 runs

The 1st XI begun their mission of promotion back to the Home Counties League with a totally demanding performance in a completely one-sided match at home to Wokingham 2's. After a top quality warm-up with all the guys putting the effort in despite some lack knowledge of the basic rules of touch rugby, Becky won the toss and on a decent looking track (top work there Percy!) had a bat. Despite the early loss of Ben Coleman & Pete Lynch leaving the side at 21-2, Paul Gurnell was looking good and new overseas recruit Matthew Harris got going with a couple of boundaries. Paul was dismissed for 21 with the score at 45-3 leaving Becky in trouble.

After this it was all one-way traffic as Matthew Harris scored a quite brilliant 144 with partnerships of 51 with Sam Musk (21), 98 with Chris Thomas (33) and 56 with Shahid Mahmood (20*) seeing Becky declare on 262-6 after just 45 overs. Taking the old ball, Denzil Owen continued his early season form by ripping through the top order, whilst Shakil Ahmed dominated from the other end between the pair of them Wokingham 2's were dismissed for a paltry 42 in 26 overs with Denzil taking 5-10 and Shak taking 5-29.

A top start to the campaign, but the side can not become complacent and must continue to put in this sort of commitment & work ethic in order to put in this type of performace each week & seriously push for promotion.

[Jon Mahood]

The 2’s were eventually forced to settle for a draw at Maidenhead & Bray after falling just short in a very decent attempt at chasing 268.

Having lost the crucial toss and with an on call Doc running late, only 10 Goons emerged from the largest dressing room in world cricket to kick off the campaign against their newly promoted hosts.

Rory and Will both claimed early wickets in good opening spells. But on a good track and in perfect batting conditions Bashir and Kumar survived unconvincing starts and began to build a large 3rd wicket stand.

Staffs and Geoff replaced seam with spin but some fortuitous strokes and a some difficult missed chances combined to frustrate the by now quite hot and thirsty fielders as the home side continued to accumulate towards a big total.

Debutant James Alexander was introduced, whilst Rory had a quick blast coming down the hill after some welcome drinks but the crucial breakthrough still eluded us as the well set batsman opened up with some big shots.

A now present Doc replaced James and in partnership with Will at the other end, Beaconsfield worked hard to restrict the runs as much as possible.

Will finally made the breakthrough, bowling Bashir for 137 to get reward for a fine spell. Whilst Doc accounted for Kumar (71), well caught by Geoff in the deep, and clean bowled a second victim to trigger a declaration from the home side after 48 overs.

With a strong batting line up Beaconsfield remained confident of the chase at tea and after losing Staffs (5) early, strangled down the leg side, Adam and Jamie built an excellent 2nd wicket partnership rattling along at a decent run rate. When Jamie (39) went, James (25) continued to support Adam well with some quick running between the wickets to get the chase down to a run a ball for the last 20 overs.

Jimmy (8) came and went quickly and when Adam departed for a superb 88, the run rate inevitably began to climb with two new batsman at the crease. Sam (0) and Hugh (13) both departed in the pursuit of quick runs, whilst Sully hit a quickfire 33 to keep hopes of victory alive. But when he was caught on the boundary with approx 3 overs remaining, it was time to shut up shop and avoid an undeserved defeat.

Rory then received a harsh looking LBW to set up a nervous final two overs, but Will resisted his natural instinct to negotiate these without alarm with Geoff to secure the draw.

[Matt Dillon]

Sunday provided a most village fixture against Hurley on another roasting hot day. Beaconsfield provided a very strong team with 3 1st team regular's included. With the strength of our team it was indeed perplexing when Hurley said they would like to bat when they won the toss. Perhaps this was because they knew West Indian fast bowler Merv Dillon was wicket keeping, a position he is not used to occupying.

Rory opened the bowling generating lots of swing that he struggled to control, he was assisted by Egg who gained an unusual opening bowling spot. The only early run's came through wide’s, Merv on occasion struggling with some of the width of the bowling. One particularly interesting moment when he decided to move his glove out of the way so that the ball could smash Teapot Musk on the foot and leave him hopping around for some time.

After a solid opening spell, Colin "are you coming to Rev's tonight" Blunden came into the attack and made an instant impact with some testing lines picking up 2 wickets which brought Hurley's overseas batsmen to the crease, he did in all fairness play one shot, the smash to deep backward square very well. Captain Carter continued to rotate the bowling regularly to keep the opposition guessing with all but the keeper getting a chance.

This resulted in us getting to see latest our recruit from the army camp get a bowl. He should have had a wicket as an edge was superbly pouched by Merv only for the umpire to be unmoved, quite a shocking decision, especially as it was the only ball Merv caught in the gloves all game. The usual army man Jim "Yuill can do it" came on to bowl some testing dibbly dobblers which resulted in him taking 3 wickets of the highest order. The opposition looked like rabbits in the headlights or Teapot Musk when facing a bald bowler.

King Teapot also had a rare chance to turn the arm over and also claimed 3 wickets for himself with a controlled spell of bowling. During the spell, not content with only one legitimate decision not given, Merv skilfully managed to spill the ball onto the stumps resulting in a spectacular stumping. The square leg umpire decided to give it out then changed his mind, obviously stunned at how an inept wicketkeeper could possibly get a stumping.

Born again Will "i turned up in all my whites" Barber had a chance to shine with the ball in the closing over's. With mutterings of how he's bowled out a Surrey player in a game last year, good things were expected. Barber did not disappoint with a particularly rank ball resulting in the batsmen's eyes lighting up and him deciding to smash it up in the air for Rory to safely pouch. He also had a hand in the final wicket when throwing to Merv for a run out. The score was set at 160 for victory surely not a tough target, which could have been much easier had it not been for the large number of byes conceded by Merv.

Big hitting Bentall and Barber opened up the innings with Rob complaining of being very rusty and nervous before going into bat, several of his colleagues raising an eyebrow about this. Barber set about his task with several large swings, generally not getting anywhere near the ball before the slow full toss rearranged his stumps.

This brought Merv to the crease fresh from his superbly crafted 9 the previous day. Some supreme cuts reminisant of Gasman where brought out before he departed after edging a massive heave to the worst fielder for him to miraculously "catch" it in the belly. Rory gave some patient nudges in between Rob's huge blasts. This steadied the ship and kept the run rate steady.

At drinks Beaconsfield were going along nicely with the "rusty" Bentall not out on 49. During drinks he asked Captain Carter for a license to as he put it "go crazy" for 2 over’s. Rob of course nudged one for his 50, well batted Rob. Then in the second ball of his craziness decided to slice a heave to slip. The newly recruited Gurka Vijay was next in and played some quite exquisite leg side shots but his was to be a only a quick cameo appearance, as with many of the earlier batsmen.

Willy C came to the crease and it was immediately thought that the sheep in the field were a little too close for comfort. All the while Rory was going about calmly accumulating runs starting to accelerate as his innings progressed. Will didn’t disappoint with the effort but unfortunately the results weren’t to his usual standard and soon middle stump was disturbed and he too was on his way.

With not many needed to provide the win King Teapot got out some biffs after surviving some very slow bowling which was not to his liking. Rory moved on to a very fine 50 not out and Musky hit the winning runs. A 5 wicket win for Beaconsfield which was followed by a Magners and a couple of packs of chat and vinegar crisps, all in all a very enjoyable day

[Ben Coleman]

dillo, don't think you quite covered the whole day with this one, please make the next one a little longer

[Matt Dillon]

I shall do my best to make the next match report over by over, just for you Ben

[Jimmy Skitt]

24/05/08
Beaconsfield 2's 160 a.o.
Basingstoke & NH 162-5

The 2’s slipped to their first defeat of the season on a day when little went their way at Basingstoke & North Hants.

Things didn’t start well with most of the side held up in bank holiday weekend traffic on the M3 and only arriving at the ground minutes before the scheduled start time.

However, we won the toss and after losing Jeremy (0) and Adam (11) early, Pete (40) and Jimmy (18) began to build a promising looking partnership before Jimmy edged behind.

Losing wickets at bad times became a pattern of the Beaconsfield innings as small partnerships were formed without any really going on to get on top of the hosts bowling.

Hugh (26) looked to anchor the innings through to the end but still wickets fell just as small partnerships began to gain momentum despite Hash (13) and Will (8) getting started.

Denzil (10*) and Hugh added a useful 15-20 for the final wicket, but the all out total of 160 was always 20-30 short of a really competitive score and at tea Becky knew they would need to produce a top display in the field.

That they did however and pushed their opponents harder than perhaps the score suggests.

After the Basingstoke openers got off to a quick start, Will (1-27) and Denzil settled into their rhythm and deserved more fortune with the new ball despite both picking up a wicket apiece, with Gasman coolly snaffling a sharp catch at first slip.

Rory replaced Will coming down the hill and claimed two wickets during an excellent spell which witnessed another catch for Gas this time tumbling almost comically forward before a key moment went against the Goons with the score on 100-4.

New at the crease, the Basingstoke no.6 turned a ball from Rory to the left hand of Hash at square leg and immediately set off for a single. Sent back by the non-striker, Hash swooped brilliantly and threw down the stumps at the strikers end with a direct hit.

To the dismay of the Beaconsfield fielders the umpire remained unmoved and to add to the frustration the batsman made full use of his apparent reprieve to hit a quickfire 30 to take the game away from us.

Sully picked up a wicket towards the end and Denzil deserves a special mention for an excellent marathon spell of 18 overs, but the home side passed the Beaconsfield total with more than 10 overs to spare.

Overall a disappointing day but the side will look to bounce straight back when they host Farnham Royal 2 at home next Saturday.

[Jon Mahood]

Bagshot 117-9 (P Gurnell 3-22, J Mahood 3-34, S Ahmed 3-46)

Beaconsfield 118-1 (S Mahmood 65*, J Sherry 42*)

Beaconsfield returned to winning ways with a thumping 9 wicket victory over bottom of the league Bagshot on Saturday despite being unable to bowl out the visiting side. Beaconsfield lost the toss and Bagshot chose to bat on what looked a good flat wicket but this came back to haunt them as they found themselves 3-3 after 5 overs with all 3 wickets claimed by Jon Mahood (3-34) in an aggressive opening spell. Mahood was unlucky not to take more wickets as Bagshot struggled along at 2 runs an over with the evergreen Denzil Owen bowling 11 overs for just 12 runs. With no respite for the visiting side as Shakeel Ahmed (3-46) & Paul Gurnell (3-22) kept the pressure on as Bagshot eventually crawled to 117-9 from their 52 overs.

In reply Bagshot choose to take the old ball, prompting the innovative move to promote Ahmed to open and take the attack to the visitors early on. It was a move that didn’t come off however once again Shahid Mahmood (65*) and Jamie Sherry (42*) put on a 103 run unbeaten partnership to see the league leaders home comfortably in the 23rd over.

It was 3 wins out of 3 for the Beaconsfield sides on Saturday as the 2nd XI chased down 193 at Finchampstead 2nd XI with Sam Sandeman-Allen scoring 55 and James Alexander 45* in a crucial victory whilst it went to wire for the 3rd XI as they beat Wycombe Dragons 1’s by 1 wicket in a nail-biting finish.


Hertford 57 (J Mahood 5-15)

Beaconsfield 60-3

A weakened Beaconsfield missing 4 from the side who beat Bagshot the day before including the in form batting pair of Shahid Mahmood & Jamie Sherry cruised into the last 32 of the Evening Standard trophy with a 7 wicket victory at home to Home Counties Division 2 East side Hertford as they rolled over the visiting side for just 57 in 34 overs. Following on from Saturday, Jon Mahood (5-15) along with Denzil Owen (2-25) destroyed the Hertford top order, reducing them to 25-6 inside 15 overs. With Mahood and Owen bowling out their 10 overs, it was left to Shakeel Ahmed (2-7) & Rory Wilson (1-1) to clean up the tail with only a spirited effort from Scott Ruskin (28*), helping Hertford to 57. With the game pretty much in the bag, Beaconsfield did make hard work of the chase losing 3 wickets; however an unbeaten 20 from Chris Thomas ensured the victory was completed as Beaconsfield progress to round three.

[Sam Musk]

more reports needed captains and match commentators :-)

[Jon Mahood]

Tring Park 2 117 (Saj Hussain 7-31)
Beaconsfield 118-2 (Jamie Sherry 56*, Shahid Mahmood 30)

Beaconsfield reached the half way stage of the season on Saturday with a record of played 9, won 8 and drawn 1, as well as a 25 point lead at the top of Thames Valley League One, following another resounding victory away to Tring Park 2’s. With Jon Mahood standing in as captain for the day, Beaconsfield once again lost the toss and found themselves in the field, a common trend around the league as opposing teams look to get maximum batting points by batting first, almost succumbing to the fact that they won’t be playing for the win.

On a good pitch, with a quick outfield Tring got off to a decent but slow start going into the first drinks break at 17 overs with the score 42-0, however with his first ball after the break Jon Mahood accounted for James Steptoe (19) but it was the introduction of Saj Hussain in place of Mahood that really kick started Beaconsfield’s day. The medium pacer bowled a brilliant spell of 7-31, assisted by 2 leg-side stumpings and a catch by keeper Matthew Harris to rip through the Tring middle order. With Shakeel Ahmed miserly at the other end, only conceding 31 runs from 16 overs and picking up the other 2 wickets, Tring never looked like building a substantial total and finished on 117 from 47 overs, with only Greg Proudfoot (31*) and Matthew Adams (29) showing any real resistance.

Beaconsfield rotated their order slightly as they look to get all their batsman in good form before the big games against Kew, Amersham, Harefield and Chesham. Despite last year’s top run scorer Luc Walker falling for 0, the visitors didn’t look at all troubled as Jamie Sherry (56*), Shahid Mahmood (30) and Sam Musk (28*) saw the league leaders home inside 21 overs.

[Jim Yuill]

4th XI (IX ?) kick some Whalers butt!

Under the fine navigation of Messr's Dillon, Freer and Yuill, the 4th IX turned up at the Promenade in West London for a promising day's cricket with a lot of the promising youngsters at the club (and Shamil)...
Cunningly losing the toss on a fine looking pitch, the Beccy lads were asked to field with the Whalers sportingly giving 2 fielders on temporary (permanent) loan until the 2 missing players turned up...(they never did..)
Looking around at his vast array of bowling skills, Merv decided to open with Triggs and Triggs - and what a master stroke this proved to be.. with the younger Triggs bowling uphill, into the wind (shame on you, Ben!) They bowled tightly, providing some quick breakthroughs and showing what opening bowling should be like..
Then came the changes, Shamil bowling seam and young James R from the top end, both also bowling tightly.
Having taken a lot of wickets for very few runs, Merv took pity on the opposition and decided to give them some runs. He brought himself on, closely followed by the Palmer and the Yuill... Not that these facts are in some way related... honest!!
The wickets were quite evenly spread, but with the pick of the bowlers being the Triggs' brothers... and the pick of the fielding being - you know who you are, S and J!!
So, 194 all out to chase for a deep batting line up.. on a nice flat (ish) track - surely easy...?
The batting is easily summed up, Mr Rendell 115no , the rest of us - not so many, although mention has to go to Josh for coming in at last man and seeing James through to his century and the side through to the win...
And of course, to Merv's fine one handed sweep that he got lucky with once - and not so lucky with the next time...

All in all, a fine day's cricket against a very good natured team and enjoyed by all...

[Matt Dillon]

Good report Jim loving your work