Damp return after a wet fortnight

Falkland and Thatcham draw and defeat for Newbury

A TWO week break for rain signalled no real upturn for the fortunes of west Berkshire’s cricket teams.

Falkland had to settle for a draw with Henley II in Division One of the Thames Valley League in a match peppered by the stuff from upstairs.

Visiting Henley plodded to a total of 152 in 37 overs with Alex Gill’s 30 the top score as Saad Altaf took 2-53, Charlie Dale 3-57 and Khalid Zafar 4-10 to wrap it up at the finish.

But Falkland’s reply was undone by Cameron Jacobson’s 2-14 and a 4-42 return from 18 overs for Ziafat Ashraf as Imran Malik (12 not out) and Zafar (20 not out) were left to carve ut an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 26 as Falkland reached 101-6 in reply.

THATCHAM are still not free of the threat of relegation from Division Two B after clinging on for a draw at Burnham II.

Faisal Choudhary’s 101 was the foundation for Burnham’s 196 total, Chris Bird taking 3-61 for the home side.

But Thatcham were left hanging on at 151-9 in reply with the main contributions coming from Peter Spriggs (45), Steve Bartholomew (39) and Will Wright (30) as Souleman Choudhary took 4-49 and Mudassar Nawaz 3-30.

NEWBURY remain bottom of Division Three A after their six wicket at Wokingham II.

Charlie Anstey and Martin Walker top-scored with 32 and 35 respectively as Newbury posted an all-out total of 145 in the 46th overs with Toby Barker taking 6-33 for the home side.

Newbury had the home side in trouble at 50-4 with Anstey and Kevin Mills taking two victims apiece before Jack Fish (41 not out) and Simon Myles (66 not out) put together and unbroken stand of 108 to seal victory with overs to spare.