Down with the rain

Wash-outs send Falkland and Thatcham tumbling down before the end of the season

THE weather finally relegated Falkland and Thatcham as Saturday wash-outs left them beyond salvation at the bottom of their respective tables.

Scheduled to face the teams immediately above them in the Home Counties Premier and Thames Valley League tables, they were denied the chances to keep their survival hopes alive as rain washed out most of the Saturday cricket programme.

Falkland suffered most as they had visiting Radlett on the ropes before play was halted at Enborne Lodge. Hampshire's Hamza Riazuddin had carved through Radlett's upper order to take 5-30 as the visitors crumbled to 59-5 when play ended after 23 overs, leaving each side with six points.

That leaves Falkland 58 points adrift of Bishop's Stortford, with only 50 points left to play for.

Thatcham's game with second-to-bottom Fleet was abandoned without a ball being delivered, and they also have an impossible task, 55 points behind a safety place, sending both local sides down to their respective second divisions next year.

Newbury were also frustrated at Northcroft where their Division Three A game with Henley III was abandoned, although Newbury remain four points clear at the top of the table after the clash between rivals Chiswick and Latymer and Yateley also fell by the wayside.