Falkland don't have the rub of the Green

Falkland suffered an agonising one-run defeat against Stoke Green in Division 1.

Stoke Green won the toss and elected to bat, but early wickets from Tom Ettridge and Charlie Dale put them in a precarious position.

There was something of a rebuild, but James Bird (4-20), Sunil Sharma (2-39) and Brandon Gilmour (1-25) made short work of the tail – Stoke Green’s final six batters scored a combined 33 runs.

Falkland, chasing 169, lost a couple of early wickets, but Bird’s 30 kept them in contention.

Brandon Gilmour, in at four, scored a well-made 60, but the rest of Falkland’s middle order failed to deliver and wickets continued to tumble – an all too familiar tale this season.

That meant the pressure was on Falkland’s tail to drag them over the line.

Their final three wickets fell for just four runs, however, and Stoke Green ran out winners by the closest of margins – a single run.

Falkland’s second team were beaten by three wickets against Wokingham 3rd.

Falkland’s openers made a fantastic start as Danny Williams (88) and Graham Beal (70) put on 148 for the first wicket.

That was as good as it got for Falkland – they added 59 runs for the loss of six wickets to finish on 207-6.

Mark Baker (3-42) was impressive with the ball for Falkland and removed all of Stoke Green’s top three to restrict them to 85-3.

Stoke Green looked comfortable at 183-4, but three quick wickets from Duncan Johnson saw them slip to 207-7.

Falkland needed a miracle, but it didn’t arrive and a boundary sealed a three-wicket win for Wokingham, who leapfrogged Falkland to top the Division 4A table.

Falkland 3rd also lost a close game at the hands of Kidmore End 2nd.

Kidmore End recovered from losing a wicket in the first over to post 249-7.

Kheyaan Shariff (2-31) and Max Seaward (2-48) were the pick of the bowlers.

Falkland battled hard but finished on 241-8, nine runs short of their target.

Falkland Development made it seven wins from seven against Twyford and Ruscombe 2nd.

They fielded five under-13s, making it their youngest side to date.

Neil Rider scored an unbeaten 82 and 12-year-old Ollie Smith finished with 3-13.