Thatcham face relegation fight following Harpsden defeat

Thatcham Town are second bottom of Division 3a following a six wicket defeat to Harpsden as the season approaches its conclusion.

Thatcham’s captain Steven Batholomew won the toss and opted to bat but was soon made to regret his decision as his side slumped to 127 all-out.

Openers Ben Denton-Powell (39) and Michael Klichowicz (31) made a solid start but Thatcham suffered an all-too-familiar batting collapse.

Harpsden ticked that total off with relative ease, reaching 128/4 in just 23 overs to condemn Thatcham to their ninth defeat of the season.

Thatcham 2nd were edged out by a single wicket against Taplow but remain two points clear of bottom side Henley 3rd in Division 4a.

Thatcham lost the toss and were put into bat but made an excellent start as openers Simon Lewis and Tommy Mather combined for an opening stand of 112 before Lewis was out for 53.

Mather went on to top score with 77, adding 49 for the second wicket with Benjamin Copeman (51) as Thatcham posted 266/6 from their 45 overs.

With the ball, Thatcham’s Sam Dillaway (3-52), Ollie Thorne (2-34), Tommy Mather (2-38) and Josh Reeves (2-52) reduced the batting side to 263/9 but Taplow’s final pairing survived to creep over the line in the last ball of a dramatic innings.

Thatcham 3rd continued their Division 8a campaign in style with a thumping 116-run win over Bradfield 2nd.

Despite losing the toss, Thatcham posted 276/7 from their 40 overs that included a memorable unbeaten 115 from opener Jack Noble as well as a valuable 66 from Alistair Howell.

Thatcham then restricted Bradfield to 160/6 from their 40 overs thanks to two wickets for Tim Mahoney – who conceded just seven runs from his eight overs at an economy rate of 0.88 – and a wicket each for Ravi Mirchandani (1-19), Perry Moore (1-23), Shlok Chopra (1-33) and Martin Paice (1-45).