Survival chasers see wickets tumble
CRICKET: Falkland and Thatcham go down again amidst a flurry of late wickets
THERE was no end to the lean spells for Falkland and Thatcham as they suffered further defeats to hammer their survival battles on Saturday.
Falkland were cut down at home by Henley, whose attack dismantled the Falkland order with Berkshire's Carl Crowe taking six scalps.
It was downhill almost from the start as Will Challoner went for a quick duck, and although Bruce Martin (10) and Hamza Riazuddin (34) began to settle, Martin's loss with the score on 27 was soon followed by the loss of James Morris for single figures to leave the home side reeling at 36-3.
Riazuddin and Mark Foster (15) put on 42 before another folding of wickets, but it was the end that summed it all up for Falkland with the last four wickets going without addition to the score on 101 as Crowe ended with 6-16 from his devastating stints.
An early wicket gave Falkland a little hope, with time and depth to spare, Henley eased home to 102-3 after 30 overs to leave Falkland with only four points and stuck in second to bottom spot.
That leaves them with an even more important trek to Bishop's Stortford at the weekend, to face the side now one place and nine points above the Enborne Lodge side.
Thatcham went back to the bottom of Division One of the Thames Valley League, although they did give high-flying Basingstoke a scare before ultimately failing to reach a modest target.
Thatcham inserted the visitors to Brownsfield but Basingstoke looked comfortable as openers Andy Fulton (44) and Russell Droy (29) put on 71.
But it was spinner Chris Bird who snatched a victory chance for his side after Scott Gibson had run out Fulton. Bird went on to take 6-36, and with Ali Naqvi persisting to claim 3-34 from his 21 overs, Basingstoke saw all 10 wickets go down for only 46 more runs as they were all out for 117 in the 42nd over.
But if Thatcham had plenty of overs in which to make the runs, very soon they did not have plenty of wickets as they tumbled around opener Naqvi.
He saw three partners back inside with 37 runs on the board before Gibson joined him in a stand worth 27 that took the hosts to 64-3, when Gibson was clean bowled by Martyn James for 16.
James had dismantled the Thatcham order in the first meeting of the teams, and he did it again, claiming 7-34 while the key wicket of Naqvi went to Dillon Heyliger for 48.
Bird made eight and John Williams seven not out, but the last three wickets fell for one run to leave them all out for 94 with only five points in the bank.
NEWBURY remain 16 points clear at the top of Division Three A after beating Royal Ascot by 87 runs.
Ascot folded in response to Newbury's all-out total of 196 as Rajeev Hanabe claimed 6-25 to dismiss them for 109 and secure maximum points.
HUNGERFORD won by 105 runs at Hook and Newnham Basics II in Division Two of the Hampshire League.
Lloyd Ponsford top-scored an unbeaten 55 while Spencer Annetts added 40 to a total of 261-7 before the home side were dismissed for 156 in response.
