11-06-2011 - Away - TVL - Thatcham Town vs Finch

Stunning Bell and Timely Times

A visit to Thatcham Town on Saturday as Finchampstead looked to consolidate their position in division one.
The pitch having been well covered after heavy overnight rain nevertheless meant seam and early movement as Finches asked Thatcham to bat first. Accurate seam from Simon Hards and Sam Taylor pegged the batsmen down and by the tenth over two wickets were down for 30 both to Taylor. Then at 46 Taylor secured the wicket of Ali Naqvi caught at slip for 18. The fourth was down at 63 after 29 overs  when opener Josh O’Flynn was caught off Gary Loveday who had replaced Hards.
Two more were down at 74 both to Sam Taylor who was continuing what was to be a 21 overs unbroken spell.  So five wickets for Taylor for the second time this season. Then a sound stand of 49 between Dan Williams and John Williams saw the 100 up until at 123 There were two for spinner Matt Harper who had taken over from Taylor after his long effort. The final two wickets fell with 145 on the board in 52 overs. Taylor secured 5 – 39 with 3 – 12 for Harper and two wickets for Loveday.
Given 48 overs Finches were off to a poor start. Firstly Russell Lane fell caught at deep mid on to spinner John Williams. Then two more fell at 17 with Ali Naqvi having catches taking Matt Jones and Geoff Isaacs. When Dan Lincoln was caught at short leg off Williams the score was 21 – 4. At 29 rain stopped play then at the eventual resumption Tom Ansell was caught in the gully off Naqvi to leave Finches in real trouble at 31 – 5.
The arrival of Simon Bell to join Gary Loveday saw fluent strokes from the young wicketkeeper as the initiative turned to Finches. The pair put on 96 with the win approaching at 127 when Loveday was caught for his solid 42. Although another wicket fell the win arrived at 148 – 7 . The very fine innings from Bell saw him to 83 not out at the end. The win lifts Finches to third place 20 points behind Cove.

Statistics

Finchampstead won the toss and elected to field
Result	Win
Scorers	Bob Lane
Score
Finchampstead CC Scored 146 for 7 in 40
Thatcham Town Scored 145 for 10 in 51.2

Player Performance - Batsmen

Player	How out	Runs	Catch	Stump
Matt Jones	Caught	11	2	0
Simon Bell	Not Out	83	0	0
Gary Loveday	Caught	42	0	0
Russell Lane	Caught	0	1	0
Dan Lincoln	Caught	1	2	0
Geoff Isaacs	Caught	0	1	0
Tom Ansell	Caught	5	0	0
Sam Taylor	Caught	0	0	0
Matt Harper	Not Out	1	0	0

Player Performance - Bowlers

Player	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Gary Loveday	16	4	51	2
Sam Taylor	21	7	39	5
Matt Harper	4.5	1	12	3
Simon Hards	10	3	24	0