23-07-2011 - Home - TVL - Finch vs Marlow

Finch 2nds vs Marlow

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Following the rain abandoned game of last week Finchampstead welcomed top of the table Marlow to the Memorial ground on a muggy Berkshire day.

Hungry to build on the success of the previous weeks the young Finch side led by Mark Shepherd and without their strike bowler James Robertson won toss and elected to bat.

Shepherd and Adkins got the finch innings off to a watchful start with an opening stand of 24 - with Shep leading the way with a number of positive shots through the offside before Adkins was adjudged LBW for 4. Bringing Archer (once again second name is not worth attempting) to the crease who looked much more settled against the seam attack. Shep continued to be the aggressor taking on the Marlow opening bowler before he was well caught at first slip for a positive 40.

This bought the young Dan Marles to the crease, fresh from a holiday in Turkey - with Kurt and family – he started emphatically when the Marlow skipper opted to bounce him first ball, being a slow left arm spinner this did not work out well for the experienced campaigner, with Marles slapping him over mid wicket for six. The score continued to tick along as Archer attempted to get on top of the Marlow spinners unfortunately his positive approach was to prove his downfall as he attempted a big shot over the top and was caught at mid-on for an encouraging 22.
 
Lincoln then sauntered to the crease and immediately looked comfortable against the Marlow attack accumulating runs well and ensuring the Finch side were in a good position to really push on in the last 10 overs. However the loss of Lincoln triggered a flurry of wickets with Allum being adjudged LBW followed quickly by Osler and Norm. This bought Gaffney to the wicket - in a positive mindset having spent Friday at Ascot celebrating his 1 year anniversary to the potential Mrs Gaffney (whose name could be Becky or Charlotte...) Either way Gaffers set about the Marlow bowling with a plethora of shots offering good support to Marles, who played a vital role in anchoring the innings before being nipped out for a stoic 55. Gaffney followed shortly afterwards for an eye-catching 33 caught at mid on. Finch declared leaving Marlow needing 204 in 49 overs.

After a wonderful tea with all the delights that one hopes to find on a Saturday afternoon Finchampstead took the field. Opening with the old ball Gaffers and Clarke immediately fell into a good rhythm bowling in testing areas to both openers.

Gaffney soon had his first victim getting the Marlow batsmen caught at bat pad for 1. The two bowlers continued their excellent start giving the Marlow players nothing to hit and were very well supported by some agile fielding from the Finch side. The pressure began to tell with a number of questionable shots being offered, before Clarke. J had the opening batsmen caught behind for 21. The Marlow number 3 soon followed caught well by Norm at first slip.
 
Finch continued to plug away bowling to a plan that was well supported by the fielders. Wickets fell regularly meaning that if the Marlow were to win the game it would come down to their over – seas player who was looking menacing on 31. However a clever piece of bowling from Dan Marles removed is leg stump, followed up with another good catch from Norm meant that Marlow went into the last over 9 wickets down.  

Gaffers took responsibility and with the Marlow number 10 seemingly determined to hit him on to the M3 (a good 5 miles away) a chance would surely present it-self. On the fourth ball of the over it did, as the batsmen skipped down the wicket and hit ball hard and flat straight at extra cover where Archer was lurking, he held a good high pressure catch and Finch took a vital 24 points from the game (1 point deducted for being 1 min over the required over rate...)

Propelling Shep’s army off the bottom of the table for the first time this season and also meaning they are now 2 from 2 for the second half of the season. A tough game against Windsor next week could not come at a better time for a settled, confident Finchampstead side. Huge credit must go to the bowlers Jonny Gaffney, Dan Marles Nathan and Justin Clarke who all bowled excellently to win the game.   by Dan Adkins

 

Statistics

Finchampstead won the toss and elected to bat
Result	Win
Umpires	Alison Smith & Chris Church
Scorers	Avril Acres
Score
Finchampstead CC Scored 203 for 9 in 50.5
Marlow Scored 178 for 10 in 48.5

Player Performance - Batsmen

Player	How out	Runs	Catch	Stump
Mark Shepherd	Caught	40	0	0
Dan Adkins	LBW	4	0	0
Dan Lincoln	Caught	29	0	0
Dan Marles	LBW	55	0	0
Will Allum	LBW	2	0	0
Archy Rajapakse	Caught	22	0	0
Scott Osler	Caught	1	0	0
Jonny Gaffney	Caught	33	0	0
Nathan Clarke	Not Out	7	0	0
Gareth Fry	LBW	0	0	0

Player Performance - Bowlers

Player	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Dan Marles	9	3	20	3
Jonny Gaffney	19.5	1	87	4
Nathan Clarke	13	5	18	2
Justin Clarke	7	0	39	1