28-08-2010 - Away - TVL - Bagshot vs Finch

4's stay in promotion hunt

A much changed Finch took on Bagshot in this Division 7A encounter, looking for a win to stay in the hunt for promotion.

Captain Bob was successful in his first duties of the day, winning the toss and electing to bat on a track that was still remarkably good despite the recent wet weather. Matt Lay and the Captain opened the batting and found the going fairly tricky early on, Bobby being deceived by a short ball that went on to hit the stumps, leaving the scorers untroubled. This brought Billy Beswick to the crease, having scored two 50's in his last two appearances for the 4th XI expectations were high, however he too could not push the score along, being bowled by a good ball for 1.

With the score on just 18 for 2, the returning Ben Fisher entered the fray looking to stabilise the innings and see off the opening bowlers. He and Matt Lay went most the way to achieving this - Lay falling to the penultimate over of the opening spell with the score on 29. With senior batsman, and recent architect of middle over recoveries, Kevin Ramskir missing, some of the Finch faithful may have been justified in being a little worried. Fisher and Blogg at the crease with the score at 29-3, some hard work would need to be put in to rectify the situation. With the emphasis on staying in, and where possible punishing the bad ball, the hard work began. Slowly but surely the score crept up, and with it so did the mood. By drinks Finch were 64 for 3, having negotiated the tricky first change Bagshot bowling.

Consolidating completed, the Finch batsman looked to up the run rate, and once again completed their task with minimum fuss, Blogg smashing a couple of boundaries before being bowled for 27 and Fisher surviving a couple of close calls to make 50. The partnership was invaluable, and it was a lesson that was not lost on incoming bat Ian Rose who along with Fisher pushed the score up towards the 200 mark with another 80+ partnership. Rose eventually departed for 41, bringing Tom Hopkins to the crease for the final overs. He and Fisher helped pass the 200 mark with some sensible stroke play and the occasional big hit, a tactic which also saw Fisher score his first Finch 100. With that milestone out of the way the last over was a chance to pepper the boundary, Fisher exploiting the gap at mid-wicket 3 times in succession to push his score on to 117 not out, and the team total to 229 for 5.

A terrific-as-usual Mrs Osler tea was enjoyed by all and the Finches took to the field in buoyant mood. Kanki and Simmo opened the bowling with the old ball and did not have to wait long before making a breakthrough, Kanki's skiddy spin proving too much for the Bagshot top order. The visitors had very few answers to the Finchampstead slow bowling master class, Kanki ripping the top order apart on his way to a Michelle, and Simmo unlucky to end up with just one at the other end (although it was nice to see that in a weekend of turmoil for cricket, there was a bowler somewhere in the country who was genuinely distraught and not relieved at bowling a no-ball!). With the Bagshot skipper providing some resistance Cap'n Bob turned to pace, Liam and Dylan taking the new ball and both picking up a wicket to leave the visitors 8 wickets down and woefully short of their target, and although some attacking play by the number 10 bat saw the score pushed over 100, a Tom Hopkins cameo cleaned up the tail to leave Bagshot all out for 120.

A good day for Finch saw a vital 25 point win to keep the side in the hunt for the second promotion spot. Although Teddington will now need to drop points in their final league game away at Bagshot, the Finch players are doing their best to give themselves every opportunity at staying in the race.
 

P.S. Thanks and good luck to Matt Lay, who played his last game of the season on Saturday!!

Statistics

Finchampstead won the toss and elected to bat
Result	Win
Umpires	If only!!
Scorers	Various
Score
Finchampstead CC Scored 229 for 5 in 52
Bagshot Scored 120 for 10 in 30

Player Performance - Batsmen

Player	How out	Runs	Catch	Stump
Bob Osler	Bowled	0	1	0
Matt Lay	Caught	18	0	0
Ben Fisher	Not Out	117	0	0
Ian Rose	Caught	41	0	0
Tom Hopkins	Not Out	11	0	0
Malcom Blogg	Bowled	27	0	0