Finch 1s Saturday and match two of the HCPL Division One campaign. Great Brickhill from near Milton Keynes travelled the hour and a half journey for the match here to Finches. Both sides had duly won their first matches.

On winning the toss Finch skipper Dan Marles elected to bat first. The conditions although dry at the start had rain threatened at points during the day. A good start as Tommie Predgen and James Isbell put on 91 in 15 overs before James was caught for 39. Eleven overs later and Greg Smith was caught at slip with the score 131 – 2. By the 30th over the score had advanced to a satisfactory 166 – 2.

But the expected run surge immediately faltered. Dan Marles was caught and bowled then five overs later the fine knock by Tommie ended LBW for 69. Two more fell by the 40th over leaving Finches in some trouble at 179 – 6. Paul Stephens then joined Ethan Ramsay at the crease. The pair batted very well putting on a valuable 80 on the board in just 8 overs. Then at 259 Paul fell for 35. With one ball left Ethan fell for his fine well played 52 then the innings closed on 275 – 8. A workmanlike score in the end punctuated by two rain stoppages.
Great Brickhill to then face the 275 score. They were soon in trouble as opening bowler Liam Dudding removed both openers with 29 on the board. At 43 – 2 the rain started so play stopped. It continued as the other HCPL matches north of Finchampstead continued to be played. Eventually the match had to cease with no rain let up. So as only 8 overs had been bowled by Finches both sides had to settle for the abandoned match position of 7 points each. Unfortunately, this was the only game not to have a result in the top division.

Finch 2’s travelled to Hayes and after winning the toss chose to bowl. A couple of early wickets were soon a distant memory as boundaries flowed during a 142-run 3rd wicket partnership at close to seven an over. Anthony Parson returned however to break the partnership and finished with 3-37. Pete Emes and Aryan Gavankar also bowled excellently at the death to ensure Hayes were restricted to 280 all out when 325 was on the cards at the half-way stage.

In reply Lewis Smith fell early, but Sam Jenkins made an excellent 51 taking the score to 118 when he fell. Connor Rees batting made his way to a run a ball 58* when the expected rain started to fall. At this stage Finch 159-2 off only 26 overs well ahead on DLS. Rain prevented any further play giving Finch the full points with 20 overs constituting a game. Connor has now scored 170 runs without being dismissed in his first two games.

Finch 3’s travelled to Boyne Hill and were put in to bat by the hosts. U15 Rohit Kanagavel produced an incredible performance carrying his bat as he scored 127* off 122 balls. Most likely one of the youngest finch players ever to score a hundred at such a high level in the TVL. Sam Hawkes supported him well with 51, batting number 4 to give Finch a very competitive score of 245-3 off 45 overs.

Liam Amy and Tom Allen struck early to leave Boyne Hill 48-2 however despite a couple more wickets Finch struggled to contain the scoring. When rain hit Boyne Hill were 150-4 well ahead on DLS but rain quickly passed giving Finch the chance to turn it around. Aidan Muir 2-31 and Lewis O’Donoghue 3-36 were excellent pushing up the run rate and getting rewarded with wickets. At 193-9 Finch looked certain winners however a late 10th wicket partnership meant a nervous finish however Finch successfully defended 14 off the final over winning by 7 runs. A great win to build on last weeks success.
All at the club wishes a speedy recovery to Steve Brogan who was originally in the side however suffered a heart attack early Saturday morning. He is currently recovering in hospital and doing well.

Finch 4’s hosted Checkendon having recently moved from the Berkshire league. Finch were asked to bat and found life tough against some very accurate bowling. Gary Woodford battled through to make 51. Ian Rose hit a quick 36 to increase the scoring however Finch were only able to manage 190-8 off their 45 overs. In reply only a couple balls were bowled before persistent heavy drizzle struck. Much like the first team, there was no further play so both sides were awarded 7pts.

Finch 5’s travelled to Warfield to play their first team and captain Dave Marles standing in for avid Chelsea fan Mark Wright elected to bowl. Stuart Mcewan two very early wickets gave Finch false hope as the ball soon travelled to all parts of the boundary and beyond. Warfield eventually finishing on 316-6 with their number 5 blasting 112* from just 72 balls.
In reply Doug Scholes batting 3 was undeterred by the required run rate and took on the bowlers from the start. When he fell for 60 off 48 balls the rest off the Finch line up struggled to offer much resistance and were quickly bowled out for 114. A mismatch on the day however such things can happen with a depleted 5s side come up against a first team.

This week's fixtures
1’s – Wokingham (A)
2’s – Wokingham (H)
3’s – Royal Ascot (H)
4’s – Eversley (A)
5’s – Windsor (H)

HCPL T20 Finals
A date for your diary is July 26th which is the regional finals of the HCPL T20. Finch have been drawn against Harefield in the second semi-final which starts at approximately 13:30. The venue for this is Oxford Downs who play Gerrards Cross in the first semi-final. The final is scheduled for approximately 17:00.