Finch 1’s Match number four as Finches hosted long-time opponents from Oxfordshire Aston Rowant. A really fine day with a large attendance and on winning the toss skipper Dan Marles opted to bat first.

A modest start as Finches slipped to 41 – 2 by the tenth over. Tommy Predgen fell bowled and Greg Smith caught off a mishit. The Rowant seamers continued the pressure with fine bowling and good field placings. The next 14 overs saw James Isbell and Sam Seecharan steadily put on 73. Then at 114 Sam was caught for his well-made 35 so 3 down. Only 3 runs more added when Dan Marles was bowled so at 117–4 at the halfway stage a modest total looked to beckon.

This certainly was strengthened as with 120 on the board both half century makers from last week Ben Salter and Ethan Ramsay fell so 6 down. This called for middle order recovery which then arrived with Jed Crear joining James Isbell. By the 43rd over the pair had put on a valuable 77. Then at 197 the fine strokes by Jed ended when he was dismissed for 38. With 2 overs remaining James reached is first century for Finches and his fine innings indeed. The opener then fell for 106 caught in the deep. The innings closed on 240 all out with one ball remaining. After the middle order difficulties the score ended workmanlike yet in the conditions some 20 or 30 more runs could well have been favored. But credit is due to Rowant for fine bowling and fielding throughout.

So 241 needed in 50 overs as Rowant commenced their innings. A good start for Finches as Liam Dudding had the first wicket in the 4th over with 15 on the board. Then Rowant steadily saw 45 on the board until at 60 and 65 they lost two more wickets. By the 23rd over and at 85 the fourth fell with a stumping to spinner James Woodford in his first over. Then at the 25 overs halfway stage James secured a second wicket with a catch at cover so Rowant were struggling at 91 – 5.

As with Finches Rowant now needed a partnership. It duly arrived with skipper Max Mannering joining Teddy Purushotaman who was already well established. At 180 Teddy was caught at deep mid-wicket for his fine 57 but now 7 down. Rowant had been brought back well into game as with 4 overs remaining 26 runs were needed. Two overs to go and two caught behind dismissals saw 9 down and 16 needed. A fine over from seamer Liam then saw 13 needed from the last over. Ollie Thilo was entrusted to bowl it with the large crowd now in attendance on edge, in the drama. A pair of boundaries from the first two balls then followed three “dot” balls bowled so 5 needed from the last ball. A two to the deep scored by skipper Max so leaving the plucky visitors on 238–9. Max ended on 43 not out. For Finches it was a fine 10 overs return for James Woodford (4–31) at a crucial period of the match.
A fine and close match with just 2 runs separating the sides. Finches now go to second place behind High Wycombe, both sides remaining unbeaten.

Finch 2’s travelled to Marlow who won the toss and batted. The highly skilled duo of Lewis Sharp and Paul Stephens reduced the home side to 30-3 with excellent new ball bowling. Albie Sharp then followed the good work with 3-30 in 8 overs leaving the side 110-7 and an early finish looking likely. They rallied however and managed to recover to post 195 all out still significantly under-par however. Lewis Sharp finishing with 3-33 from his ten overs.
Matt Eldridge playing his first game of the season after a bad finger injury sustained in Australia was in fine form from the outset. He successfully carried his bat with Finch winning by 7 wickets with nearly half the overs to spare. Matt finished on 92* combing well with Lewis Smith during a 90-run unbroken 4th wicket stand from only 11 overs. An emphatic win to bounce back after last week’s defeat.

Finch 3’s were up against Harpsden 1’s and on winning the toss Finch chose to bat first. Henry Crowhurst made use of a free weekend from school commitments making 56 opening the batting and with Louis Crerar (47) and Gareth Fearon (52) Finch were well placed 193-3 with 8 overs remaining. A monumental collapse followed, however, with Finch losing the final 7 wickets for just 8 runs resulting in being all out for just 201. Ex-Finch first team bowler Zac Jones taking 5-26 further highlighting the caliber of players they come up against in 3A.
Liam Amy took an early wicket however the result was never in doubt with Harpsden constructing a couple of decent partnerships at a good rate. They passed Finch’s score for the loss of just 3 wickets with 13 overs remaining. Two big defeats however Finch still sit mid-table in a congested league with the main focus of the season to remain at that level.

Finch 4’s won the toss and as ever chose to bat playing against Woodcote 1’s for the first time. Boundaries came easily for Finch however cheap dismissals regularly followed leaving Finch 160-7 with still 15+ overs remaining. Wes Roberts had made a fine 42 from 29 balls in his first game of the season. Yash Mahadik continued his good form making a 46 and batters 9 & 10, Ishaan Moitra (36) and Charlie Gilbey (33) showed excellent game awareness to ensure Finch batted 44 overs and posted a score of 249.
Woodcote opening partnership contributed 46 runs, however both openers were dismissed in successive overs. This set the tone for the innings as when each subsequent partnership got established Finch struck to keep pushing up the required run rate. The spin combo of Finn Borkowski (3-48) and Chris May (4-35) combined to rip through the middle to lower order of Woodcote bowling them out for 170 and give Finch a win by 84 runs. A key difference between the sides was Finch taking all 7 catches presented to them, two of which extremely tough.

Finch 5’s faced Cove 3’s and were asked to bat. As pictures of the so-called wicket filtered through on the Finchampstead club WhatsApp group many would have nervously refreshed the score on play-cricket. These fears were played out as Gary Woodford suffered a second golden duck in two weeks bowled with the ball barely bouncing above his ankles. This set the tone as no batter could reach the 20’s and Finch succumbed to 73 all out.
Cove had no intention of waiting around for a ball with their name on it (or were all Arsenal fans desperate to get to the pub) and played shots from the start. They reached Finch’s target for the loss of just 1 wicket. Finch unfortunately left with zero points from the encounter and no doubt zero desire to return to the venue!

Four of the five Finch sides last weekend were up against the opposition club's first team, which further highlights the strength of Finch as a club currently. Gaining three wins out of five, no small achievement.

Upcoming Fixtures
1’s – Harefield (A)
2’s – Beaconsfield (H)
3’s – Reading (H)
4’s – Bradfield (A)
5’s – Emmbrook & Bearwood (H)
Sunday Finch Woman – Sulhamstead (A)……Possibility the opposition may not be able to field a side so please check first if planning to attend.

Useful Links

Finchampstead CC –

Finchampstead play-cricket site which displays all the fixtures for the week including junior games. The majority of fixtures assuming WiFi is available are live scored and you can follow by clicking on the results tab.

Finchampstead Cricket Club - YouTube – Finch CC YouTube page where you can watch games that are being live streamed plus all historical live streamed games.

Home Counties Premier Cricket League – HCPL site specifically the league table link.

Thames Valley Cricket League – TVCL site for our 2s, 3s, 4s & 5s, specifically the league tables link. They compete in division 1B, 3A, 6A & 8C respectively.

Home Counties Women's Cricket League – HCPL Women’s site specifically the league table link. The season commences this weekend with Finch restarting as a team in Division 2A.