Electing to bat first Wycombe raced to 77 in 12 overs with powerful strokes from Harrison Ward. Then on joining the attack by Ben Salter his second over proved successful indeed. With his second ball Ward skied the ball over ‘keeper Jed Crerar who ran back and held the catch well. Ward had scored 62 of the runs.

Then after the next ball had been bowled Ben trapped the next two batsmen each for 0 in successive balls leaving the hosts at 77 – 3 with these 3 wickets in the over for Ben. Wycombe then settled in well with James Hemp and Dan Lincoln seeing a 136 – 3 scoreline at the halfway stage. Then in the 34th over and at 185 Hemp was bowled by Chris Britz in his first over for 58.

At 205 and 38 overs bowled it was 5 down then not until 2 overs remained that Lincoln with many strokes was caught off Ben Salter for his fine 84. The innings then closed on 290 – 7. For Finches Ben took 4 – 64 and Chris 2 – 35. Another key factor was a fine return of 0 – 29 in 10 successive overs by spinner Samm Daniel.

Losing Tommie Predgen in the second over bowled by experienced spinner Conor Haddow gave a difficult start for Finches. Then very determined batting by James Isbell and Greg Smith saw the score move to 116 – 1 at the 25 overs halfway mark.

Then at 121 Greg was caught for his well made 67. And then one run later Chris Britz was also bowled by Haddow for a duck. At 122 – 3 and needing 8 an over Finches needed to accelerate. But they lost Dan Marles at 159. Then at 205 the very good innings by James Isbell of 75 ended in the 41st over.

Needing 10 an over this now called for a batting onslaught which duly arrived from Ben Salter and Jed Crerar. Ben hammered the ball all round the ground finally being bowled for 66 in only 39 balls only finally out with 16 needed in 2 overs. Finches were home for the win with 5 balls remaining at 292 – 6, with Jed fully playing his part with 39 not out.

So a remarkable win considering two of the top four batters fell without scoring. Finches are now the only unbeaten side in the top division. Two sides have 48 points and 3 including Finches have 47. But only one sixth of the season gone !

Tvl Milestones Week 3

Henry Crowhurst 68 v Emmbrook & Bearwood 1s
Steve Brogan 67 v Emmbrook & Bearwood 1s
Sean Cilliers 94* v Aldershot 4s

Paul Stephens 5-22 v Cove 1s
Kailan Patel 4-35 v Emmbrook & Bearwood 1s