Scorecard

SHERSTON MAGNA v BUSCOT PARK CRICKET CLUB 1st ELEVEN on Sat 25 Aug 2018 at 13.00
BUSCOT PARK CRICKET CLUB Won by 70 runs

Match report Cometh the penultimate saturday of the season, and clashes between 1st (ourselves) v 3rd (Sherston), and 2nd (Hinton) v 4th (Winsley) would go a long way towards deciding promotion and even the title. Therefore, after last weeks hiccup, which didn't prove too costly with both Hinton and Sherston surprisingly losing too, we needed to get back to winning ways.

We arrived at Sherston's lovely Pinkney Parkground to find the pitch green and damp after overnight rain. The coin was tossed, and skippy lost. We were asked to bat, which we would have chosen to do anyway, so not unhappy.

Hamish and Dan started the innings off in what were going to tougher conditions than we had been used to this summer. It seemed to be easier to get the pacier bowlers away, with slow bowler Dickenson (A) going for less than a run an over (9-4-8-0), but it was the pacier Pegg who took the first wicket, having Dan caught behind for 15 with the score at 24. Only 20 more runs came in the next 10 overs as Ben joined Hamish, and were forced to graft as Dickenson (B) replaced Pegg to have slow bowlers at both ends. At 44, Hamish was bowled for 15, which brought Ronny to the crease for the first time since 21st July with his trip to the Goan monsoons! Facing 9 balls for his boundary 4, he was next to go giving the bowler a return catch, and leaving us at 50 for 3 after 21 overs. Aaron joined Ben and started to push the score along more quickly as the slow bowlers completed their spells, and gave way to more seam. Aaron was finally caught in the deep for 32 from only 37 balls with the score now up to 120, and still nearly 11 overs left.

With 150 looking a very defendable score, we were in a good position to push on past even that with only 4 wickets down. Firstly Thatch (4), then Blunders (5) helped Ben keep the momentum going before bein joined by Will (13*) for a final flourish to take us to 173 for 6 in our 45 overs. Ben's 65 not out needs an extra special mention, as it was the backbone we had needed to build what looked a formidable score.

Taking to the field, we had a great start as Thatch bowled skipper Dickenson (B) in the second over before a run had been scored. As with us though, Sherston seemed to enjoy pace on as they then moved along worryingly to 49 in only 8.3 overs, before a little control was re-established on the scoring rate. But it wasn't until the introduction of Ben to get the spin twins bowling in tandem that we had Walsh (33) caught off Mike to put Sherston at 69 for 2in the 15th over. In Ben's next over, Harmer went for a well made 30 to make it 69 for 3. That then quickly became 70 for 4. Bruce came to the crease looking to go after the bowling, but soon holed out in the deep to make it 78 for 5. That soon became 80 for 6, with both Mike and Ben now causing lots of problems. With the score on 92, two more wickets fell, and then the innings was finally finished off as the final wickets fell at 102 and 103. Mike finished with figures of 9-3-21-3, and Ben capped of his day by taking 5 for 18 in his 9 overs.

Well done guys! Also thanks to Sherston for their hospitality.

Interestingly, Hinton's game at Winsley was abandoned after rain! What rain? It was the only game affected as it turned out.

So, on to our final fixture at home to Winsley with what should be 6 or 7 points needed to take the title. Come on the Park!!!!!

Stats from the game ;-

Ben Batchelor's score of 65no is his highest in league cricket for the 1st's beating his previous highest score of 36.

Ronny Fernandes has now scored 395 1st XI league runs in 2018 so moves into 23rd place in the list of top league run scorers in a season for the 1st's, passing 393 runs scored by Bob Deane in 1992 at an average 30.23 and 394 runs scored by John Morton in 2009 at an average of 39.40. Wade Foley is top of the list with 728 runs in 2006 at an average of 60.67.

Ben Batchelor's 5th wicket in this game was his 28th league wicket of the season so Ben moves into the 'Top 25' league wicket takers in a season for the 1st's, currently in 16th place. Mark Thatcher's wicket in this game was his 27th league wicket of the season so Mark moves up to 22nd place in the 'Top 25' league wicket takers in a season for the 1st's. They have both overtaken 26 wickets taken by Mike Heasman in 2011 (av 12.31), 27 by Simon Minett in 1996 (av 14.78) and 27 by Neil Couling in 1996 (14.44) and Ben has also overtaken 27 by Mark Thatcher in 2018 (av 13.56), 27 by Lloyd Morgan in 1984 (av 13.33), 27 by Duncan Clarke in 2013 (av 11.11), 28 by Mike Heasman in 1996 (av 19.04), 28 by Julian Brown in 1994 (av 15.36) and 28 by Simon Minett in 1992 (av 15.07). Mike Heasman who took 26 wickets in 2013 with an average of 13.00 moves out of the Top 25. Julian Brown is top of the list with 48 wickets in 1992 at an average of 9.50.

Ben Batchelor's all-rounder performance of scoring a fifty and taking 5 wickets is only the 4th occasion that this has happened in the league for the 1st's. The others are Fergus Mitchell at home to Blunsdon in 2006 (scored 120 and took 6-7), Liam Court at home to Wootton Bassett 3 in 2015 (100 and 5-26) and Ian Oglesby at home to White Horse in 2015 (98 and 5-33). It is therefore the only away league game that someone has scored a fifty and taken 5 wickets for the 1st XI (a few scorebooks missing so needs confirming).

BUSCOT PARK CRICKET CLUB 1st ELEVEN Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 13w 3b 3lb 
for 6 wickets
20
173		        
Hamish Millar b B Dickenson 15 3
Daniel Batchelor ct W Taylor b A Pegg 15 3
Ben Batchelor Not Out  65 9
Ronny Fernandes ct & b A Pegg 4 1
Aaron Court ct A Walsh b G Hall 32 2 1 1
Mark Thatcher ct A Pegg b G Hall 4 1
Gavin Blundell b A Pegg 5 1
William Thompson Not Out  13 1 1 1
Julian Brown   1
Andrew Barron  
Michael Heasman  

SHERSTON MAGNA Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A Pegg9.0140220.004.44
A Dickenson9.04800.000.89
B Dickenson9.0128214.003.11
J Harmer9.003600.004.00
A Walsh3.003100.0010.33
G Hall5.001427.002.80
G Bruce1.001000.0010.00

SHERSTON MAGNA Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 2w 4b  
for 10 wickets
8
103 (30.3 overs)		     
J Harmer ct W Thompson b B Batchelor 30
B Dickenson b M Thatcher 0
A Walsh ct J Brown b M Heasman 33
H Shipsey ct M Thatcher b B Batchelor 1
G Hall lbw M Heasman 5
N Bruce ct A Court b M Heasman 4
A Dickenson b B Batchelor 14
A Pegg b B Batchelor 7
F Hall b B Batchelor 0
G Bruce Run out  0
W Taylor Not Out  1

BUSCOT PARK CRICKET CLUB 1st ELEVEN Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Aaron Court4.012100.005.25
Mark Thatcher6.0220120.003.33
Michael Heasman9.032137.002.33
Ben Batchelor9.031853.602.00
Andrew Barron2.301800.007.20