Chesham CC Match Reports - last week before league season!

Chesham ‘XI’ vs. Nomads CC

Chesham 185 all out (38 overs)

Nomads 187-6 (37.1 overs)

On the Royal Wedding Day, Chesham welcomed Nomads Cricket Club, a wandering side from London. Chesham won the toss and batted and struggled throughout against their accurate opponents, with Chesham relying heavily on a fine innings of 62 from Ed Wainwright to see them to a respectable but slightly under par 185 all out.

In reply, the Nomads star player J While, who played for England Under 19s, starred with a run a ball hundred that meant they were always on target. Chesham’s spin trio of Matt Rance, Chris Royals and Andy Goddard kept Chesham in the game with good spells of bowling, but the Nomads hard hitting batting line up got home with 3 overs to spare in a fine game that was a great way of spending the bank holiday.

Chesham 1st XI vs. Chenies & Latimer 1st XI

Chenies 139 all out (36.4 overs)

Chesham 140-2 (23.2 overs)

Chesham's 1st XI recorded their first win of the season in a friendly against Chenies & Latimer. Chesham captain Ollie Turner lost the toss and Chesham were asked to field first. Chesham got off to the perfect start with Tom Helm taking a wicket with his second ball and bowling a remarkable 6 consecutive maidens. Helm's opening partner was Adris Ahmed and he picked up two wickets himself including that of the dangerous Hicken for a quickfire 26. Peter Ongondo, playing his first game of the season after returning to Chesham from World Cup duty for Kenya, bowled accurately and also picked up a wicket. Spin was then introduced and it was left to Qasim Ali and Matt Rance to pick up the remaining wickets taking 2 and 4 respectively meaning Chenies finished on just 139 all out.

In reply, Chesham lost opener Matt Rance early when he was run out but, together with Barney Atkins, Rance's opening partner Alex Morgan began to score quickly and 139 looked like a small target. Even when Atkins was removed for a well made 37, Chesham were comfortable in pursuit of their target and it was left to Morgan who finished on 84 not out and Jason Rance (16 not out) to complete the chase within 24 overs and win the game for Chesham. It was an excellent performance, and with the league season starting next weekend, was a timely confidence boost for Chesham's 1st XI

 

Chesham 2nd XI vs. Chenies & Latimer 2nd XI

Chenies 108 all out

Chesham 109-2

No match report as 2nd team captain is notoriously hard to pin down, but a very comfortable win and Chesham’s President Rod Dowle, at 65 years old, took four wickets!

 

Chesham 3rd XI vs. The Lee 1st XI

Chesham 187-8 (45 overs) Matt Yeabsley 48, Donald Peens 3-47

The Lee 181 all out (42 overs) Jeff Suissam 50, Chris Royals 3-33

In a thrilling back and forth encounter on a beautiful day at The Lee, Chesham's 3rd XI began their 2011 season with a victory in an extremely tight match, coming out on top by just 6 runs.

 

After winning the toss and batting, Chesham struggled to work out how to play on a tough wicket, and fell first to 39-3 then to 69-5 as The Lee's accurate bowlers had Chesham in all sorts of trouble. A recovery came from Matt Yeabsley and Jack Gibbins, who batted sensibly and played some fine shots, reaching 48 and 36 respectively to raise the score to 187 after 45 overs.

 

Chesham failed to get some early penetration, and The Lee took advantage early in their innings, before being gradually pinned back by Chris Royals, John Franks and Matt Yeabsley, helped by some fine catching from captain Jonathan Royals, taking regular wickets as The Lee's middle order attempted to win the game with as few strokes as possible, led by Jeff Suissam who scored 50. However this aggressive play always carries inherent risks, and gradually Chesham gained the upper hand. The Lee's lower order put them back in the game, leading to a nervy finish, but Chesham tightened the screws with accurate, tight bowling from Gibbins and Butt pinning them back and forcing the shots. There was much celebration and some relief as Butt knocked over Suissam’s middle stump to end the game, capping off a hugely entertaining game.

 

Chesham Sunday 1st XI vs. Chorleywood 1st XI

Chesham 240-4 (45 overs)

Chorleywood 141-9 (45 overs)

Chesham won their last pre-season friendly before the main event of the league season begins next week. Ollie Turner lost the toss and was asked to bat first. Rance and Morgan set about the Chorleywood attack scoring quickly bringing up 50 off just 67 balls. Rance then chipped one to mid - wicket on the stopping pitch to be first out for 39. Ollie Turner joined Morgan and really took the game beyond the home side in a stand of 109 when Morgan was dismissed for a high class 101. This continues Morgan's great start to the season having already passed 500 runs in all cricket. There was no respite for the home bowlers as Turner finished on 59 not out in a perfectly timed innings taking his team to a commanding 240 - 4 off their 45 overs on a pitch that still appeared tricky for batting.

Pete Ongondo opened the bowling and it was immediately obvious 240 was going to take some getting. With only his slower ball being hit to the boundary his 6 overs only went for 9 as well as picking up 2 wickets. With Mike Scott bowling steadily at the other end the run rate was climbing with every passing delivery. The change bowling did not produce any respite as Matt Rance and Dave Porter spun the ball sharply with only the odd drag down being hit away. The highlight of the fielding effort was a beautifully flighted Porter delivery that spun past the bat of the advancing Pendered and was smartly stumped by 14 year old Charles Turner making his first team debut. In a game that was petering out the fourth Turner brother playing in the match for Chesham, Edward, was brought on to bowl and he bamboozled the late order in picking up 2 wickets to end the game.

 

Chesham Sunday 2nd XI vs. Buckingham Town 2nd XI

Chesham 179-5 (40 overs) – Mark Hughes-D’aeth 94*, James White 47

Buckingham Town 181-7 (38.4 overs) – Mark Hughes-D’aeth 2-31, Chris Royals 2-39

A blustery day at Buckingham and a good early season wicket, a successful call of 'heads' from the captain and Chesham are batting. What followed was the usual theme of Sunday 2nds matches, as Chesham fell to 36-4. Mark Hughes-D'aeth batted sensibly and superbly and really didn't put a foot wrong through the match, and deserved his unbeaten 94, and possibly more. Missing out on a century, the Sunday 2nds record of never having a player score a century stayed intact, while he was ably supported by a sensible innings from James White, who played himself in and helped recover the innings before playing his shots, and was removed for 47, probably as a result of having to run a four on the huge Buckingham boundary, and that seemed to take the last of his energy. Ben Woodward came in for the last over and helped add some crucial runs at the end to reach a respectable 179 off our 40 overs, without the poor start we may have got 200 which would have been a winning score.

After a good tea, Buckingham got off to a positive start, but David Hughes-D'aeth got the first wicket as the Buckingham opener was trapped right in front of his own stumps. Control was exerted by an extremely good 20 over spell of bowling from Mark Hughes-D'aeth (2-31) and Chris Royals (2-39), which pegged them right back on a pitch that didn't take a lot of turn, but the bowling was accurate from both ends and both bowlers probably deserved one more wicket each, but Mark can take great pride from bowling Buckingham's kiwi overseas player, and both bowlers can be very pleased with their work. During this time, Buckingham opener O'Dell reached 50 with some cracking cover drives early, but he was pinned down with spin and was dismissed. Sadly bowling restrictions meant an end to a fantastic spell, but Guy Fowler and David Hughes-D'aeth returned and bowled well, but without much luck, as despite losing two more wickets, one to a superb diving catch from Matt Watson and one clean bowled, Buckingham edged ever closer to their target, reaching it with just an over and two balls to go.

All in all a great game of cricket, we batted poorly at the start and Buckingham had a couple of first team players, and it showed, but we can take an awful lot of positives from that performance and we'll aim to beat them this time next year!