Chesham CC w/e 27^th August

After a series of close finishes in their TVL 1^st Division season Chesham enjoyed a stress free penultimate match when they defeated Falkland by 9 wickets at the Meadow. Having elected to bat first, Falkland soon found themselves in trouble as they lost their first three wickets for only 15 runs to the Chesham opening attack of Gift Kwatsha (2 for 30) and Jason Rance (1 for 16).  Their followed a partial recovery before the spinners were introduced and the 4^th wicket fell at 54. The parsimonious 10 over spells by Asad Rehman (2 for 13) and Pip France (4 for 10), aided by tight fielding,) slowed runs to a trickle and reduced the visitors to 62 for 9. Umar Aslam then took the final wicket leaving Falkland in total disarray with a final total of 75 off 33 overs. As if they had a train to catch but more likely with eyes on an approaching storm, Chesham openers Mark Eteen  and Matt Rance began with an immediate flurry of fine strokes before Eteen was dismissed for 15 with the score on 33 early in  the 4^th over. In even more of a hurry Luke Webb then blasted 27 off only 9 balls and with Rance also undefeated with 22, victory was gained half way through the 7^th over without further loss. A quite surreal game had ended before 3pm. It was several hours later that it emerged that leaders Stoke Green had tied their match so that both they and Chesham are level on 301 points going into the final round of matches next Saturday. Chesham will be away to Boyne Hill with all to play for.

The 2^nd X1 consolidated their position in mid table of Div 2a with a resounding win against the already doomed to relegation Chenies and Latimer 1^st X1. Having lost normally reliable opener Scott Norwood for only 4, wickets fell steadily throughout the Chenies innings with no major partnerships in attaining a total of 154 in 44 overs. Chris Royals taking 5 for 44 and James Anderson 2 for 19. In reply Chesham lost Waqas Butt (11) and David Hughes D’Aeth  (21) before Duncan Scott (76*) was joined by the hard hitting Henry White (41*) in an unbeaten match winning partnership to carry their side to victory by 8 wickets in the 25^th over.

The 3^rd X1 gave themselves a chance of avoiding threatened relegation from Div 4a by beating NPL Teddington by 21 runs. Chesham were dismissed for a seemingly inadequate total of 134 with Tom McInley (46) and Charles Turner (35) the main contributors. However, following fine sustained spells by Aniraj Nair (6 for 50) and Martin Wheeler (3 for 25), NPL were dismissed for only 113 to leave Chesham happy and victorious.

The 4^th X1 were involved in a drawn match with NPL 2nds at Charteidge. NPL were dismissed for 209, with Ollie McInley taking 3 for 48. With a rather inexperienced batting side Chesham then replied with a stately 129 for 7. Not quite a match for the connoisseur.