Chesham CC w/e 24th June
It was an absolute run fest for the Chesham batsmen at Datchet in HCC Div 2. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, openers Matt Rance (50) and Alex Morgan (102) began with a rapid century opening stand, aided by a couple of dropped catches. This was followed by an absolute blitz by Luke Webb, who smashed 53 in inly 38 balls, mainly off the hapless much travelled Steve Naylor, who was less than amused. Morgan duly completed his century and Jason Rance a rapid 33 and they both made way for Mark Eteen (44), Rob Pritchard (18) and Pip France (21) to make hay before skipper Jason declared at 337 for 7 off 55 overs. In reply Datchet soon lost opener Max Stevenson to Jack Mciver followed by Joe Thomas 10 runs later. Pip France (2for42) bowled several overs as a make believe ‘quickie’ before resorting to his normal spin method and Matt Rance (5 for 64) bowled a marathon 25 over spel of off spinl but the obdurate but unadventurous Datchet batsmen quickly shut up shop to grind out 163 off 63 overs and achieve an unambitious draw , disappointing for Chesham, who had made all the running.
In TVL Div 2a, Chesham 2nds chased brilliantly at the Meadow to overhaul Kew 1sts 253 for 6 off 52 overs, for the loss of only 3 wickets and with 4 overs to spare. Chesham openers Brendon O’Donovan (22) and Mark Hughes D’Aeth (30) withstood the hostile Kew attack in a half century opening stand, paving the way for an enterprising century partnership between Chris Hedges (46) and David Hughes D’Aeth (92*), both playing some fine strokes The way was then clear for young tyro Theo Wetherall to smash an undefeated 36 to achieve a memorable victory against a team that only 2 years ago was challenging for the TVL 1st Division title.
In Div5a Chesham 3rds gained another important victory over Kew 3rd X1 by 3 wickets. In Kew’s all out total of 153 Alex Goodman took 4 for 18 and Charles Turner (42) top scored for Chesham. Chesham 4ths went down by 6 wickets to Farnham Royal 2nds, in spite of Stuart Warson’s hard fought but ultimately jug avoiding 49, skipper James Misseldine’s gallant (34) and Ed Wainwright (25).