At the half way point in the Thames Valley League season this was a good day for the Chesham club and all 4 teams go into the second half of the season with promotion hopes.
The 1st X1 won by a convincing 5 wicket margin. A good all round bowling display led to the dismissal of Kew for 195. In reply Andy Goddard, Jason and Matt Rance all hit half centuries to ensure a comfortable and important victory to keep the 1sts in a very crowded pack hoping to end the season on top!
The 2nd X1 had an equally satisfying result when they beat North Maidenhead 1stX1, also by 5 wickets. In the dismissal of the visitors for 213 Chris Royals produced a devastating spell of leg spin bowling, ending with figures of 6 for 48. He was well backed up by David Hughes D’Aeth who took 4 for 25. David HD then went on to hit a fluent 51 in Chesham’s reply and was well supported by Chris Morris and Max McIver who both scored 47. A calmly built half century partnership between Graham Rance and Richard Gregory saw Chesham home which keeps them in second place behind Windsor in Div 2A. This cemented their position in 2nd place, although Windsor continue to look strong at the top of the table.
Following a big win over Amersham 3rds with consequent local bragging rights, Chesham 3rds presently find themselves at the top of Div 5A. Winning the toss and batting on a rain affected pitch Chesham totalled 230 for 5 for which they owed much to a skilful partnership of 159 between Mark Hall (68) and Mo Asuaf . The latter’s undefeated 95 was his third consecutive score of well over 50. When Amersham batted they were soon in trouble against the contrasting spin of Nouman Aslam and Jack Gibbins (5 for 41), with Steve Ayres cleaning up the tail to dismiss them for a mere 109.
In spite of totalling 268 for 6 dec, in which Karan Depak top scored with 81, Chesham 4ths could not quite claim victory over Amersham who just managed to cling on for a draw at 137 for 9 despite a further 4 wickets for Raheem.
Sunday saw a great advert for win/lose cricket as the Sunday 2nds drew with a Wembley side who in reply to 195 for 6 declared (50's for Chris Royals and Tom McKinlay) ground their way to 116 for 8 off 48 overs, the highlight of which was an innings of 3 not out off 64 balls. There may not be too many volunteers to play there next year, although Lee Wiles wicket in 2014 against them will mean Wembley CC is forever part of our heritage!!