Match Scorecard

Match Report

Morale-Boosting Win

A patient fifty from Ian Cuthbert and a six-wicket haul from James White were the backbone of the 1st XI\s morale-boosting victory over Home Counties Division Two side Amersham at Wooburn Park on Saturday.



Batting first on a typically slow Wooburn wicket, some steady bowling and indifferent batting soon had the home side in trouble at 39-4. The introduction of spin at both ends allowed Wooburn to regroup, and Cuthbert, with useful support from Jeff Morris and Richard Barker, cautiously started to build a respectable total. However, wickets continued to fall every time the batting side looked in a position to push on.



With overs running out, skipper Phil Day joined Cuthbert, and the pair added some much needed impetus to the innings, sharing four sixes in three overs. Day’s demise was the start of another Wooburn wobble as three wickets fell with the score on 140, including Cuthbert, ninth man out for 59.



But the home side’s last pair, Brad Sutherland and Josh Baylis, used up all but one ball of the remaining overs, adding 15 precious runs. When Sutherland was finally bowled by Hands, who finished with 5-20, Wooburn had managed 155.



In reply to a total that most considered 20 to 30 runs below par, Amersham never really got to grips with the slow-paced pitch. They started briskly against some wayward bowling but once James White had settled down and Graham Dare entered the attack, scoring became more difficult with the batsmen often finding themselves early on their shots.



White made the early breakthroughs, picking up three wickets in his opening spell. Atkins and Robertson threatened to take the game away from Wooburn before Morris bowled the former and Dare enticed an uppish drive from the latter to Cuthbert at mid-off.



At 121-5, the game was still in the balance, but the return of White and the introduction of Day quickly wrapped up the innings as the Amersham tail folded. White finished with 6-34 and Day 2-7 as the last five wickets fell for just six runs.



The 28-run victory should give the 1st XI plenty of confidence going into the new league season.