Match Scorecard

Match Report

Match Report

An heroic innings from opener Dave Rogers earned a weakened Wooburn 2nds a creditable draw against their high-flying counterparts from Stoke Green. After being set an improbable 217 for victory, Wooburn\s below-strength batting line-up was held together by Rogers, who batted through the innings for an undefeated 84. Tim Waxman once again provided valuable support at the end as the innings closed on 152-5.



At the start of the day, Wooburn\s stand-in skipper Rob Rogers won an important toss and put Stoke Green into bat on a pitch drying out after heavy overnight rain. The home side struggled early on, losing three quick wickets before Aslam and Ahmed came together. These two started slowly, until the removal of Waxman from the attack eased the pressure. Suddenly the batsmen took the initiative and the ball started disappearing to all parts of the ground.



Ahmed had reached 72 when he hammered the ball straight to Rob Rogers at mid-off. Phil Day then produced the perfect yorker to bowl Aslam for 68, but Stoke Green were now firmly in control. A hard hit 30 from Quelch allowed Green to declare on 216-8 after 46 overs. Waxman (3-51) and Day (3-65) were the pick of the Wooburn bowlers.



In reply, Wooburn\s openers started slowly against some very accurate medium pace bowling from Imran. The total had reached 37 when Alan Cuthbert fell, bowled by a ball that came back a long way as the batsman played no shot. Rob Smith helped Dave Rogers take the score up to 86 before Smith was bowled, and Wooburn appeared well placed with 25 overs still remaining. Qadeer, however, struggled to get the ball away, and by the time he was controversially run out, Wooburn had slipped behind the required rate.



Day managed one defiant blow before holing out to deep long off and Chris Bargate was bowled for just four. Meanwhile, Rogers batted on, passing 50, but finding run scoring difficult as the Green went on the defensive. When Waxman joined him, victory was out of reach, and the pair settled for a draw.There was still time for Green to drop three more catches, and they only had themselves to blame for their failure to force the win.



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