Wooburn Narkovians 1sts’ unbeaten start to the Thames Valley League season ended with a last-over defeat at Cookham Dean 1sts on Saturday. Despite a wholehearted effort in the field, led by a marathon bowling stint by Mark Tennant, Wooburn could not undo the damage done by a mediocre batting display earlier in the day.
The visitors, missing in-form Dave Pidgeon and Ian Cuthbert, never really came to terms with the Cookham pitch, which offered pace and bounce early on, but which kept increasingly low as the game wore on. While several Wooburn batsmen got a start, nobody went on to make a major contribution, and extras top-scored with 35. Tom Lees made a positive 31 up front, with Paul Cooper and Dave Rogers adding twenties.
All of the top order were troubled by Cookham opening bowler A.Patel, who took 3-59, while the middle/lower order, looking to push the total towards 200, succumbed to P.Patel, who finished with 6-26. Having been 122-3 in the 30th over, Wooburn failed to bat out their allocation, ending on 181 after 51 overs.
Tennant gave the visitors a perfect start in the field with a wicket in his first over, and with James White also bowling well at the other end, Cookham were reduced to 35-3. The home side kept in touch with the run rate, but another wicket for Tennant and a first for Mo Aslam meant that at 98-5 after 32 overs, Wooburn had the edge.
However, with Lambden batting sensibly and the rest of the middle order providing useful support, Cookham remained in the hunt. Tennant finally took a breather after a 19-over spell, only to be reintroduced almost immediately after Aslam claimed the home side’s sixth wicket with 43 still required from nine overs.
Unfortunately for Wooburn, although he continued to induce false shots from the batsmen, Tennant could pick up only one more wicket as Cookham neared their target. The last over of the innings arrived with the scores tied, and Lambden, who finished on 52, secured the home side’s three-wicket victory with three balls to spare. Tennant’s efforts were rewarded with final figures of 4-67 from 23.3 overs.
