Match Scorecard

Match Report

Match Report

In a repeat of the outcome of their previous meeting this season, Wooburn Narkovians 1sts fell to a three-wicket defeat with three balls remaining at the hands of Cookham Dean 1sts in their Thames Valley League fixture at Wooburn Park on Saturday.



Having lost the toss, the home side struggled early on as Cookham’s useful seam attack extracted plenty of movement from the pitch. However, James White battled through to make a well-earned fifty, while Mark Tennant (52) and Dave Small (34) provided the crucial middle-order acceleration which saw Wooburn add 78 in the last 10 overs to reach 197-9.



Tennant secured an early breakthrough at the start of Cookham’s reply, but generally Wooburn’s bowlers struggled to get the same amount of movement as their opponents had earlier in the day. Millar (80) and Bibby (55) compiled a century stand to put the visitors in a commanding position. After White had removed Bibby, the required run rate started to edge above six an over. However, the fact that Cookham had eight wickets in hand still made them firm favourites.



Tom Lees and the reintroduced Tennant kept up the pressure on the batsmen, and wickets began to fall as Cookham resorted to big shots and risky running. Tennant removed a tiring Millar, while Lees picked up three victims, all bowled. Wooburn also secured a run out, but will rue missing some good chances for similar dismissals in the closing stages.



As it was, a couple of those big shots cleared the boundary, and Cookham reached the last over of the innings requiring just two to win with three wickets remaining. They duly completed their victory off the third ball of the over.   



Although this defeat has dented Wooburn’s promotion chances, with three matches to go they find themselves in sixth place, only seven points behind second-placed Slough 3rds, who they still have to play.