Maidenhead & Bray

Sun 24 April                                  Maidenhead & Bray                     Lost by 5 wkts

We    186/8 in 40 overs     (Sharma 32*, D.Behar 31, Ledger 27, Sen 24, Wykes 2/15, A.Ball 2/28, Armstrong 2/30)

They 188/5 in 35 overs     (King 44, O’Dell 42*, Jacobsen 29, Khush Khan 2/32)

A great all round performance by Wykes led this Maidenhead victory at this beautiful riverside ground overlooked by the Church of St.Michael.  Matt Marshall won the toss, tails – you know it makes sense, and decided to bat.  David Behar and Chris Ledger put on a watchful 72 for the first wicket before Behar was lbw to home skipper Armstrong and Saad Syed played over one 2 balls later in the over.  Wickets tumbled from there with only Saurav Sen and Sunil Sharma finding the middle of the bat before Akhi displayed his batting talent with a boundary-filled 19.  Through the middle of all this Wykes bowled 8 overs taking 2 for just 15 runs, a great spell.

In reply, Maidenhead took to the Kensington attack with gusto.  Vaja was caught early on for 16 and debutant Khush Khan took 2 quick wickets to stem the tide, but King and O’Dell put on 70 for the 4th wicket in good time, effectively sealing victory, before Wykes returned to the fray to belt a quick 20 not out and settle the matter with 5 overs to spare.

Black Label whisky for Wykes then, and a few pints in the bar to soften the collective blow for Kensington.  Like Fu Manchu way before Arnie, we’ll be back.