Henley 4th XI fall just short away to Earley 2nd XI by 2 wicket loss.

Another week another captaincy change for Henley as they look to take on a fired up Earley side. Jakob Albiston, one of Henley’s young overseas players decided to put his hand up and take the reins this week as Henley had selected a very young and talented lineup. At the toss, the call of heads by Albiston saw Henley potentially win their first coin flip of the season. Full of faith, Albiston decided that conditions favoured batting first and backed his side to come up with a big total.

Opening father/son pairing of Oliver Ward and father Chris Ward, looked as if their day was about to be a fantasy. However a delicious in-swinging by opening bowler Syed Sohail Shah, halted proceedings and disrupted the opening partnership, dismissing Chris in the 6th over of the match. Deciding to drop down to 3 in the order Captain Albiston played a few nice shots until greed got the better of him and holed out to Mid-off prior to drinks. The top three once again unable to get away saw Earley win in the early stages as Henley were 3 down at the first drinks break.

A short fight back from Ralph Surplice and Aakansh Naik, illustrated signs of Henley batting out the overs and posting a defendable total. From 40 for 3 to 106 for 3, runs flowed effortlessly for the pair until the breakthrough for Earley came in the form of an LBW dismissal which saw Surplice depart for 24 off 41 balls. Looking to carry on Naik and new batter to the crease Seren Bowles attempted to tick over the run rate, until an ambitious second run was called by Naik leaving Bowles short of her crease and without much of a chance to get off the mark. Naik affected by this event was removed by Earley short after as he chipped one to Mid-on finishing with an impressive 45 off 44 deliveries.

The bottom order eager to see out the overs after a top and middle order collapse, also struggled as only Harry Monahan could post a double digit score of 14 off 25 as he courageously soldiered on, despite tumbling wickets around him.

Henley all out for 149 after 32.3 overs.

Henley adamant to seek out victory, opened the bowling with Albiston and Naik as they had in the previous two weeks, following a formula that looked inevitable as both had knacks of picking up wickets. Albiston started his opening spell poorly, resulting in taking himself off after three overs conceding 17 runs. Naik however did dismiss opener Deep Modi early on with a terrific ball right through the batsman’s gate knocking down middle stump. Replacing Albiston, Monahan straight into the attack, dismissed the other opening batsman Parth Singh with a tidy bit of catching from Chris Ward at Cover. Naik at the other end wrapped up his opening spell with a second wicket and Earley finished 3 down going into their first drinks break.

Earley had a solid start after drinks, keeping their wickets in tact whilst scoring at a somewhat slowish rate. Confusion when Monahan finished his spell due to junior restrictions brought back Captain Albiston seeking redemption after a poor opening set. Instantly, he struck second ball with a beauty taking out the top of off. Albiston carried out his remaining five with a bit of flare. Looking to take action and lead from the front he picked up an additional two wickets. His second struck the pads of the opposing captain in front of middle and leg stump on short ball that really didn’t get up forcing him to depart for 16 off 21. The next was caught by youngster and debutant Matthew Bollinghaus who was brought up from fine leg to short fine leg the ball prior to the dismissal.

Suddenly, Henley looked in the box seat as a seventh wicket fell. Bowler Joseph Raymond also a returnee looked rusty from his broken finger suffered at the beginning of the year, finally picked up his well deserved wicket. Completing Raymonds wicket, 3 years out of the game, Stephen Bowles too in his return game, took a screamer to his left at midwicket. The game now changed, posed outcomes where Earley required 58 runs to win and Henley needed 3 wickets to win.

Batsman’s Fazal Farooq and Syed Sohail Shah quickly put the game to rest as their 58 run partnership sealed Earley’s victory. Naik picking up Shah at the end was left slightly too late as scores were level at that moment. Despit efforts from Albiston (3-30), Naik (3-17) and the rest of Henley’s brave cricketers it was Earley who had won by 2 wickets at the end of day’s play.

Lots to learn from Henley’s heartbreaking loss as they look forward now to their round 13 matchup against Pinkneys Green.