3rd XI v Wargrave 4th XI

Rintoul's Seven Wickets Seals Emphatic Sonning Win at Wargrave

Sonning's 3rd XI produced their most complete performance of the season at Wargrave, posting 201 for 6 and then dismantling the home side for 23 to win by 178 runs, with Dave Rintoul returning the remarkable figures of 7 for 9 after already contributing an unbeaten 25 with the bat.

Put in on a warm afternoon at Wargrave C.C., the visitors were given the sort of platform every side hopes for. Steve Simmons and Aarav Tanguturi added 88 for the first wicket, Simmons the more expansive of the two as he struck five fours in a fifty from 54 balls, his first half-century of the summer and the sixth he has made for the club. Tanguturi's contribution was the quieter one, 30 patient runs that allowed his partner to play with freedom, and he departed lbw shortly after the stand was broken.

Shamitha Widanapathirana kept the scoreboard moving with 29 from 25 balls, adding 39 for the third wicket alongside James Kennealy, whose 23 came at a similar clip. At 143 for 2 with plenty of overs remaining, Sonning were in a commanding position.

The middle order then hit a brief squall, four wickets falling for 18 runs to leave the innings at 161 for 6. Achint Rajeev was the pick of the Wargrave attack, his five overs of controlled bowling bringing 3 for 30, while Sam Beale and George Cook each chipped in. What followed, though, ensured nothing was lost. Rintoul and captain Mark Lilley saw out the closing overs untroubled, Rintoul striking cleanly for his 25 not out, his best with the bat this season, and the pair took Sonning past 200 with 28 extras also helping the cause.

Anything approaching a defence of that total looked likely to be enough. What Sonning delivered was rather more emphatic. Shahid Imtiaz set the tone from one end with a spell of relentless accuracy, seven overs including three maidens for just 14 runs and three wickets, and Wargrave were never able to settle.

From 10 without loss, the home side lost four wickets for a single run. Rintoul, operating from the other end, found something close to unplayable, and once the collapse began there was no way back. Vin Grantham's 7 was the highest score of the innings and only one boundary was struck in the whole of it. The innings closed at 23 in the 13th over, Rintoul finishing with 7 for 9 from 6.1 overs, a haul that equals his best for the club and his fourth five-wicket return in Sonning colours.

That the two bowlers got through the innings between them says everything about the control Sonning exerted, and the catching behind the ball was sharp throughout, with five of the ten wickets taken in the field. Wargrave, to their credit, had bowled with discipline for long stretches earlier in the day and Rajeev in particular will have enjoyed his afternoon's work.

For Sonning, it was a day when the batting laid the foundation, the lower order steadied things when required, and two bowlers turned a strong position into a comprehensive one.