Won
| Batsmen | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Richards | Out | 17 | ||||
| Gary Phillips | Out | 13 | ||||
| Richard Anderson | Out | 34 | ||||
| Richard Harris | Out | 88 | ||||
| Scott Stevens | Out | 0 | ||||
| Wade Johnston | Not Out | 19 | ||||
| Harvey Grout | Not Out | 16 | ||||
| Andy Sumner | DNB | |||||
| Phil Wilding | DNB | |||||
| Abbas Ghulam | DNB | |||||
| Phil Collier | DNB | |||||
| Extras | ||||||
| Bowling | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Anderson | 4.0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 5.50 | |
| Wade Johnston | 11.0 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 4.73 | |
| Harvey Grout | 7.0 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 6.57 | |
| Abbas Ghulam | 23.0 | 4 | 54 | 3 | 2.35 | |
| Extras | ||||||
| Fielder | Catches | Run Outs | Stumpings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Sumner | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sonning travelled to old rivals Purley on a wet, miserable day hoping for a win that would keep the pressure on at the top of the league. With the outfield being very wet and damp patches on the wicket, the start was delayed and the game reduced to 90 overs. Purley were put into bat and immediately found it difficult to get the ball away with the accuracy of Abbas and the pace of Johnston. With another rain delay, and further reduction in the match to 86 overs, the slow run rate was looking good for Sonning. However Patrick Allen started to find his timing and rapidly moved through the gears as wickets fell at the other end. He is one of the best batsmen in the league and despite being dropped 3 times, well deserved the century he achieved close to the end of the innings. Special mention must go to Abbas who bowled unchanged for 23 overs, cleverly reducing his pace to bowl very accurately to take 3 for 54 including a very impressive stumping from Andy Sumner.
The Sonning innings started well with Richards and Philips looking good. However both were out in quick succession and at 30 for 2 Sonning looked in trouble. This brought together two seasoned campaigners in Richard Anderson and JJ Harris, who initially found it tough against the excellent Caleb Maycock and Allen Schofield who was finding a lot of movement. Fortunately for them, Maycock tweaked a muscle, and with Schofield taking himself out of the attack the lack of back up bowling was exposed. Anderson nudged the ball around with his classical technique, while Harris began to bludgeon the ball to all parts as they accumulated an impressive 119 run partnership before Anderson was controversially stumped off a shoulder high full toss for 34. Harris started to tire after a week heavy wine drinking in France and after Stevens was dismissed for 0, he mistimed a pull to be caught on the midwicket boundary for 88, yet again missing out on his elusive first ever century. This brought together Johnston and Grout who started cautiously and then smashed it for a 35 run partnership, with Grout winning the game with a huge 6.
This was a really good performance that put Sonning back into 2nd position in the league and leaves the promotion that they desire in their own hands.
JJ Harris
