3rd XI v Kidmore End 3rd XI

Dsouza's Debut Fifty the Highlight at Crowmarsh Gifford

A first appearance in Sonning colours could hardly have gone much better for Prakash Dsouza, whose composed 53 held the visitors' reply together at Crowmarsh Gifford, though Kidmore End's 3rd XI eventually had enough runs in the bank to take the Division 9A points by 36.

Mark Lilley won the toss and invited the home side to bat, and for long stretches the decision looked an inspired one. Mehar Ali Kaleem was the pick of the attack, threading together ten overs of high-class control that included three maidens and cost just 18 runs, three of the wickets falling his way. Shahid Imtiaz was equally hard to get away across his full allocation, finishing with three of his own, while Michael Longridge went through ten overs without conceding a boundary-strewn spell of any kind, three of them maidens.

Kidmore End were kept honest throughout. Callum Driscoll made 14 at the top, George Batty was run out for four and Will Nassau-Lake fell for six, leaving Jay Rathore to provide the innings with its first substantial contribution. His 36 steadied things in the middle order before he was caught, and at 40 overs the home total of 192 for nine owed a good deal to captain Nishanth Rajmohan, who came in at number seven and made a fine 51 before being bowled. Mahiman Rathore's unbeaten 25 from the lower order added valuable late runs.

Sonning's reply began with purpose. Wazir Khan and Charles Astwood put on 29 for the first wicket, both playing within themselves against a disciplined new-ball pair in Rory Elliott and Ally Stewart, whose ten overs for 23 were as tight as anything seen all afternoon. Khan was leg before for 12 and Astwood bowled for 15, but by then the platform was in place.

That brought Dsouza together with the middle order, and the debutant proceeded to anchor everything that followed. He shared 31 with Shamitha Widanapathirana, then 34 with Mohamad Shahbaz, whose brisk 12 was full of intent, and another 34 with Mehar Ali Kaleem, who took the attack on for 16. Dsouza's own innings, 53 from 82 balls with eight fours, was a model of judgement for a player still learning his new surroundings, and a maiden half-century for the club is a fine way to introduce yourself.

The chase turned on a short, sharp passage after Dsouza's dismissal, Sonning losing four wickets for nine runs to slip from 135 for four to 144 for eight, with Elliott and Jay Rathore each claiming three in the innings. William Hibberdine, though, refused to be hurried, and his unbeaten 10 alongside Shahid Imtiaz saw the visitors safely through to the end of the 40 overs on 156 for nine.

Thirty-four runs in extras conceded in the first innings and 26 in the second told their own story about how fine the margins were, and Sonning will take plenty from a performance in which four bowlers went the distance and a new man made an immediate mark. Kidmore End deserve credit for the way their captain led from the middle order, but on another day the disciplined bowling that restricted them for so long would have been enough.