Singh hits half century as Stoke Green win bottom of the table clash with Wargrave

Stoke Green’s Karanpreet Singh

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Stoke Green won Saturday’s crucial bottom of the table clash with Wargrave to move to within three points of their rivals at the bottom of Home Counties League Division 1.

Both sides have struggled for form or any consistency this season, but it was Green who were starting to look a little cast adrift after their loss to Oxford Downs last weekend was compounded by Wargrave’s two wicket win over Harefield.

Green would have been desperate for a victory against their visitors, and they managed to put together a solid all-round display to claim it by 39-runs.

The result lifts Gagan Singh’s side back to within touching distance of safety with the bottom side now just 15 points behind Great Brickhill in eighth and just under half the season to play.

Having been put into bat by their visitors they managed to cobble together a decent and defendable total of 178-all out from their 50.1 overs.

Their openers Anthathi and Singh both fell for ducks to leave them on 12-2, however, Sharma (43) and Karanpreet Singh (51) managed to avert a crisis and helped the hosts beyond the 100 mark and towards their modest, but defendable, total.

Mogakane finished with Wargrave’s best bowling figures, taking 4-70.

He also featured prominently in Wargrave’s reply, hitting 54 from 53 balls, but too many of his teammates couldn’t hang around long enough to really threaten Green’s total. And with Passikku Madusanka (4-39) ramping up the pressure, their batting became increasingly desperate.

From 113-5, Wargrave lost their last five wickets for just 26 runs - and their last four batsmen for just seven runs - with the chase imploding spectacularly. They finished on 139-all-out in 37.4 overs.

Stoke Green are back at home on Saturday against leaders High Wycombe while Wargrave host seventh placed Banbury.

In Division 2, Slough are doing their best to hold onto the coattails of leaders Wokingham as they defeated Falkland by 70 runs to move clear in second.

Nadeem Syed’s side managed 260-8 declared from 47 overs, thanks in part to an excellent knock of 84 from overseas player Vishnu Solanki. In reply, hosts Falkland were bowled out for 190 in 42.2 overs, despite the best efforts of Elliot Seddon who smashed 100 before falling to Syed, who enjoyed a profitable day with the ball, taking 5-48.

Slough enjoyed a decent day at the crease with the bat, with most of their order contributing a decent haul of runs. Sahaan Sahaan hit 34 while they scored well down the order with Yash Lakhani adding an unbeaten 27 and Umair Mushtaq making 26.

Bobby Brown had a decent day with the ball, taking 3-35, but he couldn’t match Syed and the rest of the Slough bowling attack, who got to grips with all of Falkland’s batsmen barring Seddon, who was the last to fall having just reached his century.

Slough currently look the best bet to stop Wokingham from winning the title this season, however, the leaders show no signs of falling out of form. On Saturday, they defeated Gerrards Cross by 18 runs away from home and hold a 26-point lead over Syed’s side at the top. Wokingham go to Falkland on Saturday while Slough visit Datchet looking to do the double over Joe Thomas’ side.

Third placed Datchet had looked like being the most consistent threat to Wokingham until Saturday’s draw with Horspath.

Having elected to field, they saw their hosts put on a huge score of 285-6 from their 46 overs.

Sravan Konidena top scored with 74 but there were also healthy contributions from opener Dominic O'Connor (55) and Derval Green (65) batting at six.

Yousef Majid took four wickets, but for an expensive 100 runs, and at the changeover, Datchet’s hopes of victory appeared to be in the balance at best.

The bowling of Amin (3-20) and Asad Rafiq (2-52) hardly helped them in their run chase, and when Steven Naylor fell for 15 with their score on 66-5 the decision was made to try and bat out their overs rather than chase victory.

Samand Khan (38) and Joseph Thomas (50) rescued the situation, playing with great application to ensure the visitors avoided defeat even if they could only manage 138-5 from 39 overs.

The result leaves Datchet 34 points behind the leaders ahead of Slough’s visit to the Wally Gage Memorial Ground this Saturday.