Michael Wells helped Buckingham Town secure an excellent win over Ealing – reports by Andrew Holland.
ECB National Knock Out
Buckingham hosted Ealing in round 1 of the ECB National Knock Out on a wet afternoon on Sunday. The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl first after a delayed start reduced the game to 38 overs a side.
It was a quick start for Buckingham as they scored 19 from the first over, with Harvey Eltham making a quick 23 from 19 balls. Alex Fell was brought into the attack and in his second over trapped Eltham lbw with the score on 33. Michael Wells (Pictured) and Ewan Cox looked relatively untroubled against the Ealing bowling, moving the score on to 52 for 1 after nine overs when the first rain break arrived.
After a break of nearly two hours, including an early tea, the game resumed with the match reduced to 26 overs a side. Wells and Cox picked up where they left off, rotating the strike and continuing to look comfortable when the rain returned to force the players off with the score 82 for 1 from thirteen overs.
The game resumed at 5:45 in what was now a 15 over game, and Buckingham scored twenty-two runs from their final two overs as Cox was dismissed from the final for 27, Wells finishing 43 not out as the innings closed on 104 for 2.
Duckworth Lewis set Ealing a target of 138 from their 15 overs, and they started badly as Andy Laws was bowled by Ewan Cox first ball. Fellow opener Oliver Wilkin attacked from the start, taking on the Buckingham bowlers six boundaries in his first eight balls. Cox claimed a second wicket before Lahiru Gamage came into the attack and claimed the big wicket of Wilkin for 34 from just 13 balls. In his next over Gamage picked up a second to reduce Ealing to 62 for 4. Despite the wickets Ealing remained ahead of Duckworth Lewis though, with Scott Ensom and Robert Connelly building a partnership with regular boundaries. They took the score past 100, and with 26 required from the final three overs the game was evenly poised. Hashan Ramanadanpulle broke the stand though as he had Connelly caught on the boundary for 24 and despite Ensom finishing 49 not out (41 balls) Ramanadanpulle, Sikandar Rizwan and Gamage limited them to only 16 runs from the final three overs to a claim a nine-run victory.
Buckingham will travel to the winner of Sunbury and Shepherds Bush in the next round on 29th May.
Buckingham
H. Eltham lbw b Fell 23 (19)
M. Wells Not Out 43 (36)
E. Cox c Wilkin b Parry 27 (43)
Extras (1lb, 9w) 10
Total 104-2
15 overs
FoW: 33-1 (Eltham, 4.3); 104-2 (Cox, 14.6)
S. Ensom 3-0-34-0 (4w)
M. Russell 4-0-24-0
A. Fell 4-2-8-1
B. Gamble 1-0-8-0
L. Parry 2-0-17-1
K. Martin 1-0-12-0
Ealing
A. Laws b Cox 0 (1)
O. Wilkin c Wells b Gamage 34 (13)
J. O’Sullivan c Gamage b Cox 10 (8)
S. Ensom Not Out 49 (41)
T. Shaw c Eltham b Gamage 4 (7)
R. Connelly+ c Eltham b Ramanadanpulle 24 (16)
M. Russell Not Out 4 (4)
Extras (3lb) 3
Total 128-5
15 overs
E. Cox 2-0-27-2
H. Eltham 3-0-25-0
L. Gamage 3-0-14-2
A. Johnson 2-0-24-0
H. Ramanadanpulle 3-0-21-1
S. Rizwan 2-0-14-0
FoW: 0-1 (Laws, 0.1); 28-2 (O’Sullivan, 2.2); 48-3 (Wilkin, 4.3); 62-4 (Shaw, 6.5); 115-5 (Connelly, 12.4)
Buckingham win by 9 runs (D/L).
Home Counties Premier League, Division 1
Buckingham travelled to Banbury on Saturday, with the hosts winning the toss and electing to bat first.
Lloyd Sabin and Richard Simpson made a quick start, aided by 20 extras in the first seven overs. The pair had put on 49 when Lahiru Gamage removed Simpson for 19. The first wicket slowed the run rate as change bowlers George Humphries and Andy Marston bowled accurately. Buckingham didn’t help themselves in the field with several dropped catches, but when Marston claimed two wickets in three overs Banbury were 98 for 3 just before drinks. Ollie Clarke joined Sabin, and they began to rebuild the innings. Sabin brought up a half-century from 111 balls, after which he began to accelerate. Clarke was also beginning to score fluently, bringing up his own half-century from 62 balls as they put on 147 for the fourth wicket. With the innings drawing to a close the scoring rate climbed, with Clarke falling to Ewan Cox in the last over for 73 followed by Sabin holing out on the boundary just short of his century for 98 as the innings closed on 247 for 5.
Buckingham made a brisk start to their chase, Harvey Eltham and Michael Wells putting on an opening stand of 46 at a run a ball. The partnership was broken when Eltham was run out for 24 followed by Wells falling in the next over for 18. Ollie Wright chipped in with the wicket of Hashan Ramanadanpulle before Cox and skipper Leigh Tomlinson (18) steadied the innings. Approaching the half-way point of the innings Buckingham were keeping pace with Banbury’s comparative score when Joe Thomas tempted Cox into an uppish drive and he was caught for 27. 100 for 4 quickly became 106 for 8 in the space of seven overs as the chase fell apart. Gamage (39) and Humphries (14) offered some respectability to the innings, putting on the highest partnership of the innings of 54, but the end came quickly as Waqas Hussain dismissed Humphries before Wright returned to remove Gamage as Buckingham were all out for 166 to lose by 81 runs.
Banbury
L. Sabin* c Ramanadanpulle b Cox 98 (162)
R. Simpson c Price b Gamage 19 (23)
K. Coyne st Tomlinson b Marston 9 (22)
W. Hussain c Ramanadanpulle b Marston 4 (15)
O. Clarke c Gamage b Cox 73 (78)
J. White Not Out 1 (1)
C. Hill Not Out 0 (2)
Extras (10b, 8lb, 19w, 6nb) 43
Total 247-5
50 overs
L. Gamage 9-2-24-1 (1nb, 2w)
A. Qader 3-0-27-0 (2nb, 4w)
G. Humphries 9-2-28-0 (1w)
E. Cox 5-0-35-2 (1w)
A. Marston 10-0-40-2
H. Eltham 10-0-46-0 (2w)
H. Ramanadanpulle 4-0-29-0
FoW: 49-1 (Simpson, 8.2); 92-2 (Coyne, 18.1); 98-3 (Hussain, 22.6); 245-4 (Clarke, 49.1); 246-5 (Sabin, 49.4)
Buckingham
H. Eltham Run Out (Coyne) 24 (30)
M. Wells c Wright b Coyne 18 (20)
E. Cox c Clarke b Thomas 27 (43)
H. Ramanadanpulle c& b Wright 8 (27)
L. Tomlinson*+ lbw b Eaton 18 (42)
A. Qader Run Out (Clarke) 0 (15)
C. Price lbw b Thomas 1 (3)
J. Clark c Rana b Thomas 0 (1)
L. Gamage c Sabin b Wright 39 (55)
G. Humphries c Rana b Hussain 14 (31)
A. Marston Not Out 0 (6)
Extras (2b, 1lb, 8w, 6nb) 17
Total 166 all out
44.2 overs
FoW: 46-1 (Eltham, 7.4); 47-2 (Wells, 8.2); 72-3 (Ramanadanpulle, 15.1); 100-4 (Cox, 23.5); 102-5 (Qader, 25.6); 106-6 (Price, 27.5); 106-7 (Clark, 27.6); 106-8 (Tomlinson, 30.2); 160-9 (Humphries, 41.3); 166-10 (Gamage, 44.2)
C. Hill 3-0-25-0 (2w)
O. Clarke 10-1-37-0 (1w)
K. Coyne 3-1-19-1 (3w)
O. Wright 5.2-0-8-2
J. Thomas 10-2-23-3 (1nb)
D. Eaton 9-1-20-1 (1w)
W. Hussain 4-0-31-2 (2nb)
Banbury win by 81 runs.
Points:
Buckingham – 5 points
Banbury – 20 points
Abbot Fire Buckingham Man of the Match – Lahiru Gamage
