Scorecard

White Waltham v Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI on Sun 24 Jul 2022 at 2pm
Cookham Dean Cricket Club Won 89 runs

Match report Cookham Friendly XI returned to action on Sunday having had 2 full weeks to reflect on their humbling defeat to local rivals Odney. Cookham sported an XI made of several ‘characters’ as they faced White Waltham away. White Waltham forfeited the toss and allowed Cookham to bat first, in exchange for Cookham taking the old ball in the second innings (something Cookham’s side were unnecessarily furious with Captain Isaac Richardson for agreeing to).

Cookham opened up with Jake Richardson and youngster Vikhyat (Bobby) Vatnala. Liam Haines, making his first appearance since 2020, agreed to umpire first stint but only if he could do it topless. Despite the distraction, the two openers got off to a fast start, putting on 97 for the first wicket in 17 overs before Vatnala fell for an accomplished looking 21. Richardson then went through the gears, to harvest a Sunday hundred and reluctantly retire at the half way point.

The second half of Cookham’s innings was made up on lots of batters getting in and getting out, after making starts. Mettler and Milligan both got out when pushing for quick runs. Milligan blaming his dismal on his captain after being told to treat it like a T20. Aariz Merchant, making his Sunday debut looked tidy for his 18 before being run out. Liam Haines, utilising his 5 ton ‘Liamited Edition’ Wycombe Wanders coloured bat fell cheaply for 5, complaining that he couldn’t be bothered once he got out there. Sashank Anantha and Greg Davis came together and started putting together a quick partnership in the latter overs, with Davis in particular dispatching the bowlers to all parts. Following Sashank’s dismissal for 12, Isaac Richardson came and went cheaply, leaving Peter Manchester and the increasingly aggressive Davis to push Cookham up to a more than competitive 266 for 7, with Davis not out on 49 (whilst passionately claiming there had been a miscount and he had in fact reached his 50). The scorer when questioned said his scoring wasn’t up to his usual standard as he had to go for a walk mid innings due to ‘ass cramp’.

In response White Waltham never really looked like chasing the total. Frazer Finlan returned to open the bowling following his US tour, and found himself in the unusual position of being a non-batting 12th man, due to unprecedented Sunday availability (and weak captaincy from Richardson not having the stomach to drop someone). Finlan and Sashank both opened the bowling tidily and kept running scoring to a minimum, but the first wicket was hard to come by following dropped catches in the slips by Jake Richardson and Peter Manchester. Sashank finally got the breakthrough, clean bowling Haywood with the score on 25. First change bowler Manchester soon got in the act and provided a moment of redemption for himself and fielder Jake Richardson, by taking a wicket caught at first slip. Even at this early stage, with White Waltham on 44 for 2 after 14, it was clear the chase wasn’t on.

Khan (103*) and the impressive youngster Luka (43) put together a long partnership to frustrate the Cookham attack, but the scoring rate never got progressed much beyond 4 an over. Youngsters Vatnala and Merchant both bowled accurately, but without much reward. Gerry Spencer bowled a lively 5 over spell, which was generally fairly consistent, only blighted by the odd beamer at the 13-year-old batsman! Returning fans favourite Liam Haines finally broke the partnership, before going on to to pick a second wicket to finish with 2 for 29. Having moaned the whole innings about his delicate injury sustained yesterday, his lack of bowling time and his hard life swanning off to Ayia Napa and Vietnam, the self-titled James ‘Big Show’ Milligan bowled a very underwhelming last over, to leave the hosts with a final total of 177 for 4 from their 40 overs.

Next week Cookham travel to Wooburn Narkovians, in what promises to be another high scoring encounter.

Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 2w 5b  
for 7 wickets
9
266
        
Jake Richardson Retired Not Out  106 16 5 1
Vikhyat Vatnala ct Pant 21 3
Rob Mettler b Henderson 18 2 1
Aariz Merchant Run out  18 2
James Milligan ct Henderson 18 3
Liam Haines b Henderson 5 1
Sashank Sahasranamamula ct Mohindru 12 2
Greg Davis Not Out  49 4 5 1
Isaac Richardson ct Mohindru 3
Peter Manchester Not Out  6 1
Gerry Spencer  

White Waltham Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
T Joshi6.002800.004.67
L Scarbourgh5.013100.006.20
Anu3.002400.008.00
S Pant5.0024124.004.80
S Dewan2.002400.0012.00
Luka7.013500.005.00
J Henderson8.0053317.676.63
D Haywood2.001400.007.00
R Mohindru3.0027213.509.00

White Waltham Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
9nb 6w 4b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
20
177 (40.0 overs)
     
A Khan Not Out  103
D Haywood b Sashank 5
A Mudalidge ct Richardson b Manchester 8
Luka ct Davis b Haines 43
R Moindru ct Mettler b Haines 3
S Pant Not Out  1
   
   
   
   
   

Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A.N. Other6.012400.004.00
Sashank Sahasranamamula5.0111111.002.20
Peter Manchester6.0025125.004.17
Vikhyat Vatnala5.002100.004.20
Aariz Merchant4.003300.008.25
Gerry Spencer5.002100.004.20
Liam Haines5.0029214.505.80
Greg Davis3.001600.005.33
James Milligan1.00300.003.00