Davies ton leads 1s to victory

Farnham 1st XI welcomed Worcester Park on Saturday, an important game for the visitors, a win would keep their chances of survival in division 2 alive. Winning the toss, Farnham Captain Grimes decided to bowl first and, with his quickest bowler, Dom Lloyd, completing his Duke of Edinburgh and thus unavailable, looked to young Luke Griffiths to open the bowling alongside the dependable Rob Goldsworthy. Openers Joe Hill and Troy McKenzie weathered the initial barrage well, however with the score on 17, Griffiths had the latter caught at first slip by Hicks for 10. Number 3 Nathan Andrews then found his stumps disturbed by Griffiths without troubling the scorers to leave the visitors in a small crisis. Galloway De Groot joined his captain and the pair started to build a good partnership using both touch and power to ensure the run rate stayed healthy. Both passed 50 when the introduction of the wiley Ciaran Rooney saw De Groot well caught and bowled for 53, the platform was set at 134 for 3. However with athletic pair of Berry and Rooney bowling well in tandem, the run rate was reigned in. Captain Joe Hill was the next of Rooney’s victims, plumb LBW for 68 and when Berry saw off Was Sagar after a breezy 21 from 16, Worcester Park found themselves 167-5. Rooney continued to turn his off spinning screw and earned himself two more wickets and bowled through to register majestic figures of 4 for 35 from his allotted 10 overs. With the score 197 for 7, Berry continued with the returning Griffiths and the pair bowled well to close out the innings, both registering a further wicket apiece and when Raj was run out by Berry with 3 balls remaining, Worcester Park were all out for 226. A competitive score, however not untenable with the surprise track suited for batting prepared by Rob Dale. Rooney’s 4 wickets the highlight backed up well by Berry and Griffiths. Goldsworthy also bowled with his usual control conceding only 19 runs from his 10 overs. Joe Hill top scoring with 68.

Nathan Thorpe and Guy Hicks were tasked with opening the batting for the hosts but with Hicks falling early for 4, it was down to Toby Davies and Thorpe to build an early partnership. The pair played it perfectly, keeping the run rate in check by punishing the bad balls rotating the strike from the good ones. 96 runs were added to the total when Thorpe was caught behind from the left arm spin of Aiden Bell for 46 bringing Farnham’s premier all rounder Jim Berry to crease to join Davies. The good batting continued and even with the continuous bowling changes the pair were undeterred and after passing 50, Davies was eyeing up his maiden league ton for Farnham. With the required runs ticking down at a canter, Davies registered his magnificent hundred with a swept four and after a few boundaries from both batters the game was won. Davies finishing 114 from 131 and Berry 47 from 67. A clinical display from Farnham’s batters. Davies ton was one of the best in recent memory and deservedly so will see his name on the honours board next season. All is not lost for Worcester Park however, a good win on Saturday and results going their way could result in them staying in division 2 next season.