Chilterns League round-up: Braywood chase down Ballinger to reignite Championship hopes

Holyport’s Adrian Mumtaz

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Braywood reignited their title challenge in the Chilterns League Championship, chasing down Ballinger Waggoners for a four-wicket victory at the Turnbull Cricket Club.

After losing the toss they bowled the Waggoners out for just 107 in 32 overs and chased it down, a little haphazardly, for the loss of six wickets in 17.3 overs.

The result, their fourth win from six this season, sees them in fourth place, 62 points behind leaders Ley Hill who have played a game more.

With Prijith Vijayan (3-15) and Mohammed Ansar (3-28) both taking three wickets, Waggoners never looked comfortable at the crease in overcast conditions. Richard O’Kelly made 49 but support was thin on the ground.

In reply, Braywood also stuttered badly, falling to 19-2 and then 54-4 before easing to their target thanks to some free-scoring play from Yaser Ahmed (39) and Ansar (20no).

In the Premiership, Littlewick Green conceded some of their early season momentum as they failed to put out a team against struggling Hurley.

It enabled Pinkneys Green to leap above them to third after they defeated Denham by five wickets with an impressive all-round display.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Denham were restricted to 157 all out, having initially raced out of the blocks to 53-1. Chris Lupton (29), Inderjeet Gahunia (25) and Arun Singh (30) all scored fluently before Green’s bowlers got to grips with their visitors.

The middle and lower order added precious few additional runs with Saleem Ahmed taking 3-40 to back up the efforts of Damian Atherton (2-44) and Teginder Kaleka (2-12).

Pinkney’s response with the bat was far from perfect, with five wickets going down, but Vinay Reddy managed a half century 54 before falling to Manpreet Singh (4-50). Jack Stemp held his nerve for 27 from 42 balls while Jagsit Dhillon also showed application at the crease to score an unbeaten 34.

Holyport and Little Marlow are both within touching distance of the top in Chilterns League Division 1 despite their fluctuating results this weekend.

Holyport ran out of steam in their clash with Harspden on Saturday, losing by just 12 runs in a match they'll feel they probably should have won.

Having won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions, they limited Harpsden to 190-8 from 47 overs, with Edward Birkett (40) and Will Stevens (60) dropping anchor to put on the lion's share of the visitors’ runs. Adrian Mumtaz finished with Port’s best bowling figures, taking 4-41.

In reply, Port’s batsmen were very much hit or miss, with openers Mumtaz (5) and Ghulum Mirza (0) getting the side off to a shaky start.

Razwan Hanif managed an excellent 69no and, while there was support for him from Obaid Wajid (20), Aysin Khan (42) and final batsmen Tamoor Hussain (17), the rest of the line-up contributed just six runs between them. With wickets falling like flies, it was left to Hanif and Hussain to try and edge the hosts over the line, but unfortunately, they were bowled out just 12 runs short.

Little Marlow are now nestling just one point behind them in fourth after Saturday’s eight-wicket win over Pinkneys Green 2nds.

Green managed 220-6 from 47 overs after electing to bat, but Little Marlow chased it down with consummate ease, dropping just two wickets on the way as they chalked up 223-2 in the 40th over.

Pinkneys began well with the bat, as openers Sridhar Balachandar (26) and Christopher Hayes (48) put on a stand of 71 for the first wicket. Tanveer Butt then carried them forward with 61 from 42 balls and Sam Griffith added 40, but the team scored slowly and managed only 220 before their 47 overs were up.

Little Marlow went about their business with a lot less fuss. Anwar Mahmood diligently hit 87no from 126 balls, while Tahir Rashid upped the pace with an excellent 101 which included 12 fours and one six. Between them they put on a match-winning stand of 192 on a day when, in general, the ball was beating the bat in most matches.