Weekend Round-Up June 8/9

Preston enjoyed some excellent (and some not so excellent cricket) over the weekend but we must lead this week with two of our younger members who really played superbly in their Herts League Match.

Oscar Welch hit his first (of we hope many) 50 of his senior career at the age of 13 for Preston 4th’s against Ickleford to secure victory. We think this is the youngest senior 50 in the club’s (certainly recent) history and a superb achievement for young Oscar. The innings showed great maturity and class with some destructive shots on the leg side. With only one chance offered, Oscar showed great maturity at an important stage of the innings and was instrumental in securing the win. He was also superbly supported by young Dillon Beattie in the same game against Ickleford who shone with the ball to take figures of 4/36 and importantly take some key wickets of the Ickleford line-up, including both openers Miranda and Howard. Preston 4’s elected to field and reduced Ickleford to 168/7 off 40 overs. In reply, Preston reached 171/3 in 37 overs to secure the 7 wicket win. Skipper Dan Phillips made an important 38 but it was young Oscar who dominated the Ickleford attack to make a powerful 58 not out. An excellent result for the team but brilliant to see these young players making such an impact. Keep it up Fellas.

Preston First X1 put in another commanding performance to beat St Albans by 137 runs in the Championship and saw both Skipper Jake George (97) and Vice Skipper Ed Wharton (93) fall just short of making centuries. Preston won the toss and took the first knock on what was a decent deck at Preston. Wharton put in another decent shift to fall just shy of yet another ton (c&b for 93). Skipper Jake George also fell shy of ton, trapped LBW for 97. Powick also supported by making a patient 65 before being stumped. A dominant batting display which saw the innings close out on 320/4. In reply, St Albans just couldn’t settle with only keeper Mude making any form of start (31 not out) but St Albans wickets fell all too regularly. Wickets were shared by the Preston attack with Murrell scooping 3/56, Wharton 2/12 and Luke Marsden taking 2/50. This was another superb result for Prston which should give the team great confidence at this stage of the season.

Preston Second X1 had an extraordinary game v Reed in Div 4B with the game resulting in an incredible Tied result seeing both sides finish on 237/7. Reed asked Preston to take bat first but soon saw Preston racing off with opener Chris Cole (63) punishing the all too regular half volleys. Due to a transport hiccup, young Jake Williamson was pushed into the no 3 slot which was an opportunity he grasped and went on to make an excellent 46 before falling LBW. The Preston innings then lost its way a little as Reed’s slower bowlers applied the brakes but 29 from Skipper Fleckney, an ever patient 36 not out from Rajani and Waters making 25 not out, the Preston innings closed on a competitive if perhaps under-par 237/7. Reed’s Robinson opened the Reed knock as if his house was on fire trying to clobber anything into the surrounding gardens, before being caught by Jake Williamson off the economic Waters (1/18 off 10). The dangerous Chris Jackson was getting underway in his usual style but he fell for 34 LBW from a straight one from Bhav Patel and Shagam also made a start (40) before also falling to the guile of Patel. It was, however, the other Reed opener Stuart Smith (96) who almost carried his bat as the overs and the runs began to squeeze-in, before being trapped LBW off Fleckney just short of a patient ton. Frantic fielding and frenetic batting made for an excruciating but exciting nail-biting finish with Reed needing only one run off one ball to seal victory but couldn’t quite make it. An excellent and entertaining roller-coaster of a game of cricket against old rivals Reed and a Tie was the fairest result.

Preston Third X1 fell short against Harpenden who won by 5 wickets. Asked to bat first, Preston made a competitive 200/3 off their 40 overs. Preston’s reliable Callum Blair making 55 and evergreen John Garnham pulled up from the Fourth X1 crashed a classy 96 before (again!) falling before making three figures. However, Harpenden’s opener Anuj Behl made 101 and supported by a decent 69 from Oliver Jones who created the foundations for the Harps win and saw the hosts get to 201/5 in the 39th over and take the 30 points.

Sunday saw the eagerly anticipated Voneus Village Cup Regional Final which saw Preston host (yet again) Reed CC (previous winners of the Village Cup). Preston saw many visitors come up and watch as this promised to be a showdown of showdowns with some excellent cricket. It was however not to be. The strong Preston X1 just never got started with Reed bowling well and saw their wickets fall all too regularly to see Reed CC claim a 9 wicket win in double quick time. Preston made a sub-standard 58 all out with no-one troubling the scorer for very long. Reed’s Jack Tidey taking 4/17 off 8 overs and Fynn taking 3/8 off 7 overs. Reed’s Will Heslam (30) and Ward (20) took to the chase with ease inside of 11 overs. A disappointing end to Preston’s run after some great games in the early rounds. Best of luck to Reed in the next rounds of this great competition.

The Preston Juniors have also recorded some excellent games against Pirton and Letchworth this week and there will be more to come this week should the weather decide to behave itself. The Preston Womens’ X1 will also be having their inaugural match against Ickwell this coming week and we very much look forward to that. More details next week.