Buckingham Destroyed by Ogden

The hosts won the toss and asked Buckingham to bat first on Saturday. It looked a good toss to win as several balls kept low early on and batting against the new ball was tough. Dylan Van Der Westhuizen tried to be positive, and for a period was successful as his aggressive shots evaded fielders. He made 31 in an opening stand of 39 before Sean Solia found an edge through to keeper Alexander Thomas. Solia followed that up with the dismissal of Adam King in the same way. Jake Tarling came in at number 4 and looked to be positive, playing some powerfully lofted drives over the infield. Alongside Dan Blacktopp the pair saw off the opening bowlers and looked set to build on a solid start when Dan Ogden had Blacktopp adjudged lbw just before lunch, Buckingham going to the break at 86 for 3.

After the break Ogden changed the game. In 9.5 overs he claimed six further wickets for just two runs as Buckingham collapsed. Only Tarling (34) was able to offer some resistance as Ogden never went more than a single over without a wicket. Ogden finished with figures of 7 for 7 from 12.5 overs and Buckingham were all out for 119.

Buckingham needed wickets in reply and they struck in the third over as Chad Barrett had Max Harsham lbw for 1. That was their only success though. Fresh from his bowling heroics Ogden came in at number three and after playing himself in set about the bowling. He dominated the partnership with Raheem Sher (33 not out) to score an unbeaten 83 from just 59 balls as Harefield chased their target down in 22 overs before tea to further cement their lead at the top of the table.

Buckingham

D. Van Der Westhuizen c Thomas b Solia 31 (45)

A. King*+ c Thomas b Solia 10 (50)

D. Blacktopp lbw b Ogden 7 (32)

J. Tarling b Ogden 34 (63)

C Barrett lbw b Ogden 6 (26)

J. Tuffin c Solia b Ogden 0 (8)

J. Jackman c T. McLeod b Ogden 7 (22)

J. Purchase b Ogden 6 (26)

S. Sriyarathne lbw b Croft 1 (15)

R. Zaman c Croft b Ogden 1 (6)

J. Gear Not Out 0 (2)

Extras (8b, 1lb, 5w, 2nb) 16

Total 119 all out

48.5 overs

FoW: 39-1 (Van Der Westhuizen, 13.3); 44-2 (King, 17.5); 80-3 (Blacktopp, 26.4); 96-4 (Barrett, 32.3); 96-5 (Tuffin, 34.5); 107-6 (Jackman, 38.6); 112-7 (Tarling, 42.1); 117-8 (Sriyarathne, 45.5); 118-9 (Zaman, 46.5); 119-10 (Purchase, 48.5)

J. McLeod 12-4-33-0 (2w)

S. Solia 14-4-49-2 (3w)

W. Shepherd 4-1-8-0

D. Ogden 12.5-9-7-7

S. Croft 6-0-13-1

Harefield

M. Harsham lbw b Barrett 1 (10)

R. Sher Not Out 33 (64)

D. Ogden Not Out 83 (59)

Extras (1b, 2lb, 1w, 2nb) 6

Total 123-1

22 overs

FoW: 4-1 (Harsham, 2.5)

C. Barrett 4-1-16-1 (1nb)

J. Tuffin 4-0-16-0

J. Tarling 5-1-37-0 (1w)

J. Gear 7-1-38-0

S. Sriyarathne 2-0-13-0

Harefield win by 9 wickets.

Buckingham – 2 points

Harefield – 25 points