Christie blows Dinton away as Buckingham bounce back

Dinton won the toss on Saturday and opted to bowl first on a hot but cloudy day, and opening bowler Oliver Reading struck in his first over as he got a ball to lift on Matt Thatcher to be caught in the slips. Araash Raheja looked to score quickly, hitting three boundaries in his 15 before he was dismissed by Qadeer Hussain, guiding a ball into the gully. Yash Deswal and Dan Blacktopp looked to build a platform after the early wickets, putting on a partnership of 31 and seeing off the Dinton seam bowlers.

Tom Maciejewski broke the stand however when he trapped Deswal lbw. Skipper Adam King hit two early boundaries before pulling a short ball from Aizaz Ahmed straight to midwicket.

Joe Clark and Kyle Christie both fell for ducks as the spinners took another wicket apiece as the visitors slipped to 90 for 6. Not for the first time this season Blacktopp was proving to be the best of the Buckingham batters, but he became Ahmed’s third victim when he was bowled for 42.

Nani Sure and Syed Hussain both came and went quickly leaving Buckingham 119 for 9 with still more than 20 overs to bat.Saqib Hussain and James Gear offered some late resistance though to frustrate the Dinton bowlers. They batted for over 10 overs to add a crucial 25 runs and lift the score to 144 before Shahbaz Alam bowled Gear to finish the innings.

Buckingham needed early wickets in reply and Hussain made the perfect start when he took Bhavan Jeyanathan’s edge second ball and Raheja took an excellent catch in the slips. Gear opened the bowling at the other end and Ahmed tried to take the initiative as he hit him for four early boundaries. After three overs he was replaced by Christie and with his second delivery Ahmed edged to King behind the stumps for 22.

Alam came in at number 4 and looked to counter attack. He hit 15 off Christie’s second over and scored 27 from 21 balls as the score raced past 50. Gear returned at the other end and despite his first two balls going for four he then trapped Alam lbw with his third leaving Dinton 52 for 3. From that point the momentum was all with Buckingham.Hussain Zubair had opened the batting and done little more than survive, but was dismissed by Christie in the next over for just a single to another brilliant Raheja catch.

Christie then trapped Jackson Lloyd lbw in the same over before bowling Maciejewski first ball in his next over. Dinton skipper Mark Ludlow tried to keep the scoreboard moving but at the other end Christie completed his five wicket hall courtesy of Raheja’s third catch.

His sixth followed sooner after before Hussin returned to the attack to leave Dinton 9 down.Ludlow top scored with 28, but holed out trying the big shot off Christie as Dinton were bowled out for 93.Christie finished with 7 for 32.

Buckingham

M. Thatcher c Ahmed b Reading 4 (7)

A. Raheja c Ahmed b Hussain 15 (20)

Y. Deswal lbw b Maciejewski 15 (44)

D. Blacktopp b Ahmed 42 (49)

A. King*+ c Ludlow b Ahmed 11 (19)

J. Clark c Alam b Maciejewski 0 (10)

K. Christie lbw b Ahmed 0 (2)

B. Sure c Ludlow b Maciejewski 11 (19)

H. Syed b Ahmed 6 (12)

S. Hussain Not Out 10 (35)

J. Gear b Alam 13 (38)

Extras (8b, 3lb, 1w, 5nb) 17

Total 144 all out

41.4 overs

FoW: 5-1 (Thatcher, 1.5); 31-2 (Raheja, 7.3); 62-3 (Deswal, 14.4); 82-4 (King, 19.5); 89-5 (Clark, 22.6); 90-6 (Christie, 23.4); 103-7 (Blacktopp 27.1); 109-8 (Sure, 28.3); 119-9 (Syed, 31.1); 144-10 (Gear, 41.4)

Z. Ali 5-0-21-0 (2nb)

O. Reading 4-0-20-1 (3nb)

Q. Hussain 3.3-2-1-1

T. Maciejewski 15-4-47-3

S. Alam 1.1-0-5-1

A. Ahmed 10-1-33-4 (1w)

U. Manawar 3-1-6-0

Dinton

B. Jeyanathan c Raheja b Hussain 0 (2)

H. Zubair c Raheja b Christie 1 (26)

A. Ahmed c King b Christie 22 (28)

S. Alam lbw b Gear 27 (21)

M. Ludlow* c Sure b Christie 28 (38)

J. Lloyd+ lbw b Christie 0 (4)

T. Maciejewski b Christie 0 (1)

Q. Hussain c Raheja b Christie 2 (13)

Z. Ali c Clark b Christie 2 (3)

U. Manawar c Blacktopp b Hussain 2 (14)

O. Reading Not Out 0 (1)

Extras (4b, 1lb, 4w) 9

Total 93 all out

25.1 overs

FoW: 1-1 (Jeyanathan, 0.2); 25-2 (Ahmed, 7.2); 52-3 (Alam, 12.3); 56-4 (Zubair, 13.2); 56-5 (Lloyd, 13.6); 64-6 (Maciejewski, 15.1); 74-7 (Hussin, 19.1); 76-8 (Ali, 19.4); 93-9 (Manawar, 24.5); 93-10 (Ludlow, 25.1)

S. Hussain 7-3-10-2 (2w)

J. Gear 5-0-38-1

K. Christie 9.1-2-32-7 (1w)

B. Sure 4-2-8-0 (1w)

Buckingham win by 51 runs.

Buckingham – 25 points

Dinton – 7 points