Thame's survival chances dented by defeat to rivals Aston Rowant

Thame elected to bat on a good pitch first and battled well to reach lunch at 90-5 in the face of consistent bowling.

After lunch, Thame never really kicked on as they would have liked and lost wickets regularly, only Matt Macdonald (57no) and Hassam Mushtaq (30) made significant contributions and enabled Thame to reach 162 all out in the 58th over, which was to prove well below par.

In reply, Sam Lachlan got Thame a couple of early wickets but Josh Smith, the Aston Rowant captain, scored an unbeaten half-century to steer the visitors past the target for the loss of three wickets.

With four games to go, starting at Buckingham this Saturday 13, Thame need to win two to give themselves a good chance of survival.

Thame IIs visited Leighton Buzzard knowing that they had to avenge their only defeat so far this season back in June.

After Thame had won the toss and asked the home side to bat on a grassy pitch, the game plan was working well as Leighton Buzzard lost both openers for just two runs.

The prospect of a quick Thame win then started to recede as Raine and Krynauw built a 99-run partnership.

One of the beauties of cricket, however, is that matches can change so quickly and two wickets in one over from Ali Thomas (15-3-35-4) swung the game back to Thame.

With support from Chris Penny (17-3-57-3), plus three catches by James Nielsen, the hosts were restricted to 177-9 from 53 overs, which looked a par score on a variable pitch.

In reply, Thame had to endure lively spells from the opening bowlers but, having moved slowly to 25 in 10 overs, they started to score freely.

With James Nielsen (92no) batting imperiously, supported by Andy Jinman (38), they put on 142 for the first wicket before Matt Furness (22no) finished the job with Thame reaching 181-1 from 38.4 overs.

This Sunday they entertain Chearsley at Church Meadow, knowing they must continue to win to maintain their lead at the top of Division Five.

Thame IIIs travelled to bottom side Dinton IIIs looking to keep up with Buckingham at the top of the league.

Thame won the toss and chose to bat, with Ian Chappell leading from the front again with 45, ably backed up by Guy Holmes (43) and Christian Warwick (38).

Despite several wickets falling at the end, Thame reached a strong total of 212-5 from their 45 overs.

Dinton never looked like overtaking Thame’s score but started resolutely before Pete Tervet got the opening wicket.

Thame continued to be frustrated by dogged batting and dropped catches, until Matt Anderson’s fine spell of 3-19 and Danny Thompson’s 2-6 gave Thame hope of a win.

Guy Holmes 2-4 put Dinton on the brink, but their youngsters held on well for a draw. Thame took 20 points and visit Chearsley IIs on Saturday.