Bessborough 279-4

Fleet 174-9

Bessborough, without teenagers Ben Murray and Nick Wale on county duty, were pleased to welcome the return of Pankash Patel for Saturday's trip to Fleet in the Thames Valley League.

But it was Rupert Thacker (143) and Manaj Shah (101) who stole the show with a Bessborough league record second wicket partnership of 257, as they stormed to 279-4 off just 39 overs and looked set for victory.

In reply Fleet were only interested in avoiding defeat and despite bowling almost non-stop spin, Bessborough found wickets difficult to come by.

With the fall of the ninth wicket there were only two overs left to secure victory and once again Bessborough had to settle for a draw as they failed to dislodge the final pair as the home side ended on 174-9.

Despite a faltering start, Bessborough picked up their first victory of the season in Sunday's Home Counties League match at South Hill Park.

At 74-7 an early finish was envisaged by many, but half century partnerships for the eighth and ninth wickets turned the game.

Ben Murray (64) received excellent support from first, Adam Butler (32) and then John Milton (17no), as they ensured that the club reached the respectability of 176-8.

It was the same trio who were instrumental in seeing South Hill Park dismissed for 140.

Murray with 3-49 and Milton (4-41), destroyed the Park batting with help from Andy Carr (3-42) while Butler excelled in a fine all round fielding performance as he snapped up four catches behind the wicket to give Bessborough their first victory of the season by 36 runs.

Chris Hawes (82) was the mainstay of Bessborough seconds' innings of 195 and their opponents, Basingstoke, got to victory on 196-6 in the closing overs.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.