Published: Friday, 5th September, 2008 10:00
Taylor eyes second spot
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Finch celebrate their six wicket win against Thatcham last weekend.
FINCHAMPSTEAD skipper Sam Taylor admits it would be an extra special feeling if his side manages to leapfrog above rivals Wokingham on the final day of the Home Counties League season.
Going into this Saturday’s home clash with Thame Town, Finch are eight points behind Wokingham, who surprisingly fell to an eight wicket defeat last weekend.
That loss has put Taylor’s side within touching distance of their neighbours and the Finch skipper insists they will be going all out to claim second place and finish the season on a real high.
He said: “It would be really nice to finish above them I have to admit.
“In our two games against them this season they’ve given us a bit of a hammering so from that point of view it would make it even nicer to end up above them.
“We kind of figured that things might be difficult for them last weekend for one reason or another.
“Obviously Dan Doran leaving makes a real difference and I think they were without a few others as well.
“It’s given us a chance now and so we will go out there on Saturday, relax and play some aggressive cricket and see what happens. It should be an interesting day.”
Matt Harper and Steve Bloyce will both return for the game after the duo missed last weekend’s trip to Thame Town.
Finch were put in by their hosts after losing the toss and things looked good at first as Russell Lane (71), Sam Cheetham (16) and Matt Jones (47) put the visitors in control.
But wickets then started to fall rapidly with Scott Patterson (12), Taylor (0), Nick Woodruffe (9), Darren Augustus (9), Anthony Parson (2) and Nick James (6) all falling cheaply. Only Tom Ansell (27no) offered any resistance as Finch finished on 213-9.
Parson and Augustus then ripped into the Thatcham top order, sharing the first five wickets as the home side stumbled to 61-5.
But strong middle order batting from Duncan Johnson (63), Matt Denness (37) and Andy Harland (35) got Thatcham back into the game before Parson and Lane finished matters off with the final two wickets.
Taylor said: “We didn’t play our greatest cricket. Having lost the toss and then not batted well after a good start we did well to win the game.
“It got very close towards the end but our seamers got us out of trouble.
“There wasn’t a huge amount in the wicket for the seamers either which made their performance even more impressive.”
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