REIGNING champions Finchampstead suffered a second straight Home Counties Premier League Division One defeat as they went down by three wickets at Tring Park.

Visiting openers Andrew House and Greg Smith made a fine start, putting on 54 in 10 overs until both were dismissed by seamer Haseeb Ali.

Billy Rogers joined skipper Dan Marles but the former fell with the score on 70 when he was stumped off Buckinghamshire spinner Michael Payne.

The wicket brought Dan Lincoln to the crease and with Marles they embarked on an excellent partnership. The pair took the score to 203, but both were then out with Lincoln caught in the deep for 69 and Marles bowled for 75 by Australian leg spinner Luke Ohrynowsky.

This led to a disappointing end to the innings as Finch lost their remaining five wickets for 36 and a total of 247 was well short of what could have been. Ohrynowsky was the chief beneficiary with 5-54.

Tring made a disastrous start as Jandre Coetzee grabbed a wicket with the first legal ball of the innings for the second straight week, Chris MacDowall clipping the ball to square leg.

Things got even better for the visitors two balls later when Coetzee trapped skipper Shelvin Gumbs lbw to reduce Tring to 6-2 – their score enhanced by five penalty runs before the innings began.

However, this was Finch’s last success for a while as Alex Woodland and Ohrynowsky both batted soundly to create a fine partnership, only ended with the score on 138 when the latter was caught for 76 at mid off, Dan Marles having joined the attack with his medium pace.

At 189 Anthony Parson bowled Payne and with overs running out Andy Woodland was caught off Matt Carter for 76. With 15 needed, Parson (2-39) secured a second wicket as he bowled Payne, and the last over saw just three needed. Coetzee (3-43) bowled Andy Dixon with the second ball, but Ali struck a boundary first ball to snatch the victory.

Finchampstead host Horspath this coming Saturday (11.30am).

In the Thames Valley League, Finchampstead 2nds (91) were crushed by 184 runs at home to Cove (275-7), while things were even worse for Finchampstead 3rds (45) as they were thumped by 222 runs at Wargrave (267-5). Captain Neal Robinson (100no) and Michael Cowdell (76) were the principal run scorers, while Mandip Sohi took a remarkable 7-13 to decimate the visitors in the run chase.

Finchampstead 4ths smashed Cove 3rds by seven wickets in Division 6b. Steve West (5-39) and Mike Simmonite(3-14) rolled the visitors for just 94, and Finch to victory with Marcus Bazly 49 not out.

Dave Marles (44no) helped Finchampstead 5ths (162-4) to a six-wicket victory against Sonning 3rds (158) in Division 8a.

  • FINCHAMPSTEAD progressed to Round Three of the Royal London Cup with a dominant 215-run success at Sussex-based Billingshurst.

The visitors crashed to 40-4, but fine knocks from Matt Carter (71), Max Uttley (45) and Anthony Parson (35) helped Finch reach 286.

Billingshurst were soon in trouble at 10-2 and then 675, and remarkably, they scored only four more runs for the last five wickets to be dismissed for 71. There were three wickets apiece for Parson and Billy Rogers.