MICHAEL Bates made it three successive games without losing his wicket as Wokingham drew with Amersham at Sadlers End in Division Two of the Home Counties Premier League, writes Dave Wright.

He followed up scores of 45 and 60 with 92 last Saturday, leaving him with an impressive average of 78.00 at the halfway stage of the season.

The wicketkeeper’s score, his highest of the summer, came on the same day that one of the 27-year-old’s former clubs, Hampshire, were beating Kent in the Royal London One-Day Cup at Lord’s.

Bates faced 96 balls and smacked 12 boundaries, but time ran out for him, with Wokingham finishing on 197-8 off 52 overs as they replied to the visitors’ 237-6 off 58.

Amersham’s total would probably have been a bit lower had Wokingham hung onto their catches with skipper Stuart Hayter admitting it wasn’t one of their best days in the field.

The hosts did get the early boost of dismissing Amersham opener Bruce Friderichs, bowled for one by Iain Muirden with his second ball, but after that the visitors moved steadily along with Ed Bowcock making 81 before being smartly run out by Shiryar Ahmed.

There were also other useful contributions, but the batsman were never able to score freely against some steady Wokingham bowling.

Muirden ended with 2-59 off 13 overs, Jacob Clark 1-20 off seven, Lewis Sharp 1-31 off seven and Simon Myles 1-62 off 22.

The Oaks batsmen had to contend with a mainly spin attack, with Maduka Liyanapathiranage bowling unchanged at one end to finish with figures of 26-6-76-5.

The Sri Lankan had Hayter caught for 32, fellow opener Stuart Parsons for 15 and Archie Carter for a duck before bowling Myles (24) and Muirden (0).

Sam Helm (3-72) sent back Clark (2) and Ahmed (0), but neither he nor Liyanapathiranage could get rid of Bates during his two-hour occupation at the crease.

Wokingham are home again this Saturday, when Chesham are the visitors.

James Bird made a magnificent 152 but still ended up on the losing side as Wokingham 2nds lost a high-scoring thriller to High Wycombe 2nds by six wickets in Division 2b of the Thames Valley League.

He shared a colossal opening stand of 260 with Mohammed Khalid (130), and with Ben Myles striking an unbeaten 28 from only 17 balls, the Oaks looked in a reasonable position having made 332-4 from their 52 overs.

Things got even better as Jarret Bobb (2-92) reduced the hosts to 34-2, but a staggering third-wicket stand of 278 between Anuraj Nair (212 from 125 balls including a remarkable 24 boundaries and 13 maximums) and John Stevens wrestled the game in favour of the hosts.

John McDonald (2-80) was the man to end Nair’s astonishing assault, but despite him also accounting for Joe Dulieu, Stevens (98no) held his nerve as Wycombe reached their target with two overs to spare.

In Division 5b, Wokingham 3rds were hammered by 146 runs at Falkland 3rds.

Callum Creighton took 3-50 for the Oaks, but useful knocks from Suthaharan Nadesapillai (95) and Arun Thiruchelvam (87) allowed the home side to declare on 276-7 after 47 overs.

There was very little resistance in the Wokingham reply, and they were eventually bowled out for 130.

Wokingham 4ths moved up to third in the Division 7a table after a narrow 13-run victory at home to Sulhamstead 2nds.

Ranjeet Sidhu (69) and Vikesh Patel (66) provided the bulk of the runs as the Oaks were bowled out for 243 in 48.3 overs, Graham Smith taking 5-83 from 19.

Patel (4-56 from 12 overs) and Atharva Patil (3-27) then starred with the ball, and despite Digvijay Singh’s 81, Sulhamstead could only reach 230 to fall just short.

Wokingham 5ths were knocked off of top spot in Division 9a, succumbing to a six-wicket reverse at Reading 4ths.

Toqeer Khalid top scored with 63 as the visitors clawed their way to 209-7 in 40 overs, but Reading were able to knock the runs off with 26 balls to spare.