Burnham CC in relegation battle after Harpenden defeat

By Rob Stevens • Published 30 Jul 2012 09:49 0 Comments

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BURNHAM CC face a battle against relegation from Division One of the Home Counties Cricket League after a heavy eight-wicket defeat at Harpenden on Saturday.

Shaid Nadeem's side - champions of Division Two West last summer - begin the final third of the season with a visit from high-flying Tring Park this Saturday (11:00am start) level on points with second-bottom Bishop's Stortford, who currently occupy the relegation places with basement boys Oxford.

Burnham set a target of 171 at Harpenden Common thanks largely to an innings of 77 from the returning Harveer Gandam but the host's eased to victory after a third wicket partnership of 81 between wicket keeper Chris Warn and Mike Howard.

The visitor's innings got off to a poor start when opener Adnan Malik was clean bowled by Joe Peck (1-29) for just one.

Fellow opener Raja Rehman (18) and Gandam put on 51 for the second wicket, and Gandam and overseas star Aftab Khan (28) added another 60 in a fourth wicket stand.

Skipper Nadeem made 25 and Burnham were still on course to post a formidable target after Gandam was caught by Nick Lamb off the bowling off Jon Ryan with the score on 150.

The final five wickets, however, could add only 20 runs as the impressive Ryan ripped through the batting line-up to return figures of 6-47.

Harpenden openers Gregg Cooper (16) and James Latham (43) produced 32 for the opening stand of the reply and the scoreboard read 92-2 when Warn (65*) and Howard (39*) came to the crease to seal the win.

Slough put the woes of a waterlogged Upton Court Park behind them and go third in Division Two West with a five-wicket win against Falkland.

A nearby blocked stream threatened to put an end to cricket at their Upton Court home but Bobby Sher's men were able to get their title challenge back on track - albeit with a reduced outfield.

Captain Sher and pace bowler Zulfiqar Butt took (4-48) and (3-69) respectively to restrict Falkland to 160 with Hamza Riazuddin top scoring for the visitor's with an innings of 38.

Slough's reply got off to a perfect start when Omar Jamshad (32) and Nabil Shah (39) put on 71 for the opening wicket before Sher (29*) and Feroz Baig (28) came together at 113-5 to see the hosts home.

Farnham Royal - bottom of Division Two West - moved to within 16 points of safety after a winning draw against fellow strugglers Thame Town.

Royals set an imposing target of 257 with Javed Khan (62) and captain Ollie Clayson (55) passing the half century mark. Openers Daniel Simpson and Duncan Bradshaw both fell short on 40 but did put on 89 for the opening wicket as Will Rooney lead Thame's bowling attack with figures of 3-75.

Christopher Esh took 3-58 in reply but Vandit Jivrajani remained stubborn at the crease with an unbeaten 38 as the Oxfordshire-based side held on for the draw, batting out their allotted 50 overs for 163-7.

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