Morrant Thames Valley League

Division Two A 

Old Merchant Taylors' suffered a heavy 146-run defeat at Windsor on Saturday.

The home side piled on the runs early, making use of a lightning quick outfield. After an early breakthrough Matt Overall dominated the OMT bowlers, scoring a magnificent 133 off just 86 balls before finally holing out to the spin of Rehan Hasan.

By that time much of the damage was done and despite Hasan clawing back some respectability in the latter stages of the innings, ending with four for 59 off 14 overs, Windsor posted a daunting 257 for seven.

In response OMTs needed a strong start but they didn’t get it. Windsor started with the old ball and steadily chipped away at Taylors’ top order. Harmeet Chana starred with the ball, ending with impressive figures of six for 34 as OMTs slumped to 112 all out.

Division Six A

OMT Seconds eased to a six-wicket victory over Slough Fourths.

Having won the toss, Slough started the game in bullish mood, racing to 30 without loss off four overs. However skipper Andrew Wingfield then managed to pick up a couple of quick wickets to give OMTs a foothold at 50 for two.

The introduction of spin slowed down the run-rate, with Rajiv Radhakrishnan as accurate as ever and Neil Richards using all his guile to go through the Slough middle order.

In fact, having scored 50 in the first ten overs, it took Slough another 40 to get a further 100 runs and it was only a late counter-attacking innings of 47 from Asif Khan that saw the visitors reach 158 all out.

After a couple of wickets were lost relatively quickly, it was the left handers of Drew Scott-Dawkins, on debut, and Simon Boardley, batting for the first time this season, that did the bulk of the job for OMTs.

Scott-Dawkins did the majority of the early scoring and eventually fell for a well-constructed 59.

Then Boardley, after getting rid of some early rust, scored freely to see OMTs home to a morale-boosting result.

Cricketer Cup 

OMT start their 2015 Cricketer Cup campaign with a first round tie at Old Cheltonians on Sunday.

The side are led by new captain James Corbett, and have selected a strong team composed of experienced and young players.

As Taylors’ continues to build their new young team, it has selected four talented players under the age of 21, three of whom will be making their Cricketer Cup debut. Oli Wilkin, having completed his Middlesex CCC contract, returns to the side as the team’s player/coach.

The winners of this tie will face either Stowe Templars and Repton Pigrims at the end of this month.

Team manager Philip Newfield said: “OMT know that we are playing against strong opponents, but are very well prepared, have been planning for this match for several months, and are highly focused on playing at our very best standard and intensity in order to achieve a positive result.”

Chess Valley League

Division One

Hemel Hempstead Town picked up a 47-run win at Radlett on Sunday.

The visitors produced a strong batting display as they scored a total of 268 for five from their innings.

Opener Jay O’Nien rediscovered his best form, hitting 117 to send Hemel on their way. Hemish Ilangaratne chipped in with 31 while Josh Graves contributed 39 and Sam Jenkinson added 36.

Sloppy run outs cost Radlett dearly early on in their reply as they tumbled to 61 for four. But Martin Jones started a fightback with a much-needed 62 while Shane Burger struck 46.

This gave the hosts hope but Hemel’s Aaron Wilson ended those by taking a valuable four for 24. One wicket apiece from Ed Langley, Graves and Jenkinson ensured Hemel finished up winners with Radlett all out for 221.

Friendley 

Hemel Hempstead Town Seconds cruised to a 132-run win over Boxmoor.

The match was hastily arranged after Cockfosters called off their Chess Valley fixture.

Hemel made a fast start to the match with openers Mike Samuels scoring 41 and Liam Jahn retiring on 51. Dave Jenkins chipped in with 39 as Hemel reached a total of 247 for nine.

Boxmoor had no answer in response and Hemel ruthlessly dismissed them for 115.

Charlie Hoskins returned figures of three for two while Toby Linfoot (two for 11) and Brad Finch (two for 19) also made decent contributions for the victors.