Bowlers takes eight wickets and two catches as Shenley stroll to victory

SHCL Division 2

Preston 129 Shenley Village 130-2

Shenley Village won by eight wickets

SHENLEY Village continued their excellent form with a convincing eight-wicket victory away against Preston.

Preston captain Ashley Catlin won the toss and elected to bat first but his team got off to a poor start with a wicket falling off the second delivery of the match - opener Warren Hearne caught at second slip off the bowling of Rob Laney.

Paceman Laney continued to cause problems for the batsmen throughout the innings and struck again in the second over to dismiss Catlin. With James Davenall (0-34) bowling economically from the other end, Laney was able to attack and induced a dramatic collapse from the Preston batting line-up. Four wickets fell within three of Laney’s overs to leave Preston reeling at 27-6. At this point Laney had the sensational figures of 6-9 from his first seven overs.

Adam Shelley and Mark Waters set about repairing the damage and did so to some extent by putting on 37 for the seventh wicket. This partnership was broken when Laney bowled Shelley for 22 in the 19th over but Waters continued to bat aggressively to top score for Preston with 53 from just 42 balls, including 10 4s.

Laney took a good caught and bowled for his eighth wicket and found himself with the rare opportunity of taking all ten wickets in the innings. He was unable to do this but played a part in all 10 dismissals - taking the catches at slip to remove the last pair of Waters and Max Anderson. The two fell in identical fashion to the first two balls of off-spinner Dion Ebrahim’s spell.

Preston set Shenley a target of 130 runs to win - a score they would probably have taken whilst at 27-6 - but which seemed well under par. Laney finished with 8-48 from his 14 overs while Ebrahim’s figures were 2-0.

Shenley made a slow start to the reply with opener Keith Muller bowled by Anthony Ender in the fourth over. But after seeing off a good spell by Ender, batsmen Anooj Vadgama and Ebrahim were rarely troubled thereafter and the result was never really in doubt. Vadgama was caught off the bowling of Barry Turner for 48 but by this time victory was in sight and the game was won in the same over. Two boundaries from Ebrahim (69*) out secured an eight-wicket victory for the visitors with 41 overs to spare.

Shenley Village are now fourth in the Division 2 table and play host to Broxbourne next Saturday at Shenley Park.