Doctor rescues Beaconsfield

After a superb opening day win away to a strong Amersham side confidence was high going into the first home game of the season against Windsor.

On another early season pitch it was going to be crucial to win the toss. Beaconsfield did that and had no hesitation to bowl first with a very experienced bowling line up which included Denzil Owen, Paul Slade and Mark Sullivan.

The opening pair of Paul Slade (2 for 23) and Denzil Owen (2 for 38) bowled really well and were rewarded with two early wickets for Paul Slade. After the early wickets Windsor were able to put together some key partnerships and rebuilt the innings with solid contributions from the middle order including 52 from youngster K. Das.
Mark Sullivan’s remarkable day started with the ball with a tight spell of bowling that helped to break key partnerships in the middle order. He claimed both wickets of K. Das (52) and Manget (32) who started to build a solid partnership which looked like getting Windsor to 200 at one stage.

After Sullivan ripped through the middle order it was left to himself and Denzil Owen to clean up the tail. The final 4 wickets could only contribute 14 runs between them. Mark Sullivan eventually finished with figures of 4 for 39 off 11.2 over’s.

In reply Beaconsfield started poorly losing early wickets at regular intervals. The middle order dug in and rebuilt the innings with steady contributions from Ian Murphy (34) and Hash Hussain (25). Throughout the innings though players got starts but didn’t go on to lead their team to victory and it was left to the tail to guide Beaconsfield to dramatic climax.

As the game seemed to be heading towards a draw with Windsor requiring 1 wicket to win and Beaconsfield requiring 17 of the last over for victory it only seem sensible to see the last over out. Mark Sullivan had other ideas and knowing there was no extra points for a draw decided to go for the win, he hit the first ball for 6 over the road and then hit a 4 of the third ball. This meant Beaconsfield required 7 runs off 3 balls. 2 runs were scored off the next 2 balls leaving 6 needed to win the game. There was only one thing in Sullivan’s mind which was not how to hit the ball for six but how far is it going. The bowler couldn’t have placed the ball in a better area for Sullivan to smash the ball over the road comfortably which sparked celebrations and a dramatic win for Beaconsfield.

Man of the Match: Mark Sullivan