Pangbourne win by 34 runs - View full scorecard

A Pangbourne Win!

Having been resoundingly beaten at home by Whitchurch, Pangbourne headed to into the fixture hoping not to slump to a double defeat against local rivals.

Pangbourne lost the toss and were asked to bat. Despite losing an early wicket, Pangbourne recovered, with Dave Lowe staring with the bat in a rare appearance this season. Batting was slow going on a pudding of a pitch and despite the short square boundaries, as Whitchurch bowled very tight. After the early flurries, Pangbourne were restricted and despite a late acceleration ended on 140 from their 35 overs. Conerns were this might not be a par score.

Whitchrurch without two of their star batsmen, were always under pressure. After some early wickets, Whitchurch looked to rebuild. But, Pangbourne continued to take wickets and the bowlers were well supported in the field, with special mention to Charles who took some stunning catches, the first of which was class, a rocket down by his shins at cover. In the end the sustained quality of the Pangbourne bowling attacked wore Whitchurch down as they fell short  of the required total.

 A good win and honours even for the season in this very local derby. 

Pangbourne lose by 51 runs - View full scorecard

Off and running!

The season is off and running. Pangbourne travelled to Goring for the first game of the season, welcoming so new faces, Charles, James and Tom, who were all making their debut for the club.

Dan won the toss and elected to bowl on a very green early season strip. The outfield was very long which meant batsman were going to get a good workout, with few boundaries on off. Pangbourne started well with some tight bowling and chances started to come, but in true village fashion, most were spilled. Pangbourne's ground fielding was Sharpe and runs were hard to come by. Both Rupert and Roger bowled well to chip away with wickets and Goring crawled to 133.

Pangbourne should have had high hopes on reaching this target, but wickets fell regularly, including a farcical run out of Dan without having faced a ball. Charlie Butler was just getting going when he had a recurrence of a knee injury, which made for a somewhat anti-climactic end to the game, with Pangbourne falling well short of the total.

Good to get the season started, but hopefully some better results to come. 

Pangbourne win by 102 runs - View full scorecard

Another Win!

Pangbourne welcomed Englefield to Bigside for the final home game of the season. The remaining fixtures are all away.

Pangbourne elected to bat first and after an early wicket Peter and Dan settled in and shared an 84 run partnership, laying the foundation for a good score. Peter looked in very good touch and went on to score his first 50 for the club. Others chipped in with some lusty blows towards the end, pushing Pangbourne to a total of 182 from their 35 overs.

Englefield started well, with the ball not moving for the first 4 overs as the lacquer hadn't come off. From the 5th over the ball starting to swing and wickets began to tumble. The young guns, Rupert and Henry came on first change and bowled very well. Good lines and lengths, both swinging the ball, backed up with some good catching the field. Pangbourne were generally sharp in the field, keeping the pressure on. 

In the end Pangbourne were just too strong for Englefield, ending up winning by 102 runs.

After a couple of very close games that Pangbourne were on the wrong side of, it was very good to get a good win this week. 

Pangbourne now have a break for a week, before they get on the road for a series of away games. 

Pangbourne lose by 1 wicket - View full scorecard

Close Again

After a close game the previous week, could Pangbourne get over the line this time around?

Pangbourne batted first and with Hampstead Norreys bowling a very tight line, a surprisingly slow outfield combined with a big boundary, scoring proved very difficult. Pangbourne nudged and nurdled their way to 123 runs, which always felt about 20 runs short of a competitive total.

Nonetheless, Pangbourne started well, with some sharp fielding and poor running between the wickets ending in a couple of runouts. Wickets were falling at regular intervals, but then a couple of catches went down and Hampstead were emboldened. A good stand took the game away from Pangbourne to what seemingly would be a heavy defeat, but some fantastic bowling towards the end from Alex (at one point on a hattrick) and Roger dragged Pangbourne back into it. In what turned out to be a nervy end, Pangbourne just need the final wicket to win, but it wasn't to be. 

Another close game, played in a good spirit. Hopefully, Pangbourne can start turning more of these into wins. 

Onwards. 

Pangbourne lose by 2 runs - View full scorecard

Lightening Strikes Twice

Last year Pangbourne managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, could they avoid the same outcome this time?

Pangbourne bowled first and welcomed back Dan Booth into the bowling ranks who was recovering from injury. Bowling some dibbly-dobblers he somehow managed to take 4 wickets for not a lot and with others chipping in restricted Peppard Stoke Row to 103.

Surely this was a total that Pangbourne could easily chase down. Pangbourne made a good start with Neil and Dave opening with a 60 runs partnership. Unfortunately, from then on it was downward slide, with wickets falling far too regularly and whilst there was a late flurry of runs, it wasn't quite enough and once again Pangbourne slide to a defeat.

Proving that sometimes lightening can and does strike twice.