North Maids nearing doomsday

North Maidenhead’s worst performance with the bat in six weeks has meant that their fight to avoid the drop from TVL Division 1 will not be decided until the final match of the season on Saturday.

After having lost to champions Beaconsfield by eight wickets, North Maids are now third from bottom in the table just 11 points ahead of Wokingham 2nds and three points behind Tring Park 2nds.

The Summerleaze Park outfit play Fleet on Saturday knowing that a win should save them.

However, there is the possibility that three teams will be relegated depending on what happens in Home Counties West. In that case they will also need to overtake Tring, who travel to Beaconsfield.

The maths could have been made a lot simpler, but North Maids were only able to take three points from Saturday’s match on a turning track at home.

The hosts won the toss and batted but at at one stage were 57-1 with Jon Stewart (20) and Huw Jones going well.

However, the dismissal of Stewart to the off-spin of Paul Gurnell (6-19) started the steady decline with only Jones (52) finding any fluency with the bat.

With Shakeel Ahmed turning it square at the other end, North Maids eventually capitulated to 101 all out in the 36th over.

In reply, North Maids’ bowlers could not get as much out of the track, and a positive Beaconsfield assault saw the champions reach their target for the loss of two wickets in the 19th over.

Reflecting on the result, North Maids skipper Simon Carter said: “They bowled well in conditions which suited their slow bowlers which put pressure on our batting. Some of our guys got unplayable deliveries but some just played poor shots.

“It’s disappointing to put in a display like this when we have played really well in the last six weeks, but we always knew the season would be decided on the final day and so it stands.”

He added: “From our point of view, we hope only two teams are relegated so we need Gerrards Cross in the division above to win, which achieves this aim. Then it’s down to us to do our bit.

“I am confident we can pay our way out of this situation, but the toss can be so important now and there’s likely to be problems with the weather also which makes it more of a lottery.

“It certainly won’t be boring.”