Storm clouds and stalemate: Division 2A title race still wide open with one to play

A game that was billed as the title-deciding showdown in Thames Valley League Division 2A proved to be little more than a damp squib as Wokingham’s home game with Cookham Dean fell victim to the weather on Saturday,

Both sides hoped to win the match and steal a big march on their rivals heading into the final weekend. In fact, a victory for either side would have all but guaranteed them the title and promotion back to the top table of the Thames Valley Cricket League.

Unfortunately for both, the weather intervened to spoil those hopes and the game had to be abandoned with visitors Dean attempting to chase down Wokingham’s sizeable total of 281-4 from 50 overs.

Leaders Wokingham would have felt confident they could defend it, while Greg Davis’s Dean side will be disappointed they were denied the chance to chase it, having got away to a decent start at 37 without loss when the rain came and washed out their hopes.

It means the two sides continue to be separated by just a point heading into their final matches on Saturday. Both sides collected seven points for their efforts on Saturday.

Dean are at home to Sonning and must win, and then either hope they pick up more points for their victory than Wokingham, or that Finchampstead can do them a favour in their home match with the leaders on Saturday.

The visitors looked to be up against it with the way Wokingham had started Saturday’s clash. Having elected to field, Dean generally toiled as Hanson Martin (80) and Jayden Barson (82) pushed the hosts on to a daunting total. Dean failed to make many inroads and further down the order there were also sizable scores from the likes of Mushtafa Mushafa (30), Mac Dsouza (38) and Matthew Keast (35).

In reply, Dean managed to get to 39 without loss when the rain arrived and the match was abandoned.

It’s possible the weather has done Dean a favour and got them out of a hole, however, it’s also taken matters out of their hands as they look to nip back above Wokingham for the league title.

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In Division 2B, Maidenhead & Bray have all but wrapped up the title and promotion to Division 1 after a crushing eight-wicket win over third placed Hayes.

With second placed Stoke Green seeing their game at Chesham abandoned due to bad weather, Bray have moved 18 points clear of their closest rivals with one game left to play at High Wycombe.

It is still possible for Green to catch them on the final day if they manage to beat Amersham 2nds at home, but Alkesh Vaja’s Bray side will expect to get the job done from here given their lead.

They had little difficulty swatting aside another potential rival in Hayes on Saturday in another rain-affected game.

Having inserted the visitors on winning the toss, Bray managed to restrict Hayes to 207-all-out in 48.2 overs.

The wickets were shared between Bray’s bowling attack but both John Child and Faizal Aziz took three wickets, and few Hayes batsmen, outside of Gursh Chahal (52) and Ruhaan Mughal (34) managed to settle at the crease.

With rainfall threatening an abandonment, Bray were given a revised target of 85 from26 overs for victory, and this they achieved comfortably, finishing on 113-2 from 26, with Robert Viney finishing unbeaten on 60.