MacDonald's century lifts Brickhill 2nds off the bottom

Winning the toss and electing to bat first at Great and Little Tew, Brickhill’s openers, led by Glenn Burrows (32) made a solid start before a string of partnerships built around a magnificent 133 from Greg MacDonald saw Brickhill to 280-8 at tea.

Great & Little Tew’s challenge never really got off the ground, excellent bowling from Asif Khan and Razzan Anveer in particular finding movement and nip and denying the Tew batsman scoring opportunities.

Junior debutant Aadi Sharma bowled two spells of controlled legspin and took his maiden senior wicket as Brickhill attacked in search of wickets.

In the end Great & Little Tew ended on 180-5. Next week, Brickhill 2nds take on Horley at the Horsepond.

Brickhill 3rds played Great Horwood 2nds at Ascott. Horwood won the toss and elected to bat. Despite some good early bowling, Great Horwood ended on 233 for 7 off their 40 overs, with the pick of the bowlers Ram Verma (9-57-2) and David Allen (9-22-3).

Brickhill mounted a strong chase but fell a disappointing 20 runs short ending on 213 for 7 off 40 despite some good batting from a hamstrung Omer Hanif (65) and Steve Gordon (81). GBCC travel to Lidlington next game in need of an elusive win.

GBCC Sunday 1st lost a thrilling game against league leaders Potton. Batting first, Brickhill were in disarray at 34-6, the top and middle order bamboozled by swing and seam from the Potton openers, until Iqbal John came together with Hamid Miah to put on 70 for the seventh wicket. John shepherded the Brickhill tail to a highly respectable 182-8, finishing the innings 95* with some blistering hitting.

Potton got off to a flyer in reply, reaching 67 before the first wicket spell. But the Brickhill spin trio of Hamid Miah (2-49), Wasim Fayyaz (1-38) and Iqbal John (3-47) turned the game on its head, leaving Potton seven down and still needing 30 to win. In the end the Potton batsmen did the job in a nervous finish.

Brickhill Sundau 2nds secured a second win on the bounce on Sunday Horsepond. Brickhill won the toss, elected to bat and posted 200 off 38 overs with runs from Gary Phillips 43, Luke Lathwell 33 and Dylan Cilliers 28.

In reply Stevenage scored 143 off 26.4 overs. Chris Wagg enjoyed a maiden five-wicket haul, while Gary Phillips took three, and one apiece for Eddie Woodhouse and Jonny Waters.