5:05pm Wednesday 8th September 2010
By Alan Feldberg
AMERSHAM CC are contemplating another nearly season after missing out on promotion to the Home Counties League on the final day of the season.
They were beaten at home by Kew, but even if they had won Burnham’s win at Wokingham took them out reach.
Amersham captain Luke Jackson said: “It wasn’t quite enough, and even if we’d beaten Kew we’d have lost by three points.
“There are lots of what ifs, but over the course of the season Burnham were better than us.”
Burnham did win at Amersham in a match that in hindsight was a title-decider, but Jackson and co are still frustrated that their chance to even the scores was rained off.
He said: “We felt that would have been a good game for us to win and it could have been a critical point in the season.
“We had won five games in a row and I think we were top of the league by three points.
“But the way the fixtures were, we had all our hard games to come and we knew Burnham were a threat.
“We wanted to play them and beat them and get some breathing space.”
But bad weather scuppered them and they took the field against Kew knowing it would take a big upset to make them champions.
Jackson did his bit with 100, supported by Dan Colquhoun (56) in a score of 255-6.
But 133 not out from Bruce Friderichs took Kew to victory on 256-8.
Jackson said: “I’d rather get 100 than 0, but the whole day was about the league for us.
“I didn’t know what Burnham had done until we walked off, but it would have surprised me if they hadn’t beaten Wokingham.”
The challenge for Amersham now is to build on recent seasons and get out of the Thames Valley League.
Nine player scored half centuries for the team this season so the batting is in good order, but their leading wicket-taker, spinner Abhay Mayer, only has 32 wickets to his name.
Jackson said: “Five different bowlers took four wickets for us, but we do need more bowling.
“Otherwise I think we could compete in the Home Counties League.
“Harefield narrowly beat us last year and they didn’t change their team much and finished mid-table.
“I think we could compete.”
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