GERRARDS Cross drew for the fourth match in a row on Saturday in a nail-biting affair away at Stoke Green.

The Cross

started well in the field having lost the toss, with Jon Denning (2-46) removing both openers cheaply before Kanpreet Singh (45) rode his luck early on before rebuilding the Stoke Green innings.

Wickets fell throughout the innings with Richard Knudsen (3-39) and Zain Khan (2-42) working hard through the middle overs.

Stoke Green posted 222-8 off their 52 overs thanks to some hard hitting from Gagan Signh (54 off 55 balls), Pavinder Bhachu (36) and K Parmer (21 not out).

In pursuit of 223 to win,

Gerrards Cross

were on course for a comfortable win at 100-2 thanks to some patient batting from Omer Siddique (37) and the in-form Chris Marrow (51) before Zulfi Butt started to make inroads to the Cross batting line up.

Wickets began to tumble from one end and with GX 170-6 all results were possible. Ben Lane (28) and Richard Knudsen (26 off 20 balls) took the Cross to the brink of victory and with two needed off the final ball, GX could only manage 1 bye to end the game drawn closing on a matching 222-8, with Butt finishing with impressive figures of 7-69.

Beaconsfield’s promotion hopes suffered a blow when they lost by six runs away to lowly Aldershot in Division 2B of the Thames Valley League on Saturday.

The visitors, chasing a target of 248, seemed set for victory on 190-2, but a collapse saw them bowled out for 241 in the penultimate over.

Batting first, Aldershot made 247-7 in 52 overs thanks to 102 not out Ravi Gilbert. Leg-spinner Alex Gorton returned the best figures with 2-29.

Beaconsfield looked sure to chase this down thanks to Johnny Bowers, who hit 74 from 51 balls and supporting innings from Ed Barnett (51), Nilesh Odedra (33) and Zia Ashraf (30).

But Nick Biscontin (6-53) sparked a collapse that saw five wickets fall for 25 runs and the visitors fell just short.

This Saturday, Beaconsfield travel to Finchampstead 2nd.

A brilliant 100 not out from Imran Sharif saw Beaconsfield 2nd to a convincing ten-wicket win at home to Chalfont St Peter in Division 5B.

Chalfont were dismissed for 137, Toby Slater and Finn Catherwood-Smith both taking three wickets.

Then Imran led Beaconsfield home in just the 26th over for a very convincing win..