SHAKEL Ahmed has often been the scourge of Gerrards Cross and he was again last Saturday, when his seven wickets was the stand-out performance in a tense Bucks derby that was still in the balance with 30 minutes remaining.

At that stage Beaconsfield were chasing Cross’ score of 250 and, with wickets in hand, looked set to get there.

But four quick wickets turned the match yet again and by the final over Beaconsfield’s last pair were blocking for their lives.

Beaconsfield captain Paul Gurnell said: “It was a very good game of cricket – 250 was a decent score, but we thought we had a chance.

“We got off to a good start, got pegged back and then had another go. We only stopped chasing with seven balls left, when we wanted 20 runs with one wicket left.”

Shahid Mahmood (27), Luc Walker (69) and Chris Thomas (42) got Beaconsfield up to 130-1 after 30 overs, but Cross pair Tom Hampton (2-40) and Matt Watson (4-44) swung the game their way before David Heavyside smacked 19 off one over to put Beaconsfield back in control.

In the end a draw was about right, but Gurnell knows he was playing with fire by inserting their guests.

He said: “On our track we know it’s hard to bowl sides out if they’re not playing shots.

“It’s happened two or three times this season when we’ve batted first and got big runs and then they’ve just batted for a draw.

“It was a gamble inserting them, but in our view it was the best chance to win the game.

“When they got up to 110-1 we were thinking hmm, but we got them four down at lunch and then got Jonny [Hughes] just after lunch and we could easily have bowled them our for 180-190.”

And with former international Ahmed in their attack, Beaconsfield can afford to take a chance.

Watson is Cross’ chief spinner and he took four Beaconsfield wickets after watching Ahmed at work earlier in the day.

He said: “I tried to learn off him at the weekend, how he controls the batter and prevents him from scoring.

“He changes things as he’s bowling, he changes his pace, changes the field, changes his position in the crease, he does something different with every ball.

“He’s a very intelligent bowler and the best spinner in the Division.”

Watson was actually one of Ahmed’s victims when he left a straight ball, but he evened the score by taking Ahmed’s wicket later in the day.

He said: “We had a platform then lost four quick wickets and that really put a spin on the game.

“We got up to 250, which was a competitive score but probably 20-30 runs light.

“But both teams really wanted to win it and in the last 20 minutes all three results were still possible. It was a bizarre game.”

Beaconsfield go to Thame tomorrow while Cross take on Reading with double motivation.

Watson said: “We didn’t turn up against Reading last time so we’ve got something to prove.”

And he thinks a good win could relaunch their season.

He said: “When we play cricket to the best of our ability we’re the best team in the league, and I think we’re just one game away from clicking and really pushing on.”