Wargrave and Stoke Green staring at the drop after costly weekend defeats

Toby Greatwood. Photo credit: Alex Carter.

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Wargrave and possibly Stoke Green are facing up to relegation from Home Counties League Division 1 this season after both sides lost crucial matches at the weekend.

Wargrave were beaten by two wickets by Finchampstead on their own ground, and with two matches to play sit 26 points from safety.

With matches to come at Harefield on Saturday and home to Stoke Green on the final day of the season, it seems unlikely Toby Greatwood’s side will be able to claw back the points they need on either Great Brickhill or Harefield to get themselves above the dotted line.

However, their two remaining games are against sides battling against them to avoid the drop so perhaps the great escape can still be pulled off. But one thing is clear, they’re going to have to raise their level significantly over the next couple of matches to get the two victories they desperately need and will also have to hope other results go their way.

The hosts batted first at home to Finchampstead after winning the toss and managed to get to 217 before being bowled out in 49.4 overs.

Their top score came from Greatwood, who smashed 81 from 88 balls to drive the home side to a defendable total.

Samm Daniel finished with 3-43 for the visitors, who then got to their total - but only just - in a thrilling game that went down to the final over.

Greg Smith settled Finchampstead’s nerves with an opening knock of 59, but it was Eddie Campion’s impressive and unbeaten 56 further down the order which edged them to victory. Tailender James Woodford also deserves a fair bit of credit for his 14no as Finchampstead got to their target with a couple of wickets and only two balls in hand. They finished on 223-8 in 49.4 overs.

Wargrave go to Harefield on Saturday with little momentum behind them after four defeats and a draw in their last five matches.

Stoke Green’s hopes of survival were also dealt a huge blow by Saturday’s 70-run defeat at Harefield, a result that leaves Karanpreet Singh’s side 13 points from safety with a couple of games to play. The result also saw the home side Harefield escape 18 points away from the bottom two with two games to play.

Harefield won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 267-6 from 50 overs with Daniel Ogden blasting a magnificent 128 from 129 balls. His innings included 14 fours and three sixes. Thomas McLeod (54) dropped anchor alongside him for a useful half century while Will Shepherd also scored 31.

With the ball, Shivam Mishra took 3-36 for Green, but the visitors had a mountain to climb at the changeover. In the end, they finished 70 runs short of their target and they also didn’t manage to bat out their overs, finishing on 197 all out after 43.5 overs.

Passikku Madusanku top scored with 38 and Aashir Zaib (35) and Chetan Sharma (37) also got in but failed to go on and score big runs.

They host Oxford Downs on Saturday before going to Wargrave on the final day of the season.