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Wins for Crosby, Valkyres and the Development XI

Saturday’s fixtures brought Crosby and Finch Hill together in the sunbaked cauldron of the Crosby Memorial playing fields.

Finch Hill won the toss and elected to bat first.

Charlie Beard upped his run of consecutive fifties to five and reached 70 not out, scoring 11 fours along the way.

Finch Hill were all out for 148 runs.

Crosby replied and reached 63 before Danny Kniveton fell to a smart catch at mid-on by Christian Webster.

Martyn Oates again remained at the crease, scoring 56 not out and Crosby accumulated their runs steadily before Hemanath Vyas came into bat and quickened the pace, scoring 26 runs off 13 balls.

Crosby duly won the match with four wickets to spare.

Valkyres faced an understrength Peel and St Johns but they themselves had six players who were still fasting, including no drinks, during Ramadan.

Valkyres batted first and slowly put runs on the board, but kept losing wickets.

However, Wasim Khan and Hameed Sulthan batted well together in the latter stages and made PSJ toil in the heat.

Wasim Khan made 60 not out, which included two sixes.

PSJ still had a strong batting lineup but they lost Ollie Webster early on out LBW.

Pete Lewis was still there (48 runs) and his partnership with Alex Williamson (36 runs) put them in the driving seat going into the latter stages.

Eventually, though, PSJ were all out for 180 and Valkyres had scored a creditable win.

Sunday also saw the Development XI play Ramsey.

The Beard brothers batted excellently, but Eddie was run out just short of his century for 98.

His innings included nine fours and four sixes.

The Development XI finished on 274 for 6.

Ramsey were all out for 152 in reply.