Hancock and Hepburn Make Butlers Toil

Harpsden
H Thomas Run Out 7
B Hancock ct Kelly b England 74
T Hancock lbw b Weymes 21
G Hepburn Retired 102
M Hayward Not Out 42
C Martin b Lee 16
J Howarth Not Out 7

TOTAL 290-4

Butler 11
C England ct Martin b Howarth 41
H Lee Run Out (Martin) 46
D Nicholson Run Out 0
A Hoskin ct Howarth b Fiander 28
A Kelly ct Gould b Hayward 1
M Hughes b Smith 21
J Reilly Not Out 31
T Sorrel Not Out 25

TOTAL 229-6

Harpsden entertained Butler 11 on a warm Wednesday afternoon, Harpsden won the toss and elected to bat, and made a solid start with openers Hancock and Thomas reaching 19-0 from 4 overs, Thomas then ram himself out for 7, to bring Tom Hancock in to join brother Ben at the crease, both batsman played sensibly, smashing anything loose to the boundary, while keeping out the good balls. Tom Hancock was looking solid until he was trapped LBW for 21.
Hepburn then came to the crease, and wasted no time in dispatching the bowling to all parts, reaching his half century in just 3 overs, he was well supported by Hancock who continued to regularly find the boundary, before being caught for 74, which included 14 fours. Hepburn wasted no time in reaching his maiden Harpsden century, in what was also almost certainly the quickest ever seen at Harpsden, including 11 sixes and 6 fours. After Hepburn had sportingly retired, Hayward provided most of the runs to take Harpsden to 290-4 from their allocated 35 overs.

Butler 11 also made a good start to their innings, with England the main aggressor, whilst Lee played more cautiously. England was the first man to fall, after being well caught by martin off Howarth’s bowling for 41, Nicholson was next to be making the walk back to the pavilion after a mix up resulted in him being run out. Hoskin and Lee then built a solid partnership, with Hoskin regularly finding the boundary before being caught by Howarth to give Fiander his first Harpsden wicket. Lee soon followed thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding from Martin who ran him out with just one stump to aim at. From then on, the batsman at the crease decided to go down fighting, with Reilly in particular hitting some ferocious strokes, however it wasn’t enough, as Butler 11 fell 61 runs short of Harpsdens target.