FINCHAMPSTEAD made a record-breaking start to the Home Counties Cricket League by hammering Henley by 285 runs, writes Dave Wright.
The Nirvana Spa-sponsored side racked up an astonishing total of 430-7 with Greg Smith hitting a century and then bowled out their hosts for 145 inside 25 overs.
It is a record score for the league, the biggest ever win by a run margin, and the first time any team has scored 400 runs in a game - all achieved in just 50 overs.
Wargrave got their Division 2 campaign underway with an eight-wicket win over Thame Town.
The visitors were dismissed for 142, after collapsing from 62-1 to 74-8, with Brad Watson (35) and Jeremy Batty (23no) adding 67 for the ninth wicket.
The bowling honours went to young spinner Nilesh Bhandari, who took six for 19 off his 10 overs.
Wargrave lost openers Avi Pasikanti and Rhys Lewis with only 14 runs on the board, but after that it was plain sailing as Mayank Gudimetla (61no) and Euan Woods (58no) steered their side to victory at 143-2 in just 19 overs.
Reading were beaten by Finchampstead 2nd on the opening day of the Thames Valley Cricket League.
Playing in the new Division 1B, they could only make 179 as they replied to the home side's 50-over total of 244-8, which included 122 off 118 balls by New Zealand youngster Connor Rees on his debut.
Praful Waghela, back from India for another English season, made 73 from 76 balls for the Sonning Lane club who lost their first five wickets for 81. He was among the four wickets taken by Alex Sharp (4-34).
Sonning lost by 156 runs to Wokingham 2nd at King George's Field. Put into bat, the visitors made an all-out total of 291, with Mushtafa Mushafa making 91 off 76 balls and Mack Keast 63, the pair adding 113 for the fifth wicket. The wickets were shared by Damario Goodman (5-27) and Mohammed Zahid (5-46).
Sonning were dismissed for 135 with Danyal Ghazi remaining unbeaten on 30, and Jacob Clark taking 4-44.
Kidmore End were shot out for 167 as they replied to White Waltham's 212, which included a patient 62 by Kelvin Baillie.
In a low-scoring affair, Peppard Stoke Row (136-9) squeezed home by one wicket against Purley-on-Thames (135 all out). Jason Vaughan-Davies top-scored for the hosts with 36,
while Waltham's Usman Ijaz remained unbeaten on 39 for the visitors.
Another Division 2a side to be dismissed cheaply were Sulhamstead & Ufton who could only make 131 in reply to Theale and Tilehurst's 291-8, which included 99 from Baber Hussain and Mosa Nadeem 53, the pair taking the total from 95-4 to 243-5.
In Division 5a, Earley beat Sulhamstead & Ufton 2nd by 72 runs, having made 311-4 in 45 overs, with Pritam Dara scoring 92, skipper Venu Gudimetla 72 not out and Binny Zutshi 52 not out, their unbroken fifth-wicket partnership being worth 111 runs.
For the visitors, Maaz Salman scored a brilliant 104 off 95 balls, helping them to recover from 52-4 and 121-5, finally reaching 239-6.
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