James takes seven wickets as Basingstoke claim victory (From Basingstoke Gazette)

James takes seven wickets as Basingstoke claim victory

9:20am Monday 23rd July 2012 in Sport By Graham Merry

A MAGNIFICENT seven wickets from Martyn James helped Basingstoke and North Hants to a crushing 151-run victory over visiting Wokingham in their Thames Valley League division one clash on Saturday.

The visitors, who remain second in the table, never really got to grips with the double pronged attack of James (7-55) and Jonathan Bradley (2-40) as they were bowled out for 98.

Earlier, the home side scored 249-8 with Dean Nurse (68) and Chris Froud (58) sharing the best stand of the innings, putting on 102 for the third wicket, while Dan Coombs (19), Nick James (21) and Ryan Connor (20 not out) all added quick runs at the end.

The result was in stark contrast to earlier in the season when the Bountymen were bowled out for 83 as they lost by 98 runs After probably his side’s most complete performance of the season skipper Coombs said: “Last time we played really poorly, but today we have really played as an all round unit and deserved the win.

“There was something in the wicket all day and I think Bradders (Jonathan Bradley) has bowled the best spell of the season and he could so easily have seven wickets, but, as ever, MJ (Martyn James) has done a great job for us.”

Skipper Coombs also had praise for his batsmen and added: “Froudy (Chris Froud) gave us a solid start and then Deano (Dean Nurse) really picked up the run rate, hitting five sixes.”

See The Monday Gazette for a full match report.