Wembley 208-6 dec

Finchley 196-6

Finchley, who suffered a surprise early exit from the Abbot Ale Trophy national competition last week, could scarcely have relished the prospect of a Middlesex County League curtain-raiser against Wembley at Vale Farm on what is seldom the easiest of wickets.

But there's much at stake this season, with clubs needing to finish in the top ten to guarantee a place in the new-look Premier Division next summer, and Finchley showed they're ready for the challenge as they fought well for four run-rate points. It could well have been a winning start, but they lost their momentum halfway through the innings and finished 13 runs short with four wickets in hand.

Wembley found runs hard to come by, batting 51 overs for 208-6 declared (R Mann 58, A Chaudry 34. Daminda Wijesekera (3-44) was Finchley's most successful bowler in a tidy spell of leg-spin.

After Finchley lost Steve Selwood (14) at 26, Glucka Wijesuriya (56) and Robbie Hodges (53) batted confidently in a second-wicketwicket stand of 86, and set Finchley well on the way to their target of 165 for the run-rate points.

After Wijesuriya departed at 112, and Hodges followed at 145, Finchley's innings lost its momentum.

Despite a late flourish by Graham Leggett (25no off 14 balls) and Ian Blanchett (12 off 11), Finchley ended on 196-6.

On Sunday, Finchley faced league rivals Winchmore Hill in the Daily Mirror Cup (first round) and progressed with with a 27-run victory. Kirthi Ranasinghe (58 no) and Jamie Whelan (32) were the main contributors, out of 209-8.

Ranasinghe (3-24) completed a good afternoon's work with a tidy spell as Hill were dismissed for 182.

A miserable batting performance saw the end of Finchley's Abbot Ale aspirations in an eight-wicket defeat by Purley.

A splendid stint by young leg-spinner Jake Milton (6-36) restricted Purley to 199.

That looked a comfortable target, but only new skipper Wijesuriya (28) and Leggett (20) showed application as the home side were dismissed for 117

Finchley are home to Shepherds Bush in an all-day league match on Saturday (11.30am).

An early season highlight for Finchley's followers is a visit by Bangladesh for an all-day game on Tuesday June 2 (11.30am). Bangladesh are on tour as they prepare for next year's World Cup.

OTHER RESULTS: League: Finchley II 250-5 dec (Joshi 61, Sogbodjor 58, Seed 52, Sen 41), Wembley II 147-5.

Finchley III 281-8 dec (Selwood 61, Slavin 49, Patel 30), Wembley III 222-6 (English 3-81).

Friendly: Finchley II 176-4 dec. (Sen 65, Slavin 35, Boyd 33), Uxbridge II 114-9 (Herd 6-21).

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.