THE loss of four key wickets in 16 balls for three runs tore the heart out of Sheen Park's bid to overcome one of the Kookaburra Fordham Surrey League's leading teams, Old Thorntonians, at New Malden.

Sheen were soundly placed at 91-1 thanks to Roland Illube (52), Chris Benson (19) and Kieran Pearce (24). But wickets then tumbled and it took late resistance from Brad Downing (15) and Tony Bradshaw (20 n.o.) for Sheen to reach169-9.

Thorntonians had little difficulty reaching their modest target, despite losing three wickets for 60.

Saeed (61 n.o.) and Ahmed (41 n.o.) added an unbroken 110 for the fourth wicket, steering their team home with 14 overs to spare.

SHEEN PARK 169-9 (Illube 52, Pearce 24, Bradshaw 20 n.o.; Akram 4-24, Kanji 2-34)

OLD THORNTONIANS 171-3 (Saeed 61 n.o., Ahmed 41 n.o., Razzaq 27, Salim 23; Palmer 2-32).

July 8, 2002 17:00