BERKSHIRE produced a masterclass of T20 cricket with two very impressive wins over Shropshire at Wargrave last Sunday, writes Dave Wright.

Then, after a shock defeat, they came up with another in their second game against Buckinghamshire at Amersham on Monday.

Game One against Shropshire saw the hosts post 201-4 with Dan Lincoln making 67, Andy Rishton 46 and Chris Peploe 41, the latter pair putting on 80 for the first wicket in nine overs, while Lincoln and Euan Woods (17no) added 70 in five overs for the fourth wicket.

Then Woods took 3-31, Ethan Bamber 2-34, Ollie Birts 2-13 and Brandon Gilmour 1-18 as the visitors were restricted to 126-8 (Kervezee 69), leaving Berkshire with a 75-run victory.

In the second game, Shropshire managed only 127-7 following excellent bowling from Peploe 3-17, Ali Raja 2-18, Birts 1-31 and Gilmour 1-1. Berkshire needed just 13.1 overs to reach their target for the loss of three wickets after Rishton (51) and Peploe (36) had shared an opening stand of 69 in six overs. Lincoln was stumped for three, leaving Woods (17no) and Richard Morris (15no) both unbeaten.

Berkshire’s fielding in both games reached its usual high standard with Nugent and Lincoln taking exceptional catches on the boundary.

They were expected to complete another double over Bucks, but it didn’t quite go to plan.

Put in to bat in the morning, Berks made 153-7 with Lincoln smashing 50 off 33 deliveries and Peploe 28 off 19, while Rishton contributed 18, Joe Thomas 16 and James Morris 14.

Bucks struggled early on to stay with the asking rate, but Masoor Khan (39) and Garry Park batted sensibly as the total moved on to 98-5, so still requiring 56 off the last five overs. That went down to 50 off four and 38 from three. However, then an over from Gilmour proved costly, conceding 24 runs, leaving the hosts needing just 16 from 12 balls.

That was reduced to six off the final over and Park, with 51 off 25 balls, led his side home with two balls to spare, at 153-7. Peploe took 3-23 and Raja 2-18, both off four overs.

In the second game, Bucks elected to bat first, but never looked comfortable against some excellent bowling from Birts (4-32), Rishton (3-30), Raja (2-6 off 3.1) and Peploe (1-7 off 3) and were dismissed for just 98 in 18.1 overs.

In reply, the visitors soon lost Peploe (4), but Rishton and Richard Morris ripped into the Bucks attack, taking the score to 55-1 in five overs.

When the total reached 75 in the next over, Rishton was bowled for 50, which came off 30 balls and included two 6s and six 4s. Lincoln (5no) joined Morris (38no) and they raced to their target off the first ball of the 11th over for an eight-wicket win.

Their next T20 games are against Oxfordshire – beaten twice by Shropshire on Monday – on June 3 at Falkland CC, but before that Berkshire open their defence of the Unicorns Trophy by hosting Cornwall at The Oratory School on May 20.