2nd XI claim first win and bonus point over Mitcham

Surrey Championship Division 5

Mitcham 2nd XI 224 for 4 (50 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI 225 for 5 (44.4 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI, (10 points), beat Mitcham 2nd XI by 5 wickets

Scorecard Link : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10912416

Stoke’s 2nd XI registered their first league win of the season, chasing down Mitcham’s 50-over total of 224 for 4 with more than 5 overs to spare.

Having won the toss and fielded Stoke picked up a wicket in the 2nd over before a run had been scored, when John Crisp took a neat caught and bowled from just his 4th delivery. Number 3 Baard hit a 4 through mid wicket off Crisp but when trying to repeat the shot off Adrian Mills in the next over, only managed to scoop a catch up to Alistair McMillan. Mills was at his miserly best despite being hampered by a hamstring strain and finished his 10 overs for just 13 runs. Crisp finished with 1-29 and at the drinks interval the visitors were finding it slow going with only 52 on the board.

Mitcham had, however, only lost 2 wickets and started to up the run rate in the second half of the innings with Goldsmith and Hasham building a dangerous partnership. Gary Harkett was keeping things tight with the ball though and only conceded 3 boundaries from his 10 overs for 34.

Goldsmith reached his 50 in the 38th over, and Hasham joined him in the 50s in the 41st over, but his assault on the home bowling was only just beginning. Despite losing Goldsmith to a catch by Matt Gottschalk off Jonny Lawes, Hasham continued to find the gaps in the field. He brought up his impressive century in the 49th over and was finaly out when he nicked a ball from Lawes to Malcolm Dickson with just 1 ball of the innings remaining.

Stoke’s ground fielding was very good throughout the game, with potential 2s being cut to singles on many occasions and this helped us restrict Mitcham to 224-4.

Stoke’s reply started with Steve Wade being well caught at square leg before Dickson took the attack to the visiting bowlers, particularly Rogerson. Dickson hit a quick 33, mostly off the young opener, in just 36 balls before Rogerson claimed his 2nd wicket when Dickson fell lbw in the 12th over. 51-2.

Andy Page joined McMillan at the crease, with McMillan taking advantage of the change bowling. McMillan hit his 11,000th Stoke run before taking 20 from 2 overs at the other end. He was caught for 41 off the bowling of Silva to leave us 90-3, but with plenty of overs to rebuild.

Page and Graham Tufts did this steadily, both waiting for the bad ball. As Stoke were up with the required run rate, and had big hitters to come they simply needed consolidation and these two were just the batters to do it. When Tufts’ innings came to an end for 26 Stoke needed 88 from 18 overs. Enter Jonny Lawes.

Lawes hit his first ball for 4, before clubbing 18 from Christie’s next over. He didn’t slow down as 22 came from Rogerson’s last 2 overs. Page offered great support at the other end, rotating the strike whenever possible. Lawes’ 50 came up with a 6 which was a bit close to the car park for some people’s comfort. When he was bowled for 60 from 30 balls, (including seven 4s and four 6s), Stoke needed just 12 from 8 overs.

Rob Lane joined Page for the close of the match, Page hitting the winning runs, to finish 1 short of what would have been a well deserved half century. Stoke’s bonus point win provide confidence for next week’s trip to Farncombe.

FOOTNOTE

Congratulations to Ali Mac, (http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/profile/statistics.asp?id=10821025), who passed 11,000 career runs for Stoke in this match. Ali has also now taken more catches in the field than any other Stoke player in history, (http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/fieldingstats.asp?fromForm=1&team=&type=&seasonID=&sortBy=32&filter=0)