Dennis Jacobs Surrey Cup (Round 1)
Chessington U17 120 for 5 (20 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon U17 122 for 5 (17.2 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon U17 won by 5 wickets
Stoke will play either Banstead or Ashtead in the next round
Tim Dyer writes…
A cold, windy, overcast evening at Chessington for a 6pm start, a bit of déjà vu!
Bank holiday traffic, causing late arrivals, meant that the match didn’t start until nearly 6.30pm.
First round of the Dennis Jacobs Cup against an old adversary…the wicket was in much better condition than that of two years ago and the outfield for once did not resemble a football field. Despite the coach’s reservations about light deterioration later on, it was decided that chasing down a figure was preferable to setting one and first use of the new ball would be an advantage. John won the toss and elected to field.
Alex and Matt L opened the SDCC attack and bowled very well. The first 4 overs yielded only 15 runs. Alex gave way to James L after bowling two overs, while Matt L bowled out his 4 overs. A great catch at mid on by Will C off Matt L in his 4th over, (a wicket maiden), accounted for the first Chessington batsman and the score was 23 for 1 after 8 overs.
John replaced Matt L and wickets began to tumble as the SDCC pressure increased. At the end of the 14th over, Chessington were 49 for 4. John had clean bowled two batsman and James L had taken a good catch off John’s bowling. In the 12th over, John had been on a hat trick.
Too easy? Over confident? Possibly, because the next 6 overs yielded 71 runs off the bat! One Chessington batsman ended up on 48 not out and the SDCC attack was made to look very ordinary.
Even the return of Alex for the 17th & 19th overs failed to stem the Chessington charge to 120 for 5 off 20 overs. A very difficult catch by James W at deep mid off in the 17th over, bowled by Dominic, accounted for the fifth wicket.
For the second game in succession, SDCC had surrendered a strong position in the field.
For the record, Alex 4-1-25-0; Matt L 4-1-13-1; James L 4-0-12-0; John 4-0-31-3; James W 2-0-18-0; Dominic 1-0-11-1 and Adam 1-0-10-0. SDCC gifted 6 extras, (3 Wides & 3 No Balls), to Chessington. Robbie behind the stumps was in fine form.
So, as the clouds got darker and the light began to fade, SDCC now faced the task of getting 121 to win.
Robbie & James W opened the SDCC innings. Off the last ball, of an 8 ball opening over, James W was on the end of a very good ball that lifted and left him. He was good enough to nick it and SDCC were 8 for 1. In strode James L.
Robbie and he then proceeded to accumulate sensibly against an accurate Chessington opening attack to reach 46 for 1 by the end of the 7th over. James L then opened his shoulders and the score accelerated to 91 for 1 off 11 overs.
Game over? Not quite! In the 12th over, James L was clean bowled for a powerful 53, to be followed in the 14th over by Robbie, very well caught behind for a pugnacious 19. (Robbie walked…extremely sporting of him and commended by Chessington’s umpire, who was undecided.)
SDCC were 106 for 3 off 14 overs. Matt C and Matt L, calmness personified, now set about scoring the winning runs. In the 16th over, Matt C is given out LBW by the Chessington umpire, when he had taken two strides down the wicket…even ‘Hawkeye’ would have struggled!
Then Matt L was caught in the same over and SDCC were 110 for 5 at the end of the 16th over. Chessington sensed that they were back in the game and the noise level of encouragement intensified. John and Adam were at the crease and the tension mounted. However, after one near miss, Adam settled down and he hit the winning runs in the 18th over to finish 10 not out, with John 4 not out. SDCC won in the gloom by 5 wickets, with the time showing 9pm!
Chessington gifted 28 extras to SDCC and in the end SDCC were grateful for that generosity!
The lesson to be learnt is that one can never afford to lose concentration and let any team off the hook. SDCC needs to discover a ruthlessness, otherwise the unbeaten run is likely to come to a premature end. The coach will attempt to instill it, starting on Tuesday evening, when he suspects that the team will need to be at their very best to beat Weybridge.
The Man of the Match was James Lander, who not only bowled tightly, but won the game for his team with a very fine innings.
My thanks as always to David Bond for scoring, to Dominic from the Under 15s for contributing unstintingly to the team effort and to the supporters for staying and watching on a very inhospitable English summer’s evening.