Sunday XI run Ashtead close in thriller

Whilst Spain and Holland served up 120 minutes of dross, Sunday XI skipper Stephen Finch has news of a more exciting event…

“…A great game against Ashtead today, really showing what Sunday cricket is all about.

Ashtead won the toss, decided to bat, scored 271, one player got a hundred. Our star bowler was James Trower who bowled his longest ever spell, 18 overs for good figures, really restraining the runs. Star fielder was Ben Dunjay who stopped countless fours on the deep extra cover boundary and also a great catch to stop a six.

Stoke were not phased by the big total calculating it needed a steady 6 to 7 an over from the start on a fast outfield. Sam Bradford-Smith opened with Malcolm Dickson and we just passed 100 before the first wicket fell when Malcolm was out in this mid 30s. Sam went on to score 94 which was a great achievement.

Others chipped in, Chris Finch in the 50’s, me with 34 and although we suffered from some run outs, we decided to keep going for the win rather than play for an easily achievable draw. The long and short of it is we lost our last wicket in the penultimate over, only 8 runs short.

Suffice to say, the end was so exciting. Although the World Cup Final had been playing on the Club TV for 20 minutes, no one was watching and there was much cheering from the boundary.

Great spirit, lots of runs and good to see Stoke not intimidated by a big target of 271.”

Full scorecard to follow when available. Check out the ‘Matches/Results’ section of our Play Cricket site for this and all the other Sunday XI results and fixtures for 2010…and if you fancy joining in, contact Finchy!