2nd XI are CHAMPIONS

Surrey Championship Division 5 – 2nd XI competition

Old Hamptionians 2nd XI  85 all out (26.3 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI 87 for 4 (23.3 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI, (10 points), beat Old Hamptionians 2nd XI, (0 points), by 6 wickets

Stoke’s second string made short work of Old Hamptonians for the second time this season, finishing matters before 3pm with a six wicket victory.

Having finally won the toss Matt elected to field. Whilst Carson found Po difficult to get away, Hutchinson hit 5 boundaries off Jake. Jake was unlucky not to get his man as 1 of the 4s was an edge through the slips and when an edge from Carson went to ground we were wondering how long we’d have to wait for a wicket.

In Po’s 7th over, Hutchinson edged to Falcon behind the stumps and 2 balls later Reid was caught at 2nd slip. Kitson attacked straight away and hit 2 boundaries through 3rd man to end an eventful over.

Shortly afterwards, Carson was also dismissed, caught at 2nd slip to give Po his 3rd wicket. Po would finish with 3-12 from his 10 overs. By now Ralphie had come on at the other end and bowled Kitson and Wilde in consecutive deliveries. 57-2 had become 57-5 in just 8 balls.

Willo replaced Po at the Railway End and Matt replaced Ralphie (2-16 after 6 overs), at the Blundell Lane end. It was Willo who got the next breakthrough tempting Blair into a mistimed shot to fall to a diving catch by Tufty. Willo took the final 2 wickets in his following over thanks to more catches for Tufty and Falcon. The visitors were all out for 85 in just 26.3 overs.

Our reply didn’t start well with Ali Mac being bowled by Kitson in the 2nd over and Gav being well caught low at slip off Blair in the 5th over. Peter was elevated to number 3 in the batting order and along with Tufty took the score to 41, Peter hitting boundaries, firstly off Kitson, then 2 through mid wicket off Blair.

Blair got his revenge when he bowled Peter and then trapped Crispy leg before 2 overs later, Crispy having rifled a straight 4 earlier in the over. We still needed 37 to win when Falcon came to the wicket to join Tufty.

Falcon was dropped on 1, but after this the pair was very patient, knowing that with a small target they just needed to wait for the bad ball. They saw off the dangerous Blair who finished with 3-33 from his 10 overs. Tufty hit boundaries off both Kitson and Allen to finish not out 24 before Falcon hit the winning runs in Evans’ first over.

Stoke 2s have won 12 games this season and earned a deserved promotion to Division 4.

Much later in the day, news came through of a shock defeat for Oxted & Limpsfield at home to Farncombe to restore Stoke to the top of the table and finish the season as Champions.

stoke 2s 2010

Back Row : Ralph Coleman, Alistair McMillan, Malcolm Dickson, Andy Page, Adrian Mills, Will Frost and Jake Lavender

Front Row : Gavin Gresse, John Crisp, Matt Gottschalk, (Captain), Graham Tufts and Peter Phipps

Scorecard Link : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10912417

Table Link : http://surreychampionship.play-cricket.com/leaguetables/divisionTable.asp?id=6734&seasonID=23