T20 Friendly
Stoke D’Abernon 164 for 5 (20 overs)
Claygate 154 for 9 (20 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon won by 10 runs
For once a T20 fixture involving Stoke was not affected by weather and they emerged victorious in the sunshine at the ever hospitable Claygate CC.
With Adam Cooke stuck in traffic, James Whitmarsh was tasked with the toss, and became the fourth different captain to call incorrectly in as many matches, yet still walked back with the preferred option to bat first.
Jack Raimondo and Whitmarsh himself opened up, and the pair made full use of the 6-over power play, posting a quickfire partnership of 65 by the eighth over when Whitmarsh, who hit the only six of the innings in his 19 from as many balls faced, served up a return catch to Smith.
The Claygate Rec has been a happy hunting ground for Raimondo, and he posted another half-century soon afterwards with his ninth four. He was next to go having taken his personal total to 74 from just 39 balls faced with thirteen fours before he was bowled by Pilgrim. 95-2.
The change bowlers took pace off the ball to good effect, but Rod Thomson hit 15 including one glorious straight drive before he was bowled by Pilgrim, (4-0-35-2); then Ed Gough ran hard and played some pleasing shots in his knock of 20 from just 15 balls faced. The scoreboard continued to tick over with the help of extras with two runs being awarded for a wide.
Thomson’s dismissal brought guest player Ed Jones to the crease. Jones, who has played for Claygate in this fixture before, was a late call up as Stoke initially only had nine players – yet he still chose to get changed in the home dressing room! Ironically, the Frost brothers then made it to the ground and were duly selected as well to make a twelve-a-side match, Claygate themselves having a spare player.
Anyway, back to the cricket. Gough and Jones both lost their wickets late in the innings looking for quick runs; Jones picking out Webb in the deep who took a great catch; then Gough was bowled by Hutton in the final over, leaving Cooke and Jeremy Connell to nudge singles off the remaining three balls to close the innings on 164 for 5.
The players turned round immediately. Mike Carty and Connell opened the bowling and the latter struck first when Ross picked out Jones in the deep with just twelve on the board. Jones was proving a valuable addition to the side as he saved a number of runs with some good boundary running, and he also effected the run out of Davis with a great throw from the deep.
Carty was the game’s best bowler and bowled his allocation through in one spell for the concession of just 22 runs, taking a deserved wicket with his final ball when he yorked Price for 21.
Home skipper Simmons hit two maximums and two fours in his knock of 29 before he became the first of Will Frost’s two wickets when he chipped a chance that Raimondo moved well from slip to take over his shoulder. In his next over, Smith spooned a chance to 45 where Ralph Coleman managed to turn what should have been a dolly had he been walking in into a low diving catch; then Raimondo threw the stumps down to account for Labacik. 91-5.
Opportunities with the ball were then given to all the fielders with varying degrees of success. Whitmarsh bowled Woods with his first ball; Coleman worked on a ‘you miss, I hit’ policy with Webb and removed his middle stump after three hits; then Raimondo and Tom Frost combined to account for Tiger in the penultimate over.
Frost was not required to keep, duties passing to Will Thomson who didn’t concede a bye in the innings, backing up a great effort with the scorebook in the first innings.
Although they all got starts, the Claygate batmen were missing an innings of substance and were never quite up with the run rate. Allen and Giles were unable to score the required runs from the final over, bowled by Gough who was unfortunate not to take a wicket as he bowled decent areas. Stoke secured a ten run victory before the sides retired to the bar.
The clubs will meet again on Thursday 28th July in an all-day game as part of Claygate’s Cricket week. Please put this date in your diary and let Ralphie know if you can play.
Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11192958