Academy win Surrey Trust League opener

Surrey Trust League – Zone 3
Stoke D’Abernon Academy 171 all out (37.4 overs)
Malden Wanderers 94 all out (34.5 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon won by 77 runs

Both sides were victims of late changes to availability, but Stoke’s strength in depth proved decisive and the end result was a very satisfying 77 run win.

Dan Gluckman, Nico Spreeth, Dan Douthwaite, Giacomo Gray and Paddy Wilson all made their Academy debuts, and all left positive entries on the second innings; but Stoke were grateful to the more experienced heads of Academy Captain Will Gudgeon, and Club Captain Matt Gottschalk to set a defendable total.

Gudgeon won the toss and chose to bat first on a pitch that was having its fifth and sixth innings in the space of eight days; the midweek rain making the groundsman’s job of cutting a fresh strip an impossibility.

Armed with local knowledge on how it played the previous day; the warning was to avoid playing back. James Whitmarsh duly stayed over the ball and found the fence twice, but he was the only batsman in the top six who made it to double-figures with 17. He was fourth out with the total on 28; Gluckman, James Trower, (stumped in an unusual manner when he advanced down the track, cut the ball into the ground from where it spun back into the keeper’s gloves); and Tom Frost having already been dismissed.

Stoke were soon 34 for 5 when Douthwaite slapped a waist high full toss to mid-on; and Gudgeon needed to demonstrate all his skill in helping build a total and batting time. Spreeth fought hard but was a leg before victim to a ball that shot along the ground with the total on 60; then the tempo of the match changed with the arrival of Gottschalk.

“G-Force” added a further 70 runs in just nine overs with some clean hitting of anything off the stumps. Gottschalk hit four fours and two sixes in a knock of 38 from just 28 balls faced before he was bowled.

Gudgeon nursed another 41 runs out of the tail before being last out for 73 from 65 balls faced with eleven fours and two sixes. The innings closed on 171 in the 38th over, disappointingly a Stoke side yet again failed to bat their overs.

Six of the seven bowlers used took wickets; one notable name on the scorecard was Joe Lavender, brother of former Stoke Academy player Jake; Jake himself, (http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/profile/statistics.asp?id=11452375), one of the aforementioned players pulled out of this fixture to help Malden Wanderers fulfil a cup fixture.

With the rain clouds closing in; in addition to keeping the opposition behind the asking rate; there was the additional brief to get the minimum amount of overs in quickly to constitute a match.

Douthwaite and Gray opened the bowling, and set a good tempo to the over rate despite running in from a distance. Bowling good lines, each took a deserved wicket; Gray, (4-0-11-1), striking first when Gudgeon fell under an edge that deflected from keeper Whitmarsh’s body-armour to account for Lake; Douthwaite, in his best spell for Stoke, (4-1-3-1), castled Burbridge.

From then on it was slow bowling all the way. Spreeth bravely tossed the ball up and was rewarded with the wickets of Lavender and skipper Gould; Gluckman, who bowled his eight over allocation in one go for the concession of just 23 runs, found the edge of Elcox’s bat and Whitmarsh did the rest behind the stumps. 54 for 5.

Mindful that Stoke were in a similar position in their innings, Gudgeon kept urging his team on. The next wave of spin, courtesy of Gottschalk and Wilson, continued to strangle the scoring, pushing the asking rate above a run-a-ball.

The pressure told as Mason charged down the wicket to a Gottschalk delivery and appeared to be stumped; but the ball had reached Whitmarsh’s gloves via an outside edge. Gottschalk, (4-1-8-1), was unlucky not to claim a second wicket when one of his darts crashed through the stumps for four byes without dislodging the bails. Wilson accounted for Gray, leg-before for a duck and the last two batsmen who came out didn’t last long either.

Morgan chipped the returning Spreeth, (7-0-19-3), to Wilson at mid-wicket. The match ended in the next over with a c Spreeth b Wilson. Wilson finished with commendable figures of 7.5-0-24-2 on his first appearance at the Rec.

The innings closed at the fall of the ninth wicket was Mackintosh was not sent out to bat having sustained a hand injury whilst keeping wicket. This left No.3 Jafri stranded on 40 not out; a gritty knock, (he faced 94 balls for his runs), on the pitch that was now really spicy as the drizzle started to turn into something a little harder.

So a great start for a new look Academy side. A tougher test is expected next week as a trip to former Plate finalists Purley beckons.

Scorecard Link : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11382918