Friendly Match – Saturday 21st September 2013
Twickenham 194 for 4 (35 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon 173 for 7 (35 overs)
Twickenham won by 21 runs
Another tough week for the team secretary, and the loss of both keeping options after the team was announced made things even more of a puzzle. Nine Stoke players did make it to the ground, their number made up to ten on the day of the match thanks to Danny Douthwaite Snr who made his playing debut for the club. The end product was a fun game, but a narrow defeat.
The toss, overseen by England’s Ashes Winner Nat Sciver, returning to the ground where it all began for her, was won by Nick Lo and he chose to chase given the lack of fielding options.
The scoreboard rattled early as Blunden and Slater added 43, the total boosted by extras and some end of term fielding that leaked a few runs in mis-fields and overthrows. Dan Douthwaite, (Jnr), broke the partnership when Blunden dragged a wideish ball on to his stumps. Slater continued to bat positively and reached 39 before being bowled by Nico Spreeth. 77 for 2.
Either side of the drinks break Will Frost and Ralph Coleman slowed things down, the latter bowling Tomar with a ball that was too close to cut. This brought the Johnson brothers to the crease, and whilst they added 72 with little alarm, the fielding effort improved and the bowlers stuck to their task.
The partnership was broken when Jase Earl, who had earlier bowled well without luck, took a good low catch in front of the sightscreen to remove Paul Johnson for 41; a deserved wicket for Frost who returned figures of 7-0-18-1 in two spells. Mark Johnson reached an unbeaten 26 by the close of the innings, Ubale hitting an entertaining unbeaten 15. Extras top-scored with 42 and the final total of 194 for 4 was a challenging one.
Consequently Stoke needed some quick runs early in the reply. James Trower was an early loss when he was castled by Fordham, but Stephen Anderson and Douthwaite Jnr added 57 runs at better than a run-a-ball. Anderson played in his usual manner, hitting two sixes, Douthwaite was slightly less fluent on a pitch that didn’t really come on, and he fell to a leg before call when on 18.
Anderson was joined by skipper Lo, and the total moved to 97 by the mid-point of the 15th over. Anderson reached his third half-century of the season with a six over extra cover, a sixth four was hit next ball, but later the same over he called for suicidal single and was beaten by a good throw from the keeper who made a direct hit to the bowler’s end.
Lo and Earl carried on the chase, adding another 44 runs; but change bowlers Dassani and Ubali bowled good areas, restricted the boundaries and the asking rate started to climb. Earl, (12), was unlucky to fall to a good running catch in the deep by Harris as he attempted to find the required boundary for the over.
Lo continued to accumulate runs at just below the asking rate, but the loss of Spreeth left him with the tail. Although he made it to 46 before edging to the keeper, in reality a win was looking increasingly unlikely, and the match was in danger of ending in a whimper as 27 runs were needed off the last two overs despite the best efforts of Frost who hit an unbeaten 12.
Members of the sizeable crowd could easily have gone when the last over started with 24 needed, but they were rewarded for going the distance with the privilege of watching a batting masterclass from Douthwaite Snr, who opened his account on the last ball of the match, leaving the field to a standing ovation.
Thanks to Twickenham for their contribution to the match, and to the bar afterwards. We will look to ink this one in again next year.
Next week, the Saturday side travel to Woodmansterne. A fixture is being sought for the Sunday XI.
Scorecard Link : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11794770
