Thursday 16th July 2015
Nat West Under 19 T20 Blast
Stoke Slayers 187 for 7 (20 overs)
Walton Warriors 96 all out (16.2 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon won by 91 runs
Stoke’s first away mission in this year’s Under 19 T20 Blast was a successful one with a big win at Walton. It was Walton’s first game of the competition and they put on a great match-day experience with music over the tannoy between overs, when boundaries were hit or wickets fell, (an enthusiastic DJ added to the fun), and a BBQ that ran throughout the match.
Despite all the razzamatazz Stoke focused on the job in hand and made a good start to the match having been inserted. Ben Holder crashed the first ball of the innings through cover for four, and after having a few sighters Giacomo Gray hit six fours in an eight ball period before being the first to fall for 25 off 17 in the fifth over with the score on 33.
Baz Medlycott was greeted with a beamer first up from change bowler Duke, and was yorked later in the over, (walking off the field to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” was a nice touch from the DJ); and Stoke continued their alarming trend of losing wickets in bunches when Olly Trower hit to backward point in the next over third ball having hit the first one he faced for 4.
Holder and debutant Will Bradley took the total to 70 by the half-way mark before the former was caught for 28. Max Subba Row was next in and continued his good form from Tuesday; hitting two sixes, (one of them off a free hit), and a four before falling for 17 with the total on 105.
The innings could have taken a turn for the worse when Dom Morley dollied a leading edge back to the bowler when he had scored just four but the ball somehow went to ground. He made them pay.
The next ball went for four, and apart from a bye and a leg-bye he scored off each of the next sixteen balls he would face; racing to an unbeaten 51 from 21 balls with four sixes and four fours before his enforced retirement in the final over. His two most memorable shots were a reverse that he nailed through point, and a sweetly timed straight six that bounced off the scoreboard.
Whilst at the crease Bradley was dismissed for a well-constructed 22 from 27 balls; Ed Ashwell clubbed a six and a four in his unbeaten 13, and another debutant, Charlie Hinchcliffe, hit a nice four in a three ball cameo that saw him dismissed for 6 off the penultimate ball of the innings. A swing and a miss off the final ball left the total standing at a formidable 187 for 7; 46 of these runs came off the last three overs as returning bowlers, who in fairness all did OK, had their figures spoiled.
After the half-time doughnuts the first three overs shared by Adam Wilkinson, (a third debutant), and Jack Townsend went for just 17 runs; immediately pushing the asking rate up to ten an over.
Opener Davies got the board moving with a flurry of boundaries, (his first seven scoring shots were fours), but runs at the other end proved harder to come by; in contrast the other opener Hagger opened with five singles and burned a lot of deliveries making those.
Stoke needed a breakthrough with the fifty posted by the end of the seventh over, though, and got one when Hagger mis-pulled a ball from Ashwell that ended up in Medlycott’s hands at mid-off.
From this point Stoke turned the screw. Hinchcliffe bowled good areas in two tidy overs; setting a platform for slow bowlers Holder and Medlycott to gobble up wickets in the pursuit of quick runs.
Holder collected the wicket of Davies for 40 with his first legitimate delivery; castled Cates for 3 in his second over; and No.4 Derham was stumped by Olly Trower in his third. Figures of 3-0-20-3 continued his good all-round game.
In between these wickets, there was a comedy of errors that also saw Miller lost to a run out. Morley dropped a skier on the boundary, nearly touched the rope when crawling on the ground trying to locate the ball, he eventually winged the ball into Medlycott at the bowler’s end, where both batsmen were standing with Medlycott. As the batsmen debated who should try and make it back Medlycott had the simple task of lobbing the ball 22 yards to Trower to compete the dismissal – as Richie Benaud might not have said…not good cricket all-round.
Holder’s wickets owed much to the pressure created at the other end by Medlycott who didn’t concede a boundary in his four over spell. When the skipper eventually took his first wicket, that of Allen who was well caught this time in the deep by Morley, this opened the floodgates as Duke and Sale were bowled with successive deliveries in the same over. A maiden followed to complete excellent figures of 4-1-11-3.
Jack Townsend took the team’s third wicket in three balls when Watkins hit one to Holder who judged the catch well over his shoulder. 90 for 9.
No.11 Wilde hit one of the shots of the innings when he drilled a ball through the covers for four, but he was stumped by Trower off the returning Wilkinson in the next over after adopting a curious style to bat out of the crease with the keeper up; leaving an easy decision for James Trower at square leg who took his turn at umpiring this one and earned a trip to The Mogul afterwards for his efforts courtesy of the scorer.
So, Stoke’s two wins in the space of three days sets up a 1st v 2nd clash at Sunbury on Tuesday.
See you there!
Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/2553922
Table : http://ecbu19clubt20.play-cricket.com/website/websites/view_division?id=60868