Saturday 1st August 2015
Surrey Championship Division 5
Stoke D’Abernon 164 all out (44.4 overs)
Maori Oxshott 166 for 7 (42.4 overs)
Maori Oxshott won by 3 wickets
A step forward followed by a step backwards for Stoke’s 1st XI as we squandered a good position batting first and posted a below par total. We took seven Oxshott wickets in reply but now need favours from others plus, realistically, wins in the last five 50-over matches to have any chance of playing in a higher division next season.
With no Will Gudgeon around this week Ian Hopton was free to win the toss and we batted first on what looked a good deck, the pre-match speculation being that 250 would be a good score. The batting started confidently too, Jack Raimondo and Adrian Taylor scoring 36 for the 1st wicket before Taylor edged Hutcheon (the pick of the 3 seam bowlers) to Jarrett behind the stumps for 17. Raimondo continued with James Trower and the run rate was nearly 5 per over before the spinners were introduced.
The spinners changed the game. Saker bowled tightly at one end (as he’s been doing for as long as Chalky can remember) and Ryan gave the ball air, getting good bounce out of the wicket, but in truth, the bowling was steady rather than threatening and wickets were given away as much as they were earned. We let a good position slip as 78-1 became 107-7 in fewer than 12 overs!
From there Giacomo Gray (28) and Matt Gottschalk (25) rebuilt to a certain extent, with the highest partnership of the innings. The pair put on 54 at better than 4 an over. They hit 3 boundaries each and looked solid, but once Saker made the breakthrough the innings was over very quickly. Saker and Ryan finished with 4-39 and 4-45 respectively, putting the visitors in a very healthy position. 164 all out with a top score of 37 from Raimondo was well short of what we had hoped for and we knew only a terrific bowling and fielding effort would see us win this match.
After tea Alex Bond started well finding the edge of the bat twice for 2 sharp slip catches by Adrian Taylor. 10-2 was just the start we needed, but the 3rd wicket was harder to come by as G Harper and Ryan steadied the innings for the visitors. Harper was merciless in punishing the bad ball and Ryan proved good off his legs progressing the score to 74 before the next wicket came when Ryan mistimed a pull shot off Nico Spreeth to the safe hands of Ben Holder and mid on.
Jarrett joined Harper and the pair saw the score into 3 figures before Jarrett fell to a stunning reflex catch by Matt Gottschalk off his own bowling. The batsman stared in disbelief as Chalky plucked a full blooded drive out of the air, with the umpire behind him taking cover. Harper then got a life courtesy of a drop on the boundary but was out shortly afterwards to a 3rd catch of the afternoon for Taylor. The opener’s score of 66 had put his team in the driving seat, but there was still much work to be done.
For all Stoke’s work in the field; only 2 more wickets came, and with so much time left we were unable to put pressure on the incoming batsmen. Both wickets fell to Hopton, the first a drilled catch to Spreeth at mid wicket, and the 2nd an lbw decision in what proved to be the last over. Thorpe batted well for an unbeaten 36, but this was a disappointing match for Stoke.
Next week we host Churt; the last team Will Gudgeon won the toss against.
Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/2470266