Sunday 8th May 2016
Harrow Wayfarers 151 all out (42.5 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon 95 for 7 (40 overs)
Match Drawn
Fun in the sun as Stoke and the Harrow Wayfarers played out a slow-paced friendly match at the Rec.
With members of the opposition arriving late due to traffic the match kicked off 20 minutes after the scheduled start with a ‘negotiated’ toss seeing Stoke take the field first; and new-ball pair Adrian Mills and Richie Parrett wasted no time tucking into a re-juggled top order.
Parrett saw an early edge through the vacant second slip area go for four, and these were the only runs he conceded in his six over burst that saw Croft drive loosely to the covers where Chris Finch did the rest; Mills snicked off danger man Buckfield first ball, (a great grab by Rod Thomson who kindly agreed to keep again); then Parrett clipped left-hander Laxton’s off bail to finish with 6-5-4-2; not bad for a first run-out of the season and little netting.
The visitors fared little better against the change bowlers. Ollie John’s first ball forced Shave to steer to Chris Finch at slip, and it was 9 for 4 with more overs bowled than runs scored, the opposition eventually going over 1 per over in the 16th over.
John ended his spell, (5-3-5-2), as he started; castling visiting skipper Bennett for 13, (39 for 5), prompting a tricky task of game management for the home captain.
After another promising four over spell from Josh Gilbertson, Peter Phipps and Alistair McMillan bowled in tandem up to and beyond the drinks break. Jeal made it to 31 before he edged one to Phipps at slip via a deflection off Thomson; and 68 for 6 was soon 74 for 7 when McGee missed one of McMillan’s grenades. McMillan finished with 8-1-32-2; Phipps landed the ball in some great areas, his 5-0-20-0 contained two sixes and a four to highlight the number of dots, and it was nice to see the outcome without the nets to catch his flighted leggies.
Thankfully the visitors had the likeable Hallam in their side who was able to score off anything loose. In addition to the above sixes, (he would hit another off the returning Mills later), he peppered the boundary, (three of his ten fours were off successive deliveries from Chris Finch who tried a thoroughly unsuccessful experiment of switching to round the wicket), and there were brief spells from Thomson and Ralph Coleman to take the bowler count up to nine.
As the total reached something the visitors would be happy to bowl at and Stoke to chase, Mills returned and finished things quickly. Ball was castled for 11 to end an 8th wicket stand of 66; Hallam holed out in the deep to Coleman for a fine 84 the ball after he cleared the railway; and Mills effected a run-out off his own bowling, (well done to John for getting to the stumps so quickly), to close the innings on 151. Mills finished with 8.5-2-18-3 – the Saturday Captains will be pleased to hear he is ‘League Ready’ despite limited outings this year.
The late start, (and end), to the first innings left Stoke with the problem that John, who had to leave early for extra maths lessons, did not have any time to have a quick hit to give the Stoke chase a kick-start. He was withdrawn under orders by Dad, but it was great to see him on the field and thank you for turning out for us if you’re reading this Ollie!
So everyone moved one up the order; Doug Gilbertson and Phipps taking strike with just over an hour plus the mandatory 20 overs to get the required runs.
The scoring rate hovered around the 2 per over mark initially, but as the pair looked to up the rate Phipps was called through for an improbable single and was lost to a run out for 6. He had looked solid to that point.
Gilbertson and McMillan moved the score past the 50 mark, and the platform was set for a dart at the win, but then things didn’t quite go to plan. McMillan missed a full-toss from McLaughlin, Gilbertson checked out on 31 when he was caught by Hallam off Ball, and Stephen Finch followed next ball, playing back to one that kept low.
Chris Finch charged at the hat-trick ball and was rewarded with a two; this inspired Thomson to adopt a similar aggressive approach, and it was 83 for 5 with nine overs to go.
The message from the pavilion was to go for the win and back the tail if things went wrong; sadly the “if” came into play as Chris Finch was bowled by McLaughlin, (3-16), and Thomson suffered the same mode of dismissal, departing for 13.
Mills was bowled by Ball, (3-27), to give the visitors a sniff; but Josh Gilbertson and Coleman safely negotiated the last eight or so overs despite some very inviting pies from McGee and Laxton in the closing overs; Gilbertson Jnr scoring his first runs in senior cricket and ending the match with a delightful sweep for two that would have gone for four with a less lush outfield.
The opposition placed a jug of Asahi in the home dressing room after the game and the bar closed late to complete an excellent day despite some periods of slow scoring on both sides that wasn’t quite what the barmy army of Jack Raimondo and Will Frost – plus Medders who popped in to say “Hello” – had hoped to see.
Next week the Sunday XI host the Badgers at the Rec.
Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/2808467