Saturday 16th July 2016
Travelbag Surrey Championship – Division 5
Stoke D’Abernon 260 for 7 declared (49.5 overs)
Old Emanuel 263 for 6 (42.2 overs)
Old Emanuel won by 4 wickets

Stoke didn’t do a lot wrong in this one but there was a lot of head-scratching after a solid batting performance and a positive declaration went unrewarded. Some days you just have to say well played to the opposition.

Visiting skipper Ahmad won the toss and chose to field. Opening pair James Trower and Ian Hopton were unable to repeat their heroics of last week; Trower, (2), drove at a wide-ish one from F.Butt and Naqvi took a decent rising catch behind the stumps; then Hopton, (15), mis-drove one from A.Butt to Mohamed at mid-on. 20 for 2.

Harry Nawaz and Nico Spreeth more than re-built the innings with a stand of 64 in just under 17 overs. Nawaz made it to 35 before he was adjudged leg-before to one that hit him nearer the thigh pad than the roll; but this only served to bring Alastair Curran to the crease and the scoring rate remained healthy.

Spreeth scored runs all-around the wicket, including an audacious ramp for four over the keeper as he approached fifty. He didn’t quite get there, holing out to a decent catch from Ahmad on the line off Mushtaq when on 46.

It was great to see Tom Frost back in town and he reminded us of what we he was all about with a fluent knock of 39 from just 33 balls. In partnership with Curran 73 runs were added in just under eleven overs to bring the 200 up at which point Frost gave Ahmad another catch on the line, this time off Malik.

Curran, (53), registered his maiden 1st XI League half-century before scooping an attempted ramp from F.Butt to the leg-slip area where Naqvi moved to his left to take the simplest of chances.

With the platform more than set and quick runs needed for the declaration James Miller and Dan Gluckman shared five sixes; Miller’s 29 off 19 included three of them, and he also hit a four before he skied one to A.Butt off Ahmad. Gluckman, (17 not out off 9), hit his second six to prompt a positive 49.5 over declaration at 260 for 7.

What was to follow was something not seen at The Rec for some time. Mohamed launched a brutal attack on the Stoke bowlers from the off; racing to 50 off just 32 balls, and then taking just 22 more to score his century.

No bowler was spared as the total reached 152 in just the seventeenth over before he mis-pulled one to deep fine leg where Toby Tarrant held on. In all Mohamed faced just 59 balls for his 109 runs and he hit nine fours and eight sixes. Within minutes of his dismissal he was in his car and off into the sunset.

So Stoke needed to assert some control and one man did this in an emphatic way. Tarrant was immediately reintroduced into the attack, and off the fifth and sixth balls of his comeback over Ekhpewak cut to Nawaz in the gully, then A.Butt nicked off to Frost next ball. After a three singles in the next over from Kelso, Tarrant completed his hat-trick when opener Kaushik, who had played nicely for his 43 that had gone largely unnoticed due to the pyrotechnics at the other end, pulled a short delivery to Gluckman at square-leg. This was the eleventh hat-trick by a Stoke player since 1990. (http://www.stokecc.co.uk/player-records/)

So things were back in the balance at 157 for 4, and mindful of the opposition’s shortage of runs and league position all year another breakthrough might have exposed a tail; but Minhas and Ahmad didn’t give the Stoke bowlers a sniff, and with run-rate not an issue they put together a patient and decisive partnership of 90 for the 5th wicket.

Minhas, (34), fell to a freak stumping when Frost stopped a leg-side delivery from Gottschalk with his shins and the ball cannoned back onto the stumps with the batsman out of his ground; and although Naqvi hit another Gottschalk, (2 for 39), ball to Kelso in the covers attempting to finish things; Ahmad, (62 not out), drilled the winning hit through the covers to take the points.

So this craziest of divisions takes another twist. Incredibly Stoke still have matters in their own hands, (five or six other clubs could now easily say the same thing, though!), despite an erratic pattern of results. Next week they look to complete a win-double over Old Pauline who come to The Rec.

Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/2804756