2nd XI Secure Winning Draw at Merstham

Saturday 15th June 2019
AJ Fordham Surrey Championship – 2nd XI competition
Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI 177 all out (50.3 overs)
Merstham 2nd XI 141 for 8 (56 overs)
Match Drawn – ‘Winning Draw’ to Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI

Stoke’s second string built on their victory from the previous week with a winning draw at Merstham. The match was similar to the 1st XI game where a lost toss made batting difficult first up; but a total was posted and wickets were taken at good times after tea to force the opposition to bat out for a draw.

Last week’s batting heroes Peter Phipps and Hamza Hafeez were early departures this time around; but solid contributions from the middle order; 29 from Roddy Kelso, 24 from Dan Gluckman, 18 from Jase Earl, 39 from Will Harris and 15 from Ben Townsend; saw Stoke creep up to 139 for 7. Deepak Malhotra, (27), then nursed the tail up to a decent total for the conditions of 177 all out in 50.3 overs.

The over-rates were good meaning that Stoke ended up having 56 overs back at the opposition. With lots of bowling options at his disposal Phipps ultimately used seven of them.

The pattern of the second innings mirrored large parts of the first. Opener Saeed made 42, but no other batsman made it past 16 as Townsend, (2 for 32), and Gluckman, (4 for 31), chipped away at the order.

Pressure was created at the other end by Duncan Elder, (10-1-26-1), and Kelso who returned outstanding figures of 10-6-9-1.

At the fall of the eighth wicket the opposition opted to protect the points they had worked hard for themselves. Stoke had to settle for a winning draw, but improved their position in the table and will look to progress further next week when hitherto winless Kempton visit The Rec.

Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/3753697