Sunday 30th May 2021
Something new and something to be repeated as people from all sections of the Stoke massive turned up at The Rec for a 7-a-side competition, (plans for 6-a-side shelved when the numbers better lent to an extra player per team.)
The tournament was the brainchild of Toby Tarrant and Tom Frost who had a taste of the selection issues that captains, managers and team secretaries face each week; but they eventually moved names on the table and picked four base squads:
Given the name of the opposition Alex Turner’s lyrics probably best summed up the various challenges and mood swings of the selection committee this week as the XI required ongoing amendment in the week:
And I’m so tense, never tenser
Could all go a bit Frank Spencer?
Despite this the resultant patched up 1st XI with two debutants and a sprinkling of 2nd XI assistance restricted an unbeaten opposition to a chaseable total.
Jase Earl, (10-1-25-2), got through a full allocation, and there were braces of wickets for for Ian Hopton, (10-1-24-2), and Toby Tarrant, (2 for 46.) Roddy Kelso effected a run out.
In reply James Trower, (37), and Max Subba Row added 61 for the first wicket, but the engine room of the middle order was missing a couple of regulars. Luke Patterson showed promise on debut, but only Tom Frost, (27), made it past twenty and others did their best but Hopton was left stranded with the tail and too much to do.
Spencer’s win takes them joint top with Sutton, Stoke’s opponents next weekend.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4580248
Stoke’s 1st XI started life in Division 1 with a narrow and exciting win over Leatherhead in a match reduced to 22 overs per side.
The adage that winning is a habit was more than demonstrated here as Stoke found a way to 123 for 9 courtesy of an unbeaten 37 from James Corbishley and 25 from Alastair Curran.
in reply Stoke were behind for most of the way; 48-0, 81-1 and even 100-3; but the bowlers all stood up, all five used took wickets, (Ian Hopton 3 for 24, Max Subba Row 2 for 20 and one each for Ben Townsend, Robbie Blackburn and Toby Tarrant), and were backed up a fielding effort led by keeper Tom Frost who caught four and stumped a fifth; leaving Tarrant enough runs to play with going into the final over to secure a narrow win.
Huge credit to George for getting a pitch playable, and to both sets of teams and umpires for showing a desire to get a game on. Let’s see where these win points help decide things come September. But that’s a long way off, it’s a trip to Guildford next.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4579895
Stoke’s first XI completed their pre-League programme with a huge win against an Old Whitgiftians side that were not without ability.
Batting first No.3 Will Gudgeon made 61 after the loss of both openers with just 16 on the board. He was ably assisted by Roddy Kelso who made 22.
This was merely the entree as Tom Frost, fresh from quarantine and a few holes, cracked his second century for the Club, retiring on 100 with 12 fours, 2 sixes and some hard running with James Corbishley, (22), and Jack Raimondo.
During his knock Frost became the 27th player to make 5000 runs for the Club.
Stoke closed on a formidable 256 or 7 in their 45 over allocation.
In reply the opposition were never allowed to get going. Ben Townsend, Toby Tarrant and Robbie Blackburn, (5-3-7-3), tore through the top order; the support cast saw the tail rushing for pads as well and only an unbeaten 50 from No.9 Raza added respectability to the final total as a 158 run win was secured.
Performances good, spirits high, the side host Leatherhead in the first League match next weekend full of confidence and with one or two expected returning players to add to the selection headache.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4771941
World events meant we had the latest start ever to a season – 18th July – and our enthusiasm to play meant that we also had the latest finish – 10th October – the previous record of the 1st October, (three previous occasions), would also have been beaten had we played the fixture we arranged with Oxted & Limpsfield for the 3rd October, but torrential rain in Limpsfield in the week ruined that plan. Club President Stephen Finch was clearly determined not to lose his claim to be an active player to have last played in October, turning out on 10/10/2020 to add to his last October appearance on 01/10/1977!
Thanks to George, JV-D and Hoppy there was cricket at The Rec the weekends before competitive action. An Inter Club game on the 11th July saw what would have been a record run chase at the Rec on the Saturday; and a repeat of the exercise the following weekend saw a record match aggregate for the ground, (360 v 330…much higher than the 601 accumulated jointly by Godalming and Stoke’s Trust League sides in 2018; 320-9 them v 281 all out us…a match that contained no centurion and 98 extras.)
The record for the highest single innings total is still the 406 for 3, (in 40 overs), amassed by the girls in 2009, (Claire Trafford 213 not out, Amy Page 98…Nat Sciver did not bat.)
Whilst the first Inter Club game was being played we sent a 3rd XI to Whiteley Village for a friendly and managed a tie on their second pitch, (their league players had a middle practice on their main square.) We have now had a tie on both pitches on that piece of land, (August 1992 Wey Valley League 2nd XI for those who want to look up the other), a ground record of sorts…although we tied both Over 40s games with Weybridge last year, one home, one away. Rain curtailed a repeat of the Weybridge O40s games Kevin worked hard to put on, but we did get a home & away in against Leatherhead, winning them both, Justin Jones claiming a hat-trick in the first.
So to the League, re-branded as the Surrey Championship Challenge Cup. After four successive second place finishes the 1st XI came top of a strong section despite the first game against the side who were to finish bottom being rained off after an hour; a tie at Walton, and a defeat, (albeit the only one), to Normandy who were to lose on the last day to a Cranleigh side containing the Club Captain’s younger brother in their XI. Said younger brother helped us there, perhaps taking his love of Stoke a little too far by making a duck in the ‘Trower derby’ the week before.
Although the girls have shown what can be achieved in 40 over cricket, the shorter format didn’t provide much opportunity for big scores and bags of wickets this year; but there were some notable performances. In the first full game versus Guildford JV-D made an unbeaten 50 to nudge his Stoke career average near the 100-mark. It crept up to 103.00 while at the crease the following week at Normandy before he was dismissed. Whilst constructing the aforementioned 50, at the other end Robbie Blackburn clubbed 24 off 9…he would finish the season with 495 career runs and counting for us, 144 of them in sixes. Add in fifty fours and you won’t find many players with more than 87% of their career runs in boundaries.
To put Robbie’s belligerence into an even greater perspective, from the list of active players, (read ‘active’ as anyone who played in 2019 and/or the shortened 2020 season – a bit unfair to mark players like Malcolm Dickson who came to support whenever he could or Shawn Dyson as ‘inactive’ or ‘former players’), only these have scored more than 55% of their career runs in boundaries:
Andy Berry 74.29%
Rob Butler 68.97%
Ed Ashwell 68.92%
Moumer Khara 67.36%
Tim Handel 67.26%
Will Thomson 66.79%
Justin Jones 65.60%
Shawn Dyson 64.26%
Harry Nawaz 63.20%
Neil Foster 62.98%
Will Gudgeon 61.04%
Max Subba Row 60.61%
Carel Ferreira 60.57%
Alastair Curran 57.02%
James Whitmarsh 56.85%
Dan Gluckman 56.79%
Andy Page 55.87%
How do the above compare to some of the perceived big hitters from previous years? Here is a select few…
Greg Routley 73.35%
Stephen Anderson 72.09%
John Crisp 70.05%
Dan Douthwaite 65.54%
Johnny Lawes 65.16%
Nat Sciver 63.65%
Don Weller 63.58%
Mike Carty 63.22%
Hiken Shah 62.94%
Gary Harkett 61.53%
Matt Gottschalk 61.51%
Navid Hussain 54.78%
The Guildford match saw rising star Ben Townsend dismiss both opening batsmen for the first time in a hitherto short 1st XI career; he has now managed to dismiss both openers in three different Stoke League teams, (1s, 2s and Trust League.) 442 different bowlers have bowled in league cricket for Stoke, and only six others have managed to achieve what Benno has already; Tim Handel, Gary Harkett, Roy Johns, Will Lander, Adrian Mills and Ralphie. Jase Earl also managed to dismiss a pair of openers in a 2s match this year.
Although restricted to just the one league appearance this year, he of pony tail dismissed an opening batsman in a league match for the 152nd time, extending his lead at the top of this updated table: Opening Bats Dismissed in League Cricket
Despite a short season a few people went up a few spots in the all-time leading run-scorers and wicket-takers’ lists; most notably Will Gudgeon went past Dad’s aggregate of 7569 into ninth place during his knock against Valley End. James Trower only made four against Normandy, but in the process he tied his career beans count with another former captain, Simon Engelen, (4678), before moving past him in the weeks that followed to end on 4715. Next year an interesting race to become the 27th Stoker to reach 5000 runs with Tom Frost, (4910), and Tim Handel, (4906), in the mix might be something to watch.
Events outside of cricket lead us to look at an R-number. If we re-define the R-number as runs the only other player to pass an r-thousand aggregate milestone this year was Deepak Malhotra who went past 1000 runs for the Club in a September friendly at Old Wimbledonians; but many have edged nearer r-thousand marks that should be reached next year with a full or full(ish) programme of matches.
Back to the 1st XI campaign, Hoppy and Roddy Kelso put together the only League 1st XI century partnership against Cranleigh. Conveniently there was one 2s and one Sunday XI century stand to represent other long format teams. Full list here : SDCC Century Partnerships
There was also time for a few 3rd XI record partnerships; firstly Andy Page and Steve Wade broke the 6th wicket stand in the run chase at Whiteley Village; this was bettered a few weeks later by Andy Berry and Deepak Malhotra at Hook & Soutborough. In between, Alex Bond clubbed all bar a few extras and a single by No.11 of a record 10th wicket stand against the Old Rutlishians. The full list of record partnerships, (put together by he of pony tail), can be viewed here : http://www.stokecc.co.uk/record-partnerships/
Back to matters 1st XI, the Cranleigh match saw Toby Tarrant reach 200 career wickets for the Club to send the Club’s – and his own – Twitter feed into overdrive; and later in the same spell he returned career best figures, cue more social media activity. They were the joint best figures by a Stoker this season, Patrick O’Neill matching his 5 for 18 in a dominant win for the 2s over Guildford.
2020 was only the second year ever a bowler didn’t take more than five wickets in a match all season, the other year being 2011 where no-one bettered Bondy’s 5-16 at Old Emanuel. Again a reduced number of matches saw only seven other instances of four wickets being taken by a bowler in an innings across all senior teams this year.
Camberley were taken care of the following week in the first ever ‘televised’ Stoke match, (see the game in full here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOT2mn-vy-A), resulting in this final league table: http://surreychampionship.play-cricket.com/website/division/92480
So finally a top spot after four successive second place finishes; no divisional leaders although Gudgeon, Hopton and Max Subba Row were in the top twenty run scorers for the section; (Gudgeon and JV-D coming 11th and 12th in the averages); Tarrant came second in the bowling aggregates but had a better economy, average and strike rate than the player to finish above him. Blackburn and Hopton were 8th and 10th in aggregates respectively; Kelso 3rd in average and second in strike rate. Threats came from all who touched the ball; Will Frost sent down 31 miserly overs – only six bowlers with that number of overs minimum had a better economy rate. Willo was also involved in a last wicket stand to help tie the game at Walton.
Tom Frost was well clear of everyone in the keeping stats for the division, (10ct, 2st) – joint second across the whole of Surrey. Blackburn, (five catches), and Subba Row, (four catches plus a run out); were joint top in the division for assists in the field along with one Cranleigh player.
Add in a supporting cast of, Alastair Curran, (quick runs to help bat Cranleigh out of the game after Hopton & Kelso did their thing), Tim Handel, Jack Townsend, Kane Fullalove, Ben Holder and Jack Raimondo; seventeen players were used over the seven fixtures to help contribute to something truly special.
After two seasons of struggle the 2nd XI were faced with a tough section due to the seedings being harmonised with the respective 1st XIs. Nevertheless they managed to win as many games as they did in the two previous years combined, and the players – unlikely to face 2nd XIs of the quality they were grouped with for a couple of years at least assuming we return to Division 5 action next year – can take a lot from their performances. Sixth out of eight, and rained off against eighth, was a decent effort.
The selection merry-go-round saw 25 players used over the seven games; only Jase Earl, (who passed 200 appearances for the Club), and Duncan Elder were ever-present. Jared Hall and Alex Hitchins made debuts; there was a return to the field for James Whitmarsh who topped the runs aggregates and made his highest ever score in league cricket, (84 not out against Guildford), in the process. During that knock he added an unbroken 118 with James Corbishley to see us to victory after Patrick O’Neill’s aforementioned nap hand.
Although only playing four matches, Whitty finished tenth in the divisional aggregates and top of the averages. He also scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of 111.11. He also reached 50 career sixes, but Will Gudgeon matched his number to protect his lead at the top of the all-time six-hitters list with 190.
For the bowlers, illness the night before the final game robbed O’Neill the chance to go for top spot in the bowling aggregates; but he was the only bowler in the division to take a 5-for and he still finished tenth overall. Tristan Caviet and Earl were 5th and 8th in economy respectively; only three bowlers, (all from Camberley), sent down more overs than Elder. Stoke used fifteen different bowlers, (joint most with Farnham), eleven of the fifteen took a wicket, (twelve different Farnham bowlers made it into the fourth column…and they didn’t get a chance to bowl at the Stoke line up.) Of those, Aarav Malhotra returned a personal best league spell of 3 for 44 against Farnham.
Eighteen different players kept for the eight clubs in the division; Jared Hall was one of four(!) different keepers used by Stoke, (Carel Ferreira, Whitmarsh and Will Thomson the others), yet Jared was still joint fourth for dismissals despite only keeping in three matches. One for the future. Thomson, O’Neill and Butler Jnr each held three catches in the field; only seven other players in the section held more; a run out each for Thomson and O’Neill saw them joint fourth in fielding dismissals.
So a positive outcome at both levels of league cricket. Now to the friendly programme…
As mentioned earlier we started with a Saturday match at Whiteley Village and a Sunday game at home to Teddington Town. The former saw a first game for Tim Edwards, and after a record number of drop-outs for the weekend, patch-up jobs saw Sunday debuts for Arren Sachania, (3 for 33 on debut and he would go on to average 25.75 with the bat with a string of improved performances); Aarav Goswami, (who bowled well at important times), John Marler and Jimmy Brooks.
The first two became regulars in the Sunday set up; add in exciting prospect Josh Millerd who debuted the following week against Cheam and others on the verge of senior cricket as they continue their education in age group cricket, the future looks bright.
At the other end of the age range, our Over 40s squad expanded, and many formed the basis of our 3rd XI and Sunday sides. Notable contributions came from Neil Douglas who made an unbeaten 40 against the Avorians on debut, (the highest score by any debutant this year); the same match saw Hassan Dahir Jnr turn a ball more than anyone else all season. Reino Kusel averaged 39.00 with the bat and was at the crease on three occasions when winning hits were made. Moumer Khara was as reliable with his availability as ever, as was his typically unpredictable batting form; 49 first time out, then only one score over 30 until late September.
To answer one question asked during some downtime at a game, he averages 9.89 league cricket, 25.75 in the friendly stuff. Another case where stats aren’t Moumer’s friend is his bowling. This year he passed Bob Willis in wickets for Stoke, yet has taken his 64 poles at 31.56 apiece, (Bob had 62 @ 6.85), but his ability to break partnerships, extend games and provide a variation are super valuable. Add in his extensive contact book – plus his continual cajoling of Sameer and others into helping populate additional sides – and all round good nature his commitment to the cause cannot be understated.
Back to the variation between Moumer’s batting averages in league and friendly cricket; from the active player list there are many others whose average in friendly cricket is ten or more runs higher than in league:
Player (League inc Trust League / Friendly / Overall Career)
Ed Ashwell 9.71 / 21.07 / 15.69
Robbie Blackburn 20.20 / 30.33 / 21.52
Rob Butler 5.00 / 42.47 / 34.92
Jeremy Connell 8.53 / 19.48 / 15.66
James Corbishley 25.88 / 50.17 / 28.08
Tom Dennis 9.22 / 27.11 /15.54
Shawn Dyson 39.78 / 82.50 /41.97
Carel Ferreira 8.90 / 22.00 / 20.86
Tom Frost 20.40 / 35.52 / 24.55
Dan Gluckman 15.52 / 27.33 / 19.37
Hamza Hafeez 18.93 / 28.93 / 22.33
Justin Jones 6.60 / 34.37 / 23.91
Moumer Khara 9.89 / 25.65 / 22.21
Deepak Malhotra 10.29 / 23.22 / 18.78
Harry Nawaz 15.09 / 31.00 / 23.39
Will Thomson 19.05 / 29.63 / 24.73
Billy Zander 16.46 / 29.33 / 19.84
Conversely a few have a higher average in league cricket than in friendlies:
Andy Berry 34.00 / 31.95 / 33.33
Alastair Curran 23.89 / 23.27 / 25.49
Tim Handel 30.78 / 27.57 / 29.91
Ben Holder 23.44 / 8.25 / 22.04
Robbie Parrett 29.56 / 20.29 / 24.69
Will Patrick 27.27 / 25.15 / 26.36
Max Subba Row 24.76 / 7.80 / 23.66
Matt Gottschalk, (22.13 / 23.10 / 21.23), and Will Gudgeon, (28.86 / 29.08 / 28.43), are two others who have league averages higher than their overall club career averages.
From career averages to career aggregates. From the longer-standing members, all-time leading run scorer Alistair McMillan took his career aggregate of runs to 13638; and he made more runs in this shortened season than a couple of people, (names withheld), who have confessed to having an eye on chasing down his count in future seasons.
The Finch brothers took their combined number of family appearances to 968, (bettered only by the Edwards brothers who clocked up 979 games.) Finch Jnr outscored his brother for the season, (just), but Snr recorded his 100th not out of his batting career, added a 519th career wicket and catches 179, 180 and 181 to his count; (still a full century of catches behind Ali Mac who completed grabs 279, 280 and 281 this year.) We’ll leave this trio of stalwarts to debate who had the better season over the winter in the manner only they know. To pour more petrol on it we’ll add to the mix that of the three, only Finch Snr avoided being stumped by Surrey Stars and England Academy keeper Rhian Southby!
A consequence of COVID was having Will Thomson around to play for longer than expected. With Dad, they ensured a stat more important than anything in this piece – bar revenue – was good. Thanks to them for creating a compliant environment where we could continue to trade. On the field they ended up in an interesting race to 100 career wickets with a few others…started by Andy Page who took wickets 96 and 97 in the first game but only bowled once afterwards, (taking number 98 in September), as keeping duties ruled; Jack Townsend took 94 and 95 at Normandy then only played once and bowled one over afterwards; Jeremy Connell, (93 career poles), was unavailable all year due to becoming a first time father; which left the race open for father and son.
Son tied things at 89 on the 1st August; Dad moved three ahead over the next week; but then it looked like son would stroll it with two braces, a 4-for and a 98th scalp before Dad took another…but then some negligence on the part of another club when it came to COVID matters led to a clubhouse lead of 98 being declared…three September scalps for Dad left it tantalising poised at 98 v 95 in son’s favour going into next year. Dad is another who is on the cusp of another milestone; 1967 career runs scored, (weirdly 1959 runs conceded bowling. All that effort for pretty much break even goal difference!)
A mini series with Ashford saw all three games lost but good things came out of them; off the pitch ties with a club with friends in high places led to more fixture opportunities; on the field Rob Butler and Thomson Jnr added 125 for the 6th wicket at the Rec after the aforementioned England keeper was in danger of dismissing the whole team by herself standing up; away from home the following week Deepak Malhotra found some bowling form that led to him jointly topping the Sunday XI wicket charts for the season; and more of the Over 40s squad got good long-format middle time in ahead of potential entry into a 3rd XI league next year.
Whilst the third of the Ashford trilogy was being played at the Rec, we secured an additional Sunday XI fixture at Little Berkhamsted at well past 9pm on the Saturday evening! A triumph for WhatsApp and the environment that we have created that we could raise a team of players keen to play and travel that far to get a game on…Mashood Naeem drove over two hours to get us to an XI…and we actually played with twelve – including play anywhere man Mark Christie – as the opposition had 13 players; one of theirs, Mo Hammoudan, became one of us for the afternoon and used his local knowledge of the pitch and the opposition to good effect. Mark clocked up some miles…in addition to helping out at Little Berkhamsted, he was also nearer Blindley Heath than home when the call came in from the opposition to say their ground was unfit. On other road trips, we were pleased to get another invite from Wraysbury, and Sunbury were also welcoming hosts as we continued to source additional away games to cater for the demand.
Although not by design the two Sunday XIs became generally settled in their own groups; but when the players from the ‘Sunday Home’ and ‘Sunday Away’ as we call them these days, (they are balanced sides rather than a 1s and 2s), came together the results were often devastating, as was proven with a huge win over Hampton Hill and another good victory over Thames Ditton. The cornerstone of the total against Hampton Hill was a first Club century for Peter Phipps, (in his 148th innings – he waited a long time compared to others as this table will show : First Century )
Always keen for a stat here are some other Phippsy 100 randoms:
* 218th century by a Stoker
* 141st century by a Stoker at the Rec
* 164th first innings century
* 73rd century by a number 1, (191 of the centuries have been scored by openers)
* 139th century in a winning cause
* 106 was not a unique score for Stoke, but it was the only 106 not out, (David Edwards v Whiteley Village in 1975 and Hiken Shah v Kingstonian in 2012 were dismissed for 106)
* The only century scored by a Stoker on a 23rd August
* Only the second Peter to score a century for Stoke, (Peter Farenden Jnr the other…and incidentally Peter Farenden Snr holds the record for the most runs for the Club without a century)
The century lifted his career average from 17.02 to 17.81 and end up at 18.09 by the end of the season. Players with the lowest career averages to include one or more centuries are:
12.34 Cyril Viney
13.92 Steve Bowman
15.16 Mickey Bolton
15.69 Paul Worsfold
16.20 Gordon Meredith
16.41 Nigel Halsey
16.72 Andrew Furze
To put this in some sort of context, in the world game three players ended their ODI careers – or in one case looks set to end – with a lower average but a century:
16.44 Carlos Brathwaite
17.52 Xavier Marshall
17.62 Trevor Chappell
In Tests Jerome Taylor had a highest score of 106 but a career average of just 12.96; Yasir Shah currently averages 13.75, (highest score 113), and Saqlain Mushtaq once made 101 not out on a drop in pitch but it only helped him finish with a career average of 14.48.
When Jason Gillespie made his 201 not out as a nightwatchman, (in his final test innings), he boosted his average from 15.65 to 18.73.
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed and the web-site over the winter for more ‘Stoke v The World’ features.
With the League over there was still time to get a number of September friendlies in. Per the above Thames Ditton were seen off despite them scoring more runs in the first eleven overs than our away Sunday side managed in the first 33 at Sunbury the same day; the drop-out curse meant we were a man light at Englefield Green the following Saturday, (thanks to Sanjay Goswami for stepping in to get us back to 10 – Sanjay can sit on being top of the Sunday XI bowling averages after his spell of 2-0-2-2 against Cheam in July!), we won the race to get fixtures at Old Wimbledonians, Woodmansterne, Oxted & Limpsfield and finally Salfords on the 10th October – yes 10/10!
The game at Wimbledonians saw a debut for Ali Wadiwala; and in the year of last wicket stands, Geoff Vinall and Andy Butler’s 10th wicket effort of 40 against the Badgers was crucial to securing a win on neutral territory in Woodmansterne. Geoffrey V helped himself to three wickets in the same game, weirdly his only other four Sunday XI wickets came in just one other game, at home to Hampton Hill; two of the four courtesy of stumpings by Neil Foster who despite finishing a distant second to Frosty in the total keeping stats, he did effect the most stumpings.
A couple of highlights from the Saturday September programme were a narrow win against an XI put together by Steve Wade; the Stoke side contained the returning Adam De Swardt in the ranks. Adam was then instrumental in getting us a fixture at his new club at Midhurst. Originally it was meant to be Midhurst v Stoke, but the opposition numbers fell back…but Adam still ensured we got a game on played at a picturesque ground…and we also found an opposition willing to travel over two hours to play against us; fixture secured on the Friday evening after the original opposition didn’t read our advert properly and decided 75 minutes to Midhurst, as opposed to 60 minutes to Stoke was too far for them. Discuss.
One condition of hiring the pitch was that any Midhurst guys available got to play too. Easily done, and father/son guest combination of Isaac and Ben Oakes debuted for Stoke; each took a wicket, Dad taking a wicket with his only ball for us. Shawn Dyson and Stephen Anderson have been the only other two bowlers this century to take a wicket with their first ball for the Club. Of the two other Midhurst guys known to us; Adam was not out at the end, and being left stranded at Salfords in the last game meant he topped the Club averages with 89.00 – Whitmarsh, (65.50), and Phipps, (56.20), Alex Bond, (41.00), and Kusel, (39.00), made for a probably never to be seen again top 5 before a string of 1st XI players. The other, Reino Grobler, (one previous appearance he made 102), saw his Stoke average slashed to 53.00 after a two ball innings in the same match.
The September programme saw many able to add to their runs/wickets/catches/appearance counts for the season; notably Rob Butler who topped the batting aggregates for the Club having been second in his debut year last year; Deepak Malhotra goes on to this board for the bowling, (
http://www.stokecc.co.uk/most-runswickets-per-season/
Those who put their kit bags away at the end of the League season miss out on great days like this. With former full-time/now current occasional Stoker Adam De Swardt suggesting his current club, Midhurst CC, might have a pitch and a team available; we got the numbers.
Although Midhurst numbers fell back we struck a deal with them to hire their picturesque ground; Adam worked with the groundsman to get a pitch – this involved the purchase of a case of beer – we sourced an oppo…eventually…having to go back to the board when the side who originally agreed to travel an hour then found the game wasn’t at Stoke and an hour and fifteen minutes was too far for them. Their loss.
So the Royal Tigers Sports Club sent an XI, some travelling over two hours to play; they were punctual and polite, and despite heading back well beaten were gracious in defeat as their Facebook page will testify.
To the cricket, with Jase Earl delayed by work, Ralph Coleman directed on-field operations but effectively this game captained itself.
After Roddy Kelso took a sharp one-handed catch off his own bowling and Ian Hopton threw down the stumps from backward point to make it 12 for 2 after 8; short spells were the order of the day so everyone got their chance. Reino Grobler bowled four tight overs; as did youngster Isaac Oakes, one of a father/son combination who we made space for in our side in return for use of the ground; Oakes Jnr and Moumer Khara took a wicket each.
Used to, (we think), playing a lot of midweek, Last Man Stands and other short format cricket the opposition didn’t help themselves by turning many 2s into 1s and found boundaries hard to come by as the playing area was large. Used to seeing the board tick a bit more quickly they got stuck between building a score and hitting boundaries and made some poor choices.
Stoke chipped away at the order; one for Coleman, one for De Swardt and a brace from Earl. 70-odd for 8, that include five penalties for a ball hitting the helmet, so some game management needed here. Stephen Finch got an extended spell but bowled as well as anyone, Justin Jones bought the ninth; and Oakes Snr – reluctant to bowl and happy just to be out on the field with his boy – was cajoled into bowling the last of the 35 over allocation, but castled the last man with his only delivery. 129 all out, Alam left stranded on 37.
In retrospect Stoke could have batted first but the plus point was the fielding was done on what was turning into a chilly afternoon after the sun disappeared.
The opposition bowled some good balls in amongst some less good ones; Peter Phipps – who stepped up to keep – and Khara set the necessary platform and both retired at the end of the over in which they reached 30.
Grobler spanked his first ball for four before being caught off the next; Earl’s current run with the bat was evidenced by the one ball that he faced; leaving Hopton and De Swardt to knock off neary all of the remainder by the 20 over mark; Hopton retired too but managed ten extra beans by the end of the over in which he walked off.
De Swardt, (16 not out), made the winning hit before Jones had one ball’s middle practice ahead of the post match elbows…then a photocall that made their Facebook page. The oppo enjoyed their day and were grateful – as were we – to play at such a nice venue.
No bar open by order of the rugby club, so we found a nice local down the road and had a good chat with the Midhurst Exec, the groundsman, and other members of their committee who came along to find out what we were all about. Very similar views on the game, paving the way for this to be a friendly fixture next year; and it is also potentially a nice stop-off point at either end of any tour down south we may try to arrange in the future.
Per the above, a good day all round. We go again next week weather permitting..
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4528264
Stoke made harder work of this than they should have, but their failure to bat their overs then close the game out until a couple of balls remaining made for an exciting contest played in great spirit.
The fixture was born out of long-time Stoker Steve Wade contacting the Club asking for a pitch hire. Sadly we couldn’t offer the Rec as the square renovations were already underway but he found a ground to hire and gave us first refusal if we could raise an XI. Requisite ticks received, game on.
With a few of the opposition having not played cricket regularly this year, and in some cases for some time, Stoke batted first and made a nice start again son/father combination of Malin/Steve Wade. Justin Jones and Moumer Khara both got into double figures, but no further as the latter fell to a one-handed overhead catch in the deep reminiscent of our own Matt Gottschalk; then the former was leg before to occasional Stoker Drew Birch who kindly agreed to play for the opposition after Stoke had a full XI. They needed him as he got a full eight over allocation, taking 3 for 36.
Stoke traded wickets for runs and were 70 for 4 after seventeen overs; but Roddy Kelso, Rob Butler and Adam De Swardt were involved in partnerships of 55 and 67 to get Stoke into a great position; a lack of a reliable fifth bowler proved costly for the opposition, a fate that befell Stoke last week.
Kelso continued his recent good form and raced to 62, including 20 off one over from Lunnon who ended up with 8-1-61-1 having once been 3-1-9-1; Butler hit the bad ball – and some good ones – very hard to make 43 from 34; and the taciturn but ever popular De Swardt quietly went about his business, making 66 from just 45 balls.
This passage of play was witnessed by Drew & Jo Patrick, and Ian Hopton who came by to catch up with a few faces.
De Swardt was last out as Stoke lost wickets late in the pursuit of quick runs; Malin Wade picking up some deserved poles to end with what would be the match’s best figures of 7.3-3-12-4. Stoke didn’t use their full allocation but did get to 238.
After a short mid-innings break to maximise the light Sameer Khara sent down five economical overs, but it was Duncan Elder who got Stoke on the board when he had two leg before decisions given in his favour. 28 for 2.
With runs to play with Stoke captain Earl gave opportunities to other bowlers. All did OK but the third wicket proved elusive and a century stand between Lunnon and Jones kept things interesting. They were finally separated when Earl, coming on seventh in the queue, picked up Lunnon for a nicely constructed 44; but Jones Jnr and Boyce found the requisite boundaries to keep up with the asking rate.
Kelso eventually broke a fourth wicket stand of 55 when Jones Jnr was bowled for 70; but Jones Snr helped Joyce take the total past the 200 mark and Stoke needed to focus in fading light.
As the asking rate approached tens, not an impossibility with a few inviting short boundaries, Boyce was bowled by the returning Elder for 30; but Jones Snr was inventive and set up a grandstand finish, only for Kelso and Earl to show enough nouse to close out a narrow win.
So we were good enough and won. The fun had on the field continued on the outfield afterwards as the sides shared a few beers before departing with headlights on full beam. Later a beamback of another kind appeared on our WhatsApp group in the form of some overhead footage taken from a drone. See our @StokeDabernonCC Twitter feed for the footage.
Anyone for more cricket next week? There are games out there if availabilities come in quickly. You know what to do…
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4522336
See separate article but if you want to watch the whole game, click here : https://youtu.be/kOT2mn-vy-A
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4473398
Table : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/division/92480
Saturday 5th September 2020
Surrey Championship Challenge 2nd XI Competition
Stoke D’Abernon 2nd XI 202 for 6 (40 overs)
Camberley 2nd XI 205 for 6 (36.4 overs)
Camberley 2nd XI won by 4 wickets
The better team won this one but Stoke can be proud of what they contributed to this one, and to the season in general.
Batting first having won the toss late call up Peter Phipps and Tristan Caviet had to contend with some good opening bowling, (much of it highly disciplined and sometimes with an 8:1 field), and with the pitch doing a bit they did a great job setting things up for the middle order.
Not that they didn’t score well themselves. Caviet was first to go, leg before pulling a long hop from Khan that kept very low, checking out on 44 out of a first wicket stand of 69; and Stoke were in a good position at 138 for 1 with No.3 James Whitmarsh spreading the field; and Phipps reached an even fifty with a ramp through third man before he was bowled next ball attempting a repeat.
The successful bowler was Lesser who had an eventful afternoon; conceding 70 runs in his eight over allocation, but he did add the wickets of Carel Ferreira and Deepak Malhotra; the latter two – and later on Rob Butler and Jase Earl who fell to Holden – unselfishly gave themselves up in the pursuit of quick runs.
Despite only facing 46 of the last 120 or so deliveries Whitmarsh was able to go at a run a ball, and some excellent late hitting and running from exciting prospect Jared Hall saw Stoke close on 202 for 6.
In reply Duncan Elder nipped one through Taylor’s defences in the first over; and another late call up Adrian Mills strangled Griffiths down the leg side to make it 11 for 2 and give Stoke the start they yearned.
Hughes and Carter re-built. Both took advantage of chances offered; but debutant Alex Hitchins, (2 for 43), took them both out; the former dragged one on one short of a half century; the latter edging to Hall.
In between and after Hitchins’ wickets Caviet picked up two; one to a great catch by Elder, the other a trip to stumpsville when a ball to Halsey kept low.
Stoke were in a good position at 124 for 6 but had the difficult conundrum of keeping the bowlers on as they see doing so well, the consequence being a reliance on other resources at the end. Neither decision was wrong; and few could have foreseen an excellently constructed innings from Majeed who took what was on offer and found the necessary belligerence from Khan at the other end to knock the remaining runs off with 20 balls to spare. Majeed walked off unbeaten on a chanceless 52; Khan clubbed back to back sixes to finish the match and end unbeaten on 38.
So Stoke finished a credible sixth in a very tough group full of Premier and higher division clubs – they were unfortunate to be rained off against the bottom team as well – so can take a lot from their efforts and should go into next season’s league campaign with a lot of confidence.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4473446
Final Table : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/division/92534
Sunday 6th September 2020
Good availability meant a home and an away match were possible. Here’s how we got on…
Home
Thames Ditton 154 all out (29.1 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon 155 for 7 (38 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon won by 3 wickets
A morale boosting win after a bit of a stuffing the week before.
Thames Ditton chose to bat on winning the toss and pyrotechnics came from opener Pretorious who smashed 51 off just 25 balls. Andy Butler finally got his man, to add to his dismissal of the opener Patel first ball; but the game was well advanced at 65 for 2 at the end of just the 7th over.
Thames Ditton continued their positive approach that saw runs traded for wickets all the way through; and an early closure of the innings came after just 29.1 overs.
Late call ups Roddy Kelso and Robbie Blackburn shared the next three wickets to fall; Rod Thomson edged ever nearer 100 career wickets with two more; and Paddy Wilson’s brace sandwiched a wicket for Alistair McMillan.
The Sunday side has been short of runs of late; so it was great to see Steve Wade find some late season form to make 34. He found solid assistance from Chris Finch, (15), Blackburn, (22), and Neil Foster who added 32 to his keeping effort that saw two more catches and a stumping added to his count.
Stoke were nicely placed at 122 for 3 but lost a bunch of wickets to keep the game interesting. Kelso was dismissed a couple of hits short of the winning post; so it was left to captain Stephen Finch to steer his side home, his new bat contributing sixteen to the total; but a more interesting milestone was that this was the 100th time he has been ‘not out’ in his illustrious Stoke career.
So Stoke took the spoils but thanks to our good friends from Thames Ditton for their contribution to a good game to end action at the Rec for the year.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4515506
=&1=&
Another scalp for Stoke’s 1st XI as a good 36 over total, (reduced overs due to the conditions but credit to the ground staff for getting a pitch playable), was followed up by another superb bowling and fielding performance.
Batting first having lost the toss Max Subba Row and James Trower were gone with 30 on the board; but a decisive partnership of 104 between Ian Hopton and Roddy Kelso set the platform for the others to follow.
Hopton, (44), and Kelso did some very hard yards in testing conditions, and whilst Kelso’s knock of 67 included eight fours and three sixes; and Hopton cleared the rope twice on the full himself; the number of deliveries the pair invested getting themselves in was an example to everyone, one that the opposition didn’t follow, but more on that later.
Alastair Curran hit a nice unbeaten 33; Robbie Blackburn hit one of the biggest sixes you will ever see in his cameo; Tom Frost and Ben Holder, (great to see him back in town), unselfishly sacrificed their wickets in the pursuit of quick runs, and Stoke closed on 207 for 7.
It was over to the bowlers and they didn’t disappoint.
Cranleigh showed their intent from the off as Bedford planted the first ball of the chase into the trees at the railway end for six; but the top order’s positivity erred into reckless territory as Stoke’s bowlers maintained their discipline and the fielding was excellent. In contrast to Hopton and Kelso only the well organised Broughton showed the necessary desire to bat time.
So wickets fell at a canter. Toby Tarrant picked up the first when Anderson picked out mid-off – a 200th career wicket for the Club but he wasn’t done there; Will Frost secured an lbw decision in his favour and the frenetic start saw the board reading 30 for 2 after just four overs.
Tarrant doubled his count when Hopton held on to a skier that had lengthy hang time from Scrivener; and after first change Robbie Blackburn strangled Windridge down the leg-side; Tarrant completed his nap hand in double quick time; Olly Trower, (yep, brother of), was castled for a duck, Gonszor was leg before later in the same over, and soon after Broughton’s time came to an end when he couldn’t clear Blackburn at mid-on. Tarrant was running at a career best to that point, and an economical final over saw said career best of 8-1-18-5 etched on to the 5-fors board.
Ah, yes, the score. 55 for 7.
A partnership of 38 for the 8th wicket between Kent and Thompson moved the visitors from an ugly position to a moderate one; but when Kelso found the former’s edge for the innings’ highest score of 27; it was over minutes later when Hopton castled the last two to complete a comprehensive victory.
Having had one tie, one defeat and one abandonment in such a short programme, Stoke need a result or two to go their way if they are to top the group; but let’s take care of business at Camberley next weekend and see how the maths works out.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4473265
Stoke were missing a few for this one, Walton weren’t and in the end the difference told.
Nevertheless Stoke managed to bowl their opponents out; four of six man attack sharing the wickets as the fielding effort, that saw three dismissals for debutant Jared Hall, took the last nine wickets for 86 after Gorvin, (64), and Cox, (70), threatened to go big with a second wicket stand of 123.
Will Thomson led the way with 4 for 52, Rob Butler took 3 for 30, Patrick O’Neill 2 for 42 and Duncan Elder 1 for 29.
The chase started promisingly with Roddy Kelso, (31), O’Neill, (18 from 15), and James Corbishley getting Stoke to 61 for 1; but things fell away after that as the asking rate started to climb; only Carel Ferreira and Alex Bond made double figures.
Stoke travel to Cranleigh next weekend.
Scorecard : https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4473177
=&0=&
Good availability meant an extra Saturday match this weekend and thanks to Oxshott for offering the fixture. In return, obligingly a huge win was handed to them.
Both sides had a mix of players who didn’t make their league selection plus some handy juniors; and with the Stoke youngsters having played at decent levels and the opposition suggesting they were a little light on batting, Stoke batted first.
Stoke never got going as the home players, focused on the job from the off and throughout, took four wickets inside the first twelve overs prompting dark thoughts back to last Sunday where batting the overs suddenly looked to be a challenge.
Aarav and Deepak Malhotra got the board moving; Arman Zaheen toughed it out before being last out for a top score of 26, but Stoke needed a similar start in the defence of their moderate total to stand any chance. Quite the opposite happened as the ball disappeared to all parts of the ground, field placement became near-on impossible and the runs were knocked off in just 15.1 overs for the loss of a solitary wicket taken by Raja Singh.
This was a heavy defeat, and the opportunity was taken to stay out for another 20 overs to get a bit more bowling and fielding into some of the younger players’ legs. This section of the afternoon saw more runs piled on; A.Price was 68 not out when the ‘match’ finished but went on to retire at 103; Munro clubbed 66 and D.Murphy 51. The bowling figures made for pretty sorry reading but Aarav Malhotra, Luke Penney, Aarav Goswami and Arren Sachania took a wicket each to lift spirits; Goswami took a good catch over his head and Steve Wade held one edge and effected two stumpings behind the timbers.
A lot was learnt in many respects. Let’s see how everyone applies that learning and responds when they next take the field.
Scorecard :
https://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4505461
