Sunday 1st July 2018
Friendly
Old Ashfordians 229 for 4 (40 overs)
Stoke D’Abernon 200 for 7 (40 overs)
Old Ashfordians won by 29 runs
The original Women’s Surrey Trust League match was postponed in the week after the opposition were unable to raise a side. This left the Stoke Rec free for a home friendly and our good friends the Old Ashfordians were able to come along and play.
Whilst the opposition set the tone for the day by forming a queue at the bar on arrival, Adrian Mills accepted a late ‘invitation’ to captain the side, and despite being added to a lengthy waiting list for a course on how to win a toss, he managed the side very well. It was also great to see Becca and Mills Jnr.
Stoke were in the field first, and on a good pitch wickets were always going to be hard to come by. Geoff Vinall found two early ones; visiting skipper Smith missed a straight one then Richards picked out Teague Clarke at mid-on. 30 for 2.
No.3 Carr looked in good form, though, and scored the majority of a third wicket stand of 59 with Wiggett, (23), before the latter served up a return catch to Patrick O’Neill to prompt an early drinks break. The overall innings run-rate was healthy but O’Neill conceded just seven runs from his first five overs.
As opportunities were given to other bowlers Carr went through the gears, ending up with the majority of the strike much to the ridicule of his team-mates. A third wicket stand of 112 was finally broken when No.4 Corsini, (38), was cleaned up by Clarke in the second over of his comeback spell. Clarke is another exciting Academy prospect and was full value for his figures of 6-0-24-1.
By the time of Corsini’s dismissal Carr had already reached 104 and he batted through to the conclusion of the innings, walking off unbeaten on 123 with seventeen fours and three sixes. Stoke’s 5th/6th/7th bowling options proved a little expensive but the fielding unit kept going on a hot afternoon.
Although wicketless, Mills, (8-3-23-0), and O’Neill’s death overs, (he bowled much better than his final analysis of 8-1-32-1), helped limit the Old Ashfordians to 229 for 4.
After tea – and a massive thank you to Mrs.Clarke for helping to cut & serve at short notice – Moumer Khara and Alistair McMillan made steady progress against economical opening bowling; their opening stand of 39, that included some overthrows, was broken when McMillan edged to replacement keeper Harvey who took over keeping duties after he had opened the bowling.
Khara and Hamza Hafeez looked to speed things up after the asking rate rose towards seven per over. Khara reached 32 before picking out the lone fielder in the deep; but Hafeez and Clarke added another 66 in 14 overs to keep the board ticking.
On a used pitch, left-hander Clarke had to deal with some exaggerated turn out of the footholes, but toughed it out and was unlucky to go for 28 when he somehow managed to sky one to the keeper. Clarke’s dismissal fell in a very eventful over that saw Chris Finch smash the first ball he faced for four.
Finch Jnr would also smash back to back sixes soon after as the chase gathered momentum; but just as things got interesting Stoke got stuck against a succession of pace-off options. With overs running out Hafeez was stumped for a well-constructed 48 from 52 balls faced, making it 147 for 4 with seven overs to go, but Stoke kept pushing.
The Finch brothers added a few more. Finch Jnr, (21 from 19), fell to a smart grab by the substitute keeper standing up to leave 64 needed off 26. Alex Clinton kept the dream alive with some nice shots before holing out off the last ball of the penultimate over; and Carr was afforded the last that saw five singles and the President fall to a good catch off the last ball the match for 27 from 20, leaving Malcolm Dickson – who kept well earlier – with a run-a-ball red-inker. Stoke finished 29 runs short.
An enjoyable fixture as always; the opposition stopped back for quite a while to boost funds further. Fixture computer/congestion permitting we will be able to continue this highly sociable fixture next year.
Next Sunday Stoke have two fixtures. The Academy have the return away Trust League fixture away to Horsley & Send, and the Sunday XI host Bank of England CC. No football so no excuses for being unavailable!
Scorecard : http://sdacc.play-cricket.com/website/results/3552553