Stoke D'Ab 1s vs HWRCC 1xi - Match Report by Matty D

HWRCC 1xi beat Stoke D’Abernon 1xi by 1 wicket (50/50)
Stoke 127 ao, 45 overs.
HWRCC 128-9, 49.3 overs. Stephens 38*

Stoke chose to bat on a track that played dead and low. I probably would have bowled first too, but it was a good toss to lose. Tongy was late so his brother showed him up, working well with Noman to build some pressure that resulted in a drag on to the dangerous opener. The other dangerous opener was then snaffled by Davies at Mid off, again Tong being the bowler, to ensure that the Wick were on top early on. Runs were slow and wickets fell regularly. With the exception of Vish who failed to settle, all bowlers kept things tight. Anything short was easy pickings, but as it was so slow, often anything that was short was such a surprise that the batsmen often popped their shoulder out playing cross batted. Daisy again bowled beautifully without luck and Tongy (G) on arrival saw early success only to fade like a Duracell Bunny only half charged (the effect of too much sun and surf in France the previous week). The final pair put on over 25 to turn a bad 98 into a poor 127ao off about 45 overs. The pitch wasn’t a minefield, you just had to be clever about scoring shots.

Tea was excellent, even Alison gave it a 9. Rice salad, chicken nibbles, sandwiches aplenty, fruit salad. Very good.

The response started serenely enough, until against the run of play (not that things were rollocking along) Tong (I) feathered one behind to start a procession of wickets. Neither Ali nor Raza troubled the scorers much (or at all). Davies joined Day who immediately holed out to the day's most dangerous bowler (22), leaving the score perilous at about 25-3. Davies then saw Rudolph and Byrne pass before he even got off the mark. Naturally he then went as well and we were seriously stuttering against decent medium pace and controlled spin bowling. Runs on the board can make you do funny things.

Vish made a few, as did Tongy, but when they were in the hutch at 80-9 in all honesty it should have been over. Step forward Ben Stephens and Finbar Murray. With some application and patience they nurdled their way along, waiting for the bad balls and running hard. Despite the ground being small, the grass was long and the slow pitch meant it was difficult to reach the boundary. A hill on one side also slowed many a ball that would have gone for a boundary. Fin hit one big six over square, but for the most part it was little nudges to 3rd man and quick singles to vacant cover that kept us in the game. I wasn’t really nervous because we were so far behind it wasn’t worth getting worried. Perhaps I was in the minority.

Daisy told us about a game when his side had chased 260 having been 35-5. Outrageous. Somehow we found ourselves needing to increase the run rate in order to get home, with 4 an over being unprecedented in the conditions. With 5 needed off the last over, Fin got a single (3rd man) and Ben decided he had to hit a boundary. So the story goes ‘I decided I was going to hit him over his head and I swung but it was shorter that I initially thought. I just kept going with it and it arced round to square but it came off the middle.’ It sure did. One bounce four and we had won with 3 balls to spare. Stoke were understandably down, us the opposite.

Experience - you can’t buy it. Youth - you can’t buy it.

MOM – Ben Stephens. Hero.