Issue 22 - July 2012 (PDF) - Chipping Norton Times

56
Stow on the Wold Cricket Club
Saturday 2nd June vs Chedworth –
WON
An away trip to last year’s league runners up
Chedworth, and with a damp outfield and light
drizzle, the toss was crucial - Chedworth won
and chose to bowl. A good choice early on as
Stow’s openers had trouble playing the wicket
due to a variable bounce. The track seemed to
play better in the middle period of Stow’s
innings with a 78 run partnership between Dan
Smith and Lewis Chapman improving Stow’s
position – the run rate was creeping up and
these 2 batsmen looked set to push Stow to a
big total. Dan was first to lose his wicket, out for
a well-deserved 61, before Lewis fell for 31.
Stow’s lower order were then set loose to do
some ‘slogging’. Seb Bevan took full advantage
with a superb 35 off 19 balls to catapult Stow up
to a score of 188 off their 40 overs.
Chedworth got going straight away with a strong
opening partnership of 62. Some great bowling
from Dan Heaps (3-29) dismissed both openers,
and Stow started to get on top of the match.
Ashley Andrews dismissed 3 of the middle order
for 37setting up a close finish to the game as
Chedworth’s middle order were consistently
scoring. Dan Smith, 2-40, and Seb Bevan, 2-25,
wrapped things up at the end and Stow bowled
out Chedworth 14 runs short of their total.
A very important win, against a team who will
be pushing to finish high up the league again
this year.
Saturday 9th June vs NATS
WON
Stow hosted NATS this week and were
lucky to get a game on with the
amount of rain that had fallen in the
week. A damp wicket meant the toss
was crucial. Stow won it and asked
NATS to bat. Stow’s bowlers got stuck
in straight away and Hayden Elsdale
bowled a great spell taking 3 early
wickets for only 5 runs off his 7 overs.
NATS never got their run rate going
and looked to be really struggling
against the Stow bowling attack. Seb
Bevan was the first change and
completely destroyed the NATS middle
and lower order. He ripped through
them taking 5 wickets for 10 runs off
his 8 overs - this was Seb’s first 5
wicket haul for the club and well
deserved. Stow’s great bowling and
good fielding meant they bowled NATS
out for only 50.
In reply, Stow’s openers made batting
on a bowler friendly track look easy.
Chris Heaps, 34 not out, and Max
Fisher, 14 not out, saw the team home
very comfortably in 13 overs to give
Stow the full 20 points and move the
team up to 4th in the league.
Sunday 10th June vs Chipping Norton –
WON
After years of playing Chipping Norton at
their ground, Stow were finally able to
welcome the team to Stow for the annual
friendly. Stow lost the toss and were asked
to bat but this looked to be the wrong
decision early on. Both of Stow’s openers got
off to a flyer and at one point were scoring
at 8 an over. Seb Bevan hit a rapid 43 but his
opening parter Louis Millar destroyed the
Chippy bowlers in his brutal knock of 89.
Stow were in a comfortable position but
Chippy pulled themselves back into it with
some good bowling and Stow were 7 wickets
down. Ashley Andrews and Dan Smith both
hit 50’s late on to put Stow back on track and
helped the team end with a huge score of
300-7.
Jack Robson opened the bowling and set the
tone, taking a very early wicket and ending
with 2-16 off his 7 overs. But Stow didn’t
take too many more wickets and Chippy’s
middle order looked comfortable, especially
their number 3 who went on to hit a good
84. Chris Heaps picked up some late wickets
and ended with 2-18 but this wasn’t enough
for Stow to bowl them out, and Chippy
ended on 167-7 off their 40 overs.
A comfortable victory for Stow, and an
enjoyable friendly once again.