The Urn Field, Guildford, Sunday 26 May 2013. Sanford (230-5) beat St Anne’s Allstars (168-9) by 62 runs.
By Garreth Duncan
We have played Sanford since the early days of the Allstars, on their scenic ground high above Guildford and with views far into Surrey and the capital. The games have often been tight, with a few Allstars victories and some epic rearguard actions to save the day. This time, as Graham Swann was bowling England into the driving seat at Headingley, we competed well, with everyone contributing, but some spectacular six-hitting from a promising young talent took the game away from us.
On a warm sunny day, I won the toss and, on a pitch looking a bit spongy and like it might keep low, asked Sanford to bat first. Haroon Khalid opened the bowling from the top end, and quickly settled into a tight, waspish spell, giving right-hander Adrian Banks plenty of difficulties. Sanford’s skipper, the left-handed John Morley, has been a thorn in our bowling side in the past, and he was soon into his stride, hitting James Devlin over cow corner. Haroon continued to probe away without much luck, but it was in the field that he achieved the breakthrough. Banks hit Tony Grant to mid-on where Haroon, normally a safe pair of hands, spilled the catch. But the batsmen had hesitated while the ball was in the air, and Haroon quickly recovered and fired in an excellent throw to run him out. Next over, Martyn Langridge trapped Jonathan Young LBW and we were in business.
Morley continued to target the straight and cow boundaries, reaching his fifty before driving Martyn into my hands at mid-on just after the drinks break. The game was evenly poised, but the fall of this wicket brought 18 year old Chris Cooke to the crease. Oozing confidence having scored a hundred earlier in the season, he looked to hit boundaries straight away. Gaz Seymour, on his Allstars debut, started well and, with a bit more luck, could have had three wickets in his first over. But chances didn’t go to hand, and Cooke and Rob Kinnes put Sanford in control of the game. The youngster unleashed some of the cleanest hitting I’ve seen in an Allstars game, launching some monster blows over square leg and mid-wicket. He was particularly severe on Jimmy Scott, our guest Scotsman from the Canbashers, as he raced to 67 before picking me out on the square leg boundary. Six or out? Well, not sure: I might have put one foot on the line as I clutched the ball, but it was a relief to see the end of a player probably a bit too good for this level of cricket. Haroon returned and got the wicket he deserved, wrecking James Quantrell’s stumps. 231 was nevertheless an imposing target to chase, but not impossible on a fast outfield.
Dave Halladay and Tony Grant began cautiously before starting to play their natural games, both hitting cleanly down the ground in an opening stand of 40. Opening bowler Dave Smallpiece was seen off, but Sanford’s first change bowler Simon Thornhill (or Cornhill as his team mates called him) was to prove their match winner. Bowling a tight stump to stump line, he broke the opening stand by bowling TG. Next over, Dave was run out going for a quick second, having unluckily picked out their best fielder. Chris Cooke steamed in, still looking angry at his earlier dismissal, but all the damage was done at the other end. I had laced Thornhill for a couple of boundaries before having my stumps disturbed, and Neale Adams followed in a similar manner shortly after. Haroon looked positive, but was smartly stumped as he pushed forward. Clint Spokes gloriously struck his first ball in Allstars cricket back over the bowler’s head for four, but he tried to repeat the shot and was caught at mid-off.
Thornhill’s five-wicket haul had ended the game as a contest, but there was still time for some Allstars to have some fun with the bat. Simon Davies played some pleasing shots all round the wicket, hitting four fours (one controversially missed by the scorers) in his 22. The real fireworks, however, came in a riotous unbroken last wicket stand of 46 in just 20 balls between Devers and Martyn, both crashing a flurry of boundaries to give the score some respectability as the overs ran out.
Man of the Match: Haroon Khalid. A hostile bowling spell which deserved more reward than it got.
Champagne Moment: Clint Spokes’ boundary hit off his first ball for us – come back for more.
Scorecard
Sanford
*J Morley c Duncan b Langridge 57
A Banks run out 18
J Young lbw b Langridge 1
R Kinnes not out 51
C Cooke c Duncan b Scott 67
J Quantrell b Khalid 11
C Downer not out 0
Extras (b16 lb1 w8) 25
Total (5 wkts, 40 overs) 230
Fall: not recorded
Bowling: Khalid 8-2-20-1, Devlin 5-1-27-0, Grant 8-0-42-0, Langridge 7-0-21-2, Seymour 6-0-37-0, Scott 6-0-64-1.
St Anne’s Allstars
DA Halladay run out 22
A Grant sr b Thornhill 18
+NB Adams b Thornhill 7
*GA Duncan b Thornhill 9
HR Khalid st Young b Thornhill 7
SR Davies b Quantrell 22
C Spokes c mid-off b Thornhill 4
J Scott c mid-off b Downer 4
JFG Devlin not out 43
G Seymour c square leg b Kinnes 7
M Langridge not out 16
Extras (b2 lb2 w5) 9
Total (9 wkts, 40 overs) 168
Fall: 1-40 (2), 2-41 (1), 3-52 (4), 4-59 (3), 5-73 (5), 6-77 (7), 7-99 (6), 8-99 (8), 9-122 (10).
Bowling: Harrowell 8-1-21-0, Smallpiece 6-1-29-0, Thornhill 7-1-32-5, Cooke 2-2-0-0, Watts 4-1-5-0, Quantrell 5-0-17-1, Downer 4-2-7-1, Banks 2-0-28-0, Kinnes 2-0-21-1.
On a more serious note, Maxie was running to raise money for a very worthy cause: Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. It is a charity that is very important to the Allstars and one which we all wish to support. Maxie has so far raised over £2,000 in memory of his daughter Alexandra. But if you haven’t yet donated, and you are able to, please click here to donate. We would all really appreciate it.
St Anne's Allstars 