Match

Stoke Gabriel Under 17's Vs Dartington And Totnes Under 17's - 02/07/08 - Away - Herald Express South Devon Youth League

Line Up

Alex Bertram +

Andy Ball

Fergus Barratt

Giselle Ansley *

Andy Coles

Matt Nand-Lal

Graham Litt

Steve Nand-Lal

Bob Bamber

Angus Lee

Matt Deakin

Result

Dartington And Totnes won by 35 runs

Report

Despite bowling out the U17’s reigning champions in their own backyard , the chase was too much for a patched together Stoke under 17’s side. After skittling the home side out for 112 in 19.2 overs , Stoke’s chase came up 35 runs short after 25 from keeper Alex Bertram , 19 from Andy Coles and finally a run from tail-ender Bob Bamber after a three month wait.

With usual captain Adam Deakin in Wales leaf collecting on some complete waste of time Biology field trip , Giselle Ansley stood in as captain in her last game , with both risking life and limb in a trip to Kenya beginning next week. With manager Pete Bamber promising a rotation policy on the captaincy , betting now turns to how many of the dozen-odd strong party off to Africa will return carrying atleast 50% of their currently body weight – I’m going with three. Anyway , to the game,  stand in captain Ansley won the toss , and inserted the reigning champions on a lively Dartington surface.

It didn’t take long for Stoke to claim their first breakthrough , pace-man Steve Nand-Lal getting one to bounce up against Totnes 1^st teamer Kalon Veale who could only fend the ball to cover , where Fergus Barratt pouched the ball diving forward. Angus Wilson , in at pinch hitter at the top of the order (Ha , yeah right) punched his way to 11 before becoming Nand-Lal’s second victim , snicking one to an awaiting Alex Bertram behind the stumps.

With Nand-Lal and Ansley out of the attack , Ryan Stevenson began to settle in , tucking into Graham Litt’s serving of Liquorish , before Litt (effected by a hamstring strain suffered at the Bookham’s game 24 hours before) , got Razza out bowled with the “In-Swinger” (More Rubbish).  Matt Deakin wheeled away economically at one end , having a wicket maiden in the third , with Davies lamping one at an accepting captain at extra cover. 

With the scores at the 15^th over at 83/4 , Will Gornall and the younger of the Veale brothers at the crease were looking to propel Totnes towards an insurmountable total. But talismanic paceman Bob Bamber had other ideas. In the third ball of his opening over , Veale smashed one down long off’s throat , Matt Nand-Lal , sat down on the extra cover boundary tucking into tea and cakes at the end of his bowls match , had just enough time for his dad to setup the boom box before he could do his best line dancing impression , just in time to stick out a claw and cling on to the catch. Bamber quickly took his season wicket total to nine when keeper Dan Goord tamely chipped a catch to an awaiting Graham Litt at mid wicket. Totnes limped to near the end of the innings , with two run outs and a wicket for debutant Angus Lee to end the innings on 112 , with 4 balls to spare in the innings.

With Ben Stone down once again with bird flu , Andy Ball opened up with keeper Bertram to start the innings. Ball fell quickly , to Kalon Veale , and Fergus Barratt fell to the same fate , both ending on two. Ansley joined Bertram at the crease , and with runs difficult to come by , set about building a platform to make a chase. Gornall , Davies and Wilson all made runs difficult to come by , and once when both Bertram and Ansley both fell within quick succession , and Matt Nand-Lal showing that you cannot play both Cricket and Bowls at the same time , lasting just 1 ball , Stoke slumped from 46/2 , to 47/5. When Graham Litt fell four runs later , Stoke (if they hadn’t already) said bye-bye to any hopes of a chase,  and set about racking up more bonus points to the already healthy season total.

With Steve Nand-Lal promoted to number 8 (Jesus , what has the world come to?) joined Coles , and after being shelled by keeper Goord off a skier , Coles and Nand-Lal put on 19 for the 7^th wicket. Nand-Lal finally fell to a stupid run out (Seriously Steve, at what point did that ever look like two?). Stoke’s second mini-collapse came into force,  not before Bob Bamber could steer his 2^nd ball behind point , scoring his first run of the season , 75 days after his first game of the season. Stoke ended 77 all out , with 8 bonus points, just a shame that Totnes didn’t weigh in with the 40 extras that Chudleigh gave them at the weekend.

Scorecard

1st Innings - Dartington And Totnes

2nd Innings - Stoke Gabriel