Stony Stratford are still searching for their first win of the season after holding on for a draw at Burton Latimer on Saturday. It wasn’t a great performance from Steve Bellew’s side against a Burton outfit who went into the game bottom of the table and having lost of all of their previous games this season. On this form, and with a third of the season now gone, Stony are going to be spending the rest of the summer fighting to hang on to their Premier Division status.
Bellew won the toss and elected to bowl first. Burton’s South African opener Matt Bell is the league’s leading run scorer so far but he looked scratchy against Bellew and Habib Ullah early on, as did fellow opener Alan Sewell. However, Stony’s openers again went wicketless and it was young leg spinner Andy Humphries who bowled Bell with a terrific, spinning delivery to end his innings for 39. Sewell followed, also bowled by Garth Davson for 13 and when Scott Sanders (11) soon followed, Stony had their tails up. But a great knock from young keeper Greg Hofbauer put the home side in the driving seat and left Stony facing an uphill battle. Hofbeuer put on 104 with number five Dean Gahagan (25) and was particularly strong on anything short and wide throughout his innings. He soon passed fifty and looked set for a hundred before playing one big shot too many on 97 and having his middle stump sent cartwheeling by the returning Bellew. Gahagan was then dismissed in identical fashion by Bellew as Stony looked to try and stem the flow of runs at 211 for 5 from 50 overs. But young David Shelford came in at 7 and bludgeoned a quick 29 from 27 balls to help take his side’s total up to 256 for 6 from their 55 overs.
Stony got off to a great start in reply. Garth Davson was promoted up the order to open the innings and he played very positively along with Mihir Choksi. They put on 52 inside the first 8 overs on a wicket that was still very conducive to batting. Davson had played very positively for 31 before trying a late cut off the bowling of Damon Hanney only to edge the ball into the hands of keeper Hofbauer up at the stumps. Choksi then really struggled against Burton skipper Paul Hughes, swinging the ball away from the bat at brisk medium pace. Choksi eventually edged Josh Scully to Hofbauer for 27 and then Steve Wharton followed for a golden duck off the very next ball bowled by Scully. Dion Ebrahim’s struggle for runs in the early part of the season continued as he chipped a wide ball from Scully to point for 16 and at 89 for 4 Stony were struggling. As has been the case so often this season, the Stony batting order began to fall like a pack of cards and Simon Myatt was next to go lbw for 1. If it wasn’t the Burton bowlers who were making life tough for Stony it was the heat, and keeper batsman Jarrod Pretorius had to then retire on 15 having succumbed to dehydration at the crease. When Chris Bolton, who had looked assured for his 21 was bowled by Hughes, Stony were seven down and with only 150 on the board, the writing was well and truly on the board. But skipper Bellew had other ideas and he set about securing the draw for his side with 21 overs still to bat. He soon lost his first partner Andy Humphries for 8 but was then joined by debutant Chris Guy, who had earlier performed well with the ball. Guy and Bellew didn’t completely shut up shop, in fact the pair put on 49 for the ninth wicket as the bad balls were dispatched to the boundary and singles taken when needed. However, with two overs to go, there was further drama as Guy was caught at short leg to fall for 20, leaving Bellew and Ullah to bat out the last couple. Ullah ran a bye off his first ball and it was left to the captain to defend the last over successfully to give Stony a share of the spoils, finishing on 27 from 80 balls and keeping Stony off the bottom of the table.
Stony 2nds remain top off Division 3 despite being soundly beaten at home by a good St Crispins side at Ostlers Lane. The visitors were asked to bat first and rattled up 222 for 9 from their 50 overs thanks 59 from Tom Goodman and 35 from Martyn Standish. The most successful of the Stony bowlers was Dave Avery (3 for 41) with two wickets each for Harsh Jethra and Richard Lines. In reply, Stony were never really in the game as a flurry of early wickets fell to rip the heart out of their innings. Only skipper Chris Swain put up much of a fight with 39, before Jamie Baxter (21) and Neil Allen, batting at nine and ten did their best to hold off the St Crispins attack. However, it was not to be and James Spencer’s 5 for 20 ensured that Stony were shot out for 127 and sent to their second consecutive defeat.
Stony 3rds were left holding on for a draw against Towcestrians 2nds in Division 6. Batting first, Towcestrians got to 208 for 9, with Stony’s Sam Brightwell claiming 3 for 27 with two wickets each for Andrew Ellemore, Michael Brown and Neil Fewtrell. In reply, Stony were well short on 135 for 8 with Brown (32) the mainstay of the innings for the home side who are in seventh place in the table after six games.