Stony Stratford’s recent run of good results came to an end thanks to a two wicket defeat to Northants Academy at Campbell Park on Saturday. In an almost carbon copy of the game between the two sides at Stony on the opening day of the season, it was ultimately a poor display in the field which cost Stony a win which would have taken them up to 8th in the table.
Stony skipper Steve Bellew won the toss and once again chose to give his batsmen first use of a flat wicket in hot conditions. This formula of winning the toss and batting first goes against the norm in the NCL, but it has proved successful for Stony in recent weeks and once again their batsmen took advantage of the opportunity to post a good total. They suffered an early blow, losing the in form Garth Davson for 9, but fellow opener Mitz Choksi is also in good touch and he raced to a fluent 44 with Dion Ebrahim at the other end the pair added 55 for the second wicket. Choksi was then given out caught at short mid off despite appearing to hit the ball directly into the ground. Ebrahim was joined by Paul West and the veteran left hander produced his best knock of what has been a productive season to give Stony a platform. West timed the ball brilliantly and was quickly on to anything over pitched or wide and he raced to a fine half century. Ebrahim also brought up his own half century, his third in a row as Stony looked to post a big score. However, once West (50) and then Nick Allen (13) followed soon after, the score was 195 for 5 from 45 overs and Stony lost momentum. Ebrahim perished for 69, caught at mid off attempting to push the score along. Jarrod Pretorius has looked in good touch making 19 before he was run out for 19 in the chase for late runs as Stony struggled to score quickly late on. Habib Ullah bludgeoned a quick 18 to push the score up to 237 from 54 overs before he was the last man out.
The score was probably around 20 runs light of par on what was a good wicket and a lightening fast outfield. But Stony got off to the best possible start as Steve Bellew swung one back into the pads of Northants first XI opener Vishal Tripathi in the first over to dismiss him for a duck. The Academy soon re-grouped and the impressive Robert Keogh, who had earlier taken four wickets with his off spinners, stroked the ball around confidently and with George Thurstance the pair got the score to 50 for 1 in the first 10 overs. It was the sort of wicket that was easier to bat on the faster the bowling and so Bellew soon turned to spin and also brought Dion Ebrahim into the attack. Stony were rewarded with the wickets of Keogh (32) and Thurstance (40) before a useful partnership between England under 18’s Christian Davies (61) and Primesh Patel (25) put the Academy back in control. With the run rate required never going above 5 an over, the Acedemy were in control and Stony’s only hope was to bowl the home side out. They had plenty of chances to do so, but spilled 5 catches in what was a shoddy fielding display that let down what was a great effort from Stony’s bowlers. Bellew accounted for Patel and then Davies was run out. Ullah came back into the attack impressively and claimed two quick wickets to give Stony hope. The Academy still needed 25 with three wickets remaining, but Paul Summerskill (14) and Vicram Sochal (18) kept cool heads and although Summerskill was caught by Choksi off Ullah at mid off with three to get, Sochal hit the winning runs with three overs to spare to consign Stony to a fifth defeat of the season – the only difference between the sides being Stony’s poor fielding.
Stony travel to face champions and league leaders Finedon next week in good form with the bat and in the knowledge that they ran them extremely close in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. But they will need a dramatic improvement in the field if they are to make an impression on the title favourites.
There was better news for the 2nd XI who ended a run of poor results with a winning draw at home to Old Northamptonians III. Stony, who lost the toss and were asked to bat first posted 252 for 8 from their 50 overs which was always going to be too many for the divisions second from bottom side. Chris Swain cracked 90 before being run out. There was also an impressive 41 from James Bell in his 2nd XI debut and 26 from Tom Moore. In reply, ONs were well short on 197 for 6. Dave Avery continued his impressive form with 3 for 38 from 15 overs.
Stony’s 3rd XI made the short trip to table topping Stoke Bruerne and came away with a winning draw having dominated the game from first ball to the last. Stony batted first and smashed 248 for 5 from 45 overs. Michael Brown followed last week’s century with an unbeaten 77 that included five sixes. James Canwell got the innings off to a great start with 68 and there was 46 for veteran Ian West. In reply, Stoke hung on at 148 for 8 with Canwell adding to his runs with 4 for 26 and Harsh Jethra taking 2 for 25.