After five games, Stony Stratford’s NCL Premier League campaign is yet to spark after they were forced to hang on for a tense draw away to fierce rivals Wollaston on Saturday.
Stony captain Steve Bellew won his first toss of the season and didn’t hesitate to put the hosts in to bat on a hard and bouncy Wollaston wicket. Early on, it was hard to foresee that Wollaston would post in excess of 250 after their opening pair Nick Shelton and Liam Bates were given a torrid time by Bellew and fellow new ball man Richard Lines. Bellew swung the ball at good pace and repeatedly beat the bat without being able to find the edge. Lines meanwhile bowled with unerring accuracy and nipped the ball around making life difficult for both openers. After 20 overs, Wollaston were only on 52 but crucially both openers had survived. Bates, having recovered from being struck on the grille by a bouncer from Bellew, managed to find some fluency but soon lost opening partner Shelton for an 83 ball 30. Bates was joined by Jimmy Hart and the pair put on 75 for the next wicket to take Wollaston to 155 before Hart was caught by Dion Ebrahim off the bowling of Andy Humphries for 33. After restricting their hosts in the first half of their innings, Stony’s bowling and fielding slackened off somewhat in the last twenty overs as the heat and the resolute Wollaston batting took it’s toll. Bates was really opening up now and having struggled so badly early on he showed real guts to pull through and go on to bring up a well deserved century before finally falling for 105 to Lines. Wollaston had just passed 200 and a late flurry from skipper Steve Musgrave (26) and keeper Matt Jones (10) took them on to an impressive 255 from 55 overs.
On what was still a flat wicket ideal for batting, Stony really didn’t give themselves much of a chance to chase the runs as they suffered for hitting the ball in the air far too often throughout their innings. They got off to the worst possible start, with John Lambe nicking a brute of a ball from Mark Gibbs behind for a duck before fellow opener Richard Scott chipped a simple catch to Siphe Mzayidume to depart for 10. Dion Ebrahim has scored hundreds on his last two visits to Wollaston, and he started his innings well, looking well organised and full of concentration early on. He and Paul West both timed the ball well and looked to be well settled with Stony on 65 for 2. But then John Pike tempted Ebrahim to feel at a rising ball outside off stump which he nicked to that man Bates at gully who took a superb catch sparking huge celebrations from the home side. West soon followed as he drove an easy catch to Mzayidume at cover to go for 31 and it was to be a recurring theme for Stony. Nick Allen got himself in and then nicked one behind for 20. Garth Davson had looked really impressive compiling 29 but was caught on the boundary sweeping as wickets continued to tumble at a regular rate. Wollaston’s spin pair of Musgrave and Perry bowled accurately but simply waited for Stony’s batsmen to hole out and the pair claimed four vital wickets between them. It went from bad to worse for the visitors when Jarrod Pretorius was given out lbw off his hip for 11 and Stony were staring down the barrel of a fourth successive defeat. However, the tail was to wag, firstly in the shape of Lines and Simon Myatt who both used up valuable overs before their resistance was ended by a sharp spell from Mzayidume who had both caught behind. This left Stony’s last pair of Bellew and Humphries to see out 11 overs to hold on for a draw. Wollaston threw several bowling changes, field changes and verbals at the batsmen who in the circumstances dealt with the bowling fairly comfortably. With three overs to go, Bellew survived a big shout for lbw off Musgrave, but that was as close as it got for the hosts who had to settle for the draw. Bellew faced 39 balls for 3* while Humphries ended up 7 not out from 27 balls. Stony were outplayed by the hosts but can take heart from stopping their losing run but will need to improve, particularly with the bat, if they are to move up the table.
Stony’s 2nd XI remain top of division 3 despite being held to a draw at home to Kempston Hammers. Stony’s in form batting line up fired once again with Stuart Gulliver (48) and skipper Chris Swain (91) again in the runs along with Michael and David Avery who hit 21 and 24 respectively to see their side 239 in 49 overs. Ashley Field was the most impressive of the Kempston bowlers as he claimed 4 for 54.
In reply, Kempston were indebted to an innings of 73 from Nigel Thorn who was one of only four men to break double figures as the visitors struggled. Callum Price and Neil Allen both claimed three wickets each for Stony, and with two from Dave Avery Stony were on the brink of victory. But Kempston’s ninth wicket partnership between Sam Fisk and Dave Roberts dug deep and batted 15 overs to see of the Stony threat to claim a brave draw for their side.
Stony 3rds bounced back from defeat last week with an emphatic 166 run win against Old Northamptonians 4th XI. Batting first, Stony rattled up 226 for 9 from their 55 overs thanks in the main to a fine partnership of 80 for the sixth wicket between Oswin Peter (54) and James Bell (51). The total proved far too much for the young ON’s 4ths, who were skittled for just 60. They had no answer to a fine opening spell from Michael Brown who picked up 5 for 21 from 9 overs to give Stony their first win of the season.
Stony’s 4ths were on the wrong end of a 92 run defeat to Elstow 2nds in the Four Counties League Division 6. Elstow racked up 208 for 7 before rolling Stony over for 116, Hal Hunte Jnr top scoring in Stony’s innings with 30.