Harberton v Stoke Fleming for the Mills Shield 25/07/2010
- Played
at Stonehills, Harberton
- Toss
won by Stoke Fleming
- Stoke
Fleming 112 all out (33.4 overs)
- Harberton 78 all out (33 overs)
- Stoke
Fleming win by 34 runs
This was Vice Presidents Day for Harberton Cricket Club and
it was fitting that it also represented one of it’s
most important cricket fixtures of the season.
It was an ideal setting for the club to try and wrest the Mills Shield
from the strong grip of Stoke Fleming.
The match started promisingly for the home team. With Stoke Fleming batting first they were
soon in trouble, with both openers back in the pavilion with only 7 runs on the
board. This was result of some excellent
bowling by Pyke (2-12) and C Buckner (1-21) – with
the latter catching J Hardy (6) out with a superb slower ball. Matters did not improve for Stoke as wickets
continued to fall with score progressing to 22 for 5 wickets down, with Lagden’s (2-16) hostile bowling accounting for D Hardy (0)
and the dangerous Edmonds
(0). Whilst the Stoke’s
new player, Appah (13), was looking dangerous, Stoke
were in a dire situation. This got worse
following some comedy running between the wickets that resulted in both Stoke
players ending up at the same end of the pitch. Appah
had to go. This signalled something of a recovery, led by solid batting by Throughgood (29), supported by Nicholls(13),
Norris (8) and Garland
(0). Throughgood
was out with the score at 91, off the bowling of Harberton skipper J Buckner
(2-17). This brought to the wicket the
considerable experience of Perkins (13no) at number 11 and he, with young Buckle(5), took Stoke’s score to
113 off 34 overs.
Harberton came in to tea feeling they had a good chance of
winning the game, as long as they could hold off the inevitable challenge of Stoke’s bowling attack.
Stoke will have come off the pitch feeling it had got off lightly, with Harberton’s failure to kill the game off thirty runs
earlier giving the visitors a glimmer of hope.
After tea Stoke got quickly into their stride with Edmonds and D Hardy(0-7) bowling both quickly and accurately. Edmonds
in particular was excellent, getting movement in the air and off the
pitch. It was a torrid time for the
Harberton batsmen. At 27 for four wickets down, Edmonds had accounted for all of them and
ended up with figures of 8 overs, 3 maidens, 4
wickets for only 12 runs. The batsmen to
fall to him were Bligh (3), J Buckner (2), Oakey (0)
and Kaye (2). Left-armer
Appah (1-12) then accounted for Harvey (11) with some fine inswing bowling.
Harberton were 31 for the loss of 5 wickets. E Buckner (2) , then
fell to the brisk bowling of Throughgood (3-29). This brought together two of the club’s most
experienced players, Scott and Pyke . They steadied the
ship, taking the score on to 76, with the Stoke players losing some of their
renowned boisterous and banter. However,
Scott (26) then fell to Throughgood, bowled out, deceived by slow bounce. Pyke (12)
soon followed and the Harberton’s younger tail-enders
were not able to withstand the renewed pressure from
the Stoke attack. Harberton were all out
for 78.
Stoke bowled brilliantly to maintain their hold of the Mills
Shield. Harberton were disappointed to lose in such circumstances but will have
taken heart from their team performance, particularly in the field with
excellent bowling contributions from C and J Buckner, Pyke,
Lagden, Oakey and Baxendale, supported by some sharp fielding.