Not a Lost Cause

Stanhope versus Tantobie 31st May 2008

It was a cracking day for Cricket with the sun shining and a clear blue sky. The toss of a coin was won by Tantobie and they decided to bat first. Eddie Rowell and Paul Fitchett took to the crease and D Brown commenced the bowling for Tantobie. It was soon noted that this was going to be a tough innings as Mr Brown was one of the fastest bowlers Stanhope have faced to date. Paul Fitchett became his first victim falling to a dubious LBW decision for no runs with his sixth ball of the over. He was replaced by Steve Muse, Eddie managed to see out two over’s before falling to D Brown who clean bowled him with a delivery which kept low. Richie Hanlon came and went as he was called LBW to D Brown with his sixth ball of his second over. Adam Robinson took to the crease to try and support Steve Muse who was facing some fierce deliveries. Adam managed to score four runs before been bowled by another D Brown delivery.

The captain Kiwi Simon Campbell took to the field and managed to support Steve in his solo effort to score runs for the team. Steve managed to stick out there for four and a half more over’s with Simon before becoming D Browns fifth victim however he had managed to score 32 very hard fought runs. Stanhope were 66 for 5 after 15 over’s. Frankie Stephenson was next to the crease and seemed to be proving a stubborn opponent for D Brown. Simon was next out but surprise it was not to the bowling of Mr Brown but a lovely catch by M Taylor off the bowling of G Petre. Ian Muse came into bat but not for long and was called LBW to Mr Browns bowling for no runs. Richie Pringle was next and managed to score a nice 4 before been bowled by another D Brown delivery. Stanhope were 75 for 8 off 19 over’s. Noel Lightning Page went out to support Frankie who was continuing to be a stubborn thorn in Tantobie’s attempts at getting him out. Could Stanhope manage to see out the bowling of Mr Brown? The simple answer is no he managed to gain Noel who scored 4 runs and Andrew Kitching in his last over.

Stanhope were all out for 80 runs with the second highest scorer been extras. D Brown finished with 9 Wickets for 21 runs. It did not seem to be a high enough score for Stanhope’s bowlers to attack.

Adam Robinson opened the bowling for Stanhope and was not going to be left out of the wickets for long he claimed the wicket of Tantobie’s opening batsman clean bowling him for no runs with his fourth delivery. This seemed to give the team some heart that it was not a lost cause they were chasing. Adam was supported by Richie Pringle who was proving hard to score runs off. A Hunter became Adams second victim in his second over, Tantobie were 7 for 2. Richie managed to get 2 maiden overs before letting a loose delivery be hit for 4 runs. This must have got his back up as he claimed his first victim in the next over. Tantobie managed to bat on for 8 more overs facing some tight bowling from Stanhope only scoring 17 runs. Adam claimed his third wicket clean bowling M Taylor for 7 runs. Richie was rested and Ian Muse joined the bowling attack. Stanhope was proving to be difficult opponents with tight accurate bowling which Tantobie were finding very hard to score off. Adam claimed 3 more wickets and Tantobie were running out of batsmen as they were left at 33 for 6. Ian joined in the wicket taking 2 wickets in successive balls in the 24th over. It was all over for Tantobie in the next over as Richie Pringle took over from Adam and gained his second wicket and Tantobie’s last batsman.

Tantobie finished on 39 runs all out. Adams final figures were 12 overs for 16 runs with 6 wickets and 3 maidens. Richie finished with 7.1 overs for 10 runs with 2 wickets and 3 maidens. Ian finished with 5 overs for 11 runs with 2 wickets and 2 maidens.

This should be a lesson to future opposition that Stanhope showed good fighting spirit, attacking a low run target with accurate tight bowling and saving what might have been a lost cause.

The next opposition are Hunwick on Wednesday night in the Glenn Pattison Cup and Tantobie again next week the 7th of June at Tantobie in the N Martin Trophy. I am sure they will be after revenge.

Steve Wilson