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StAUSCC (98 for 1, S. Frankland 41) beat Almond Valley (97 all out, T. James 3-17) by 9 wickets A bright Sunday afternoon saw Almond Valley visit a St Andrews side looking to win our first match over 40 overs this season. In conditions ideal for swing bowling, and lacking much batting past number 3, the first surprise of the day came when stand in skipper Stan won the toss and promptly invited Almond Valley to bat. The opening overs were entrusted to Tim James and Angus with Tim taking the first over. An inauspicious start loomed with Tim's first ball going for wides but his second legitimate delivery did so much that the batsman was confused into paddling it onto his pad then with the back of the bat clipping the ball onto the stumps. After that Tim produced some lovely deliveries swinging away from the AV batsmen who were happy to play all around the ball. At the other end Angus kept things tight and at the begining of his second over produced a delivery that caught the others openers edge to a recently placed Lewis at second slip who took a quality low catch. Tim continued to keep things tight frustrating the AV batsman to give a catch to Gregor running round from mid-off then forcing an edge which Stan, clearly not trusting Dave at 1st slip, took diving full length. Tim finishing with figures of 8-2-17-3 which would have been even more impressive had it not been for the 11 wides. The change bowling saw Phil continue in the form of Angus and Tim opening with a maiden. From the other end, feeling sorry for the AV batsmen, Baggers offered up a few scoring chances eventually finding a few deliveries that caused problems for the opposition. A loose second over from Phil was followed by a two wickets in two balls maiden. The first wicket a taking the offstump of the number 6 batsmen and the second a skier to Andy Parkinson, who along with Tim Stojanovic fielded magnificently throughout the innings. Following the drinks interval Stan came out from behind the stumps and handed the gloves to Ritchie and brought himself onto bowl. Sensing blood Stan got out the Dyson, and proceded to hoover up the tail taking the final 4 wickets for just 13 runs supported by Gregor at the other end who mixed the occasional wide with some tight bowling. Stans 4 wickets included two stunning caught behinds from Ritchie keeping for the first time. Almond Valley finished on 97 with their top scorer being J. Taylor on 26, closely followed by wides on 24. Our innings was opened by Dave and Phil with Phil clearly wanting to get on with things scoring his first runs with a 6. Unfortunately Phil was bowled for 11 off his pads from A. McKenzie with the score just on 17. This brought Stan to the crease who along with Dave proceded to knock off the remaining runs. With plenty of time to get the runs Stan and Dave took their time working the singles and putting away the bad balls to eventually wrap up the game with over 10 overs remaining. A double bowling change saw Dave and Stan combine to try and stem the runs, and take some wickets. Dave got the remaining opener to drag on, and then removed the number 3 with a special St Andrews full toss which Lewis held onto safely. Overall it was an enjoyable game with plenty of banter from both sides, and of course its always fun to win.
- Jonathan McDougall-Bagnall