A sunny afternoon greeted Little Stoke 1sts as they visited NSSCL Premier League leaders Whitmore hoping to build on last week’s excellent winning draw over high-flying Checkley.
Electing to bowl, Little Stoke made good progress with the ball as wickets fell at regular intervals on a track that suggested a draw would be unlikely, with only Tom Meredith (33) showing any resistance. Little Stoke club professional Gurshwin Rabie was in rampant form and when he claimed the wicket of Raj Kumar for just 8 and followed it immediately with that of Justin Mould, caught brilliantly by 17-year-old Jack Leese, the hosts were reduced to 75-5. A late flurry from Joe Bridgewater with an unbeaten 18 helped Whitmore reach 135 all out. Little Stoke’s best bowling came from Rabie claiming an impressive 5-37 as Dan Richardson and James Ecclestone also chipped in with 2 wickets each.
Little Stoke were in confident mood as they set about their reply but when a fine throw from Dean Pritchard hit the stumps, experienced opener Richard Adams was run out for just 3 and Whitmore were immediately lifted. An attacking field with some tight bowling kept the visitors under pressure and despite a dogged 31 from Andrew Frost, the nerves were jangling and in the 21st over Little Stoke slumped from 54-1 to 55-4.
Whitmore looked to have the upper hand until James Ecclestone came to the crease and showed great patience as he rebuilt the innings with a splendid 36 before being caught by Kumar from Yasim Murtaza. At 115-6 Little Stoke had victory in their sights and Alex Kay (15) and Scott Winnington (13) pushed them to the brink before Rabie hit the winning runs, taking Little Stoke to 136-8 with 12 overs to spare.
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Little Stoke 2nd XI v Whitmore 2nd XI
In the 2nd team fixture, Little Stoke also ran out comfortable winners by 104 runs to claim second spot in the league table. Batting first the home side amassed 203-8 from their 50 overs with Harvey Collins top scoring with 53. Andrew Hurd with 29 and Jack Phillips with 31 were the other main contributors with the bat. Whitmore’s best bowling came from Ben Thomas, Jack Mottram and Alex Holland with two wickets a-piece.
The reply from Whitmore ended in the 31st over as they were all out for just 99 runs. The impressive Little Stoke pair of Huw Owens with a 5-23 and James Murphy with 3-13 inflicted most of the damage as Jonathan Platt with 23 top scored for the visitors.
