Stone secured an unlikely first win of the new campaign last Saturday in a last-ball thriller against rivals Leek.
Rain hampered the first half of the game in Stone with three delays affecting the rhythm of both sides. Despite Leek losing the dangerous opener Alex Mellor in the first over, trapped LBW by the impressive Matt Coxon, their innings made a lively start, and the champions were thankful for the immediate impact made by spinner Steve Morgan, who made the much needed breakthrough in his first over with the score on 55.
From there the visitors made steady progress and finally closed their innings on 161-9, with Morgan and Coxon both claiming three wickets apiece.
The champions’ batting woes continued from their previous weeks defeat at Whitmore, and it looked like being an early finish as the top order was blitzed by Staffordshire’s Greg Willot who together with professional Nadeem Malik reduced the home side to 18-5. However, like last week Coxon and Phil Cheadle started the rebuilding process and a 51 run partnership settled the ship until Cheadle was dismissed by left arm spinner George Harding for 29.
That dismissal triggered an amazing turnaround as Stone’s South African recruit, Kyle Melis launched a savage attack on the shell-shocked opposition. From a position of despair, Melis accompanied by a patient Coxon, bulldozered Stone closer to their target, before the equation became four required off the final ball. Melis rose to the challenge and duly struck the delivery into the neighbouring gardens for his 5th maximum, amid scenes of jubilation and relief on the home dressing room balcony. Melis finished with an unbeaten 65 struck from just 38 deliveries. Coxon again showed his all round worth to Stone with a vital contribution of 42.
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SP1sts v Oakamoor 1st X1
Olly Perry took his team to Oakamoor to face a side who like themselves had started the season with a win. Perry won the toss and inserted the home side with Aidan Schmid getting the visitors off to a fine start striking with his first ball. Oakamoor recovered through veteran Jon Wood top scoring with 76 and assisted by Ash Porter with 49, both batsmen eventually becoming the two victims of young off spinner Harry Brundrett. Captain Perry had a large share of the work load striving manfully to get through 19 overs to finish with impressive figures of 3-38. Despite this some looser bowling from his colleagues let Oakamoor reach a lofty 234-9 off their allotted 55 overs.
In reply the innings had a shaky start with both openers departing cheaply, but Sam Graham with a polished 85 off 109 balls including 16 x4 came to the rescue alongside evergreen wicket-keeper Steve Aston who continued his fine start to the season with an unbeaten 78 off 83 balls. A late flurry with the bat from Schmid (29) saw the visitors reach their target for the loss of 5 wickets with almost 6 overs to spare.
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Stone 2nds v Caverswall 2ndX1
Ian Banks’ side made it 3 wins out of 4 for the Stone club on Saturday with a comfortable win away at newly promoted Caverswall. Bowling first, Stone dismissed the home side for a meagre 120 with the seam attack of veteran Paul Minshall 3-9, Sam Bamford 2-29 and youngster Jake Powell 2-31 doing the bulk of the damage. In reply 43 from Declan Wardell saw the team reach 74-3 before a father and son partnership of 51 between Tommy and 13 year old Drew Chandler saw the side home by 7 wickets. The younger Chandler outscoring Dad (25*) to finish unbeaten on 30 on his debut for the side.
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SP2nd XI v Oakamoor 2nd XI
SP2 made their home bow at Swynnerton this Saturday as they took on Oakamoor 2nds. Inserted into bat SP2 cantered to a chanceless 100 run opening partnership between Sam Butters and Mark Townsend. Butters was eventually dismissed for 37 as the pair accelerated. Kev Thomas chipped in with a quick fire 20 and Townsend eventually posted 80 as they ended 180-6 off their 50 overs. Darren Lowe was pick of the Oakamoor attack with 4-59.
In reply Ian Jackson carried his bat for 61no as Oakamoor scored more quickly to rattle up 183-4 in 39.1 overs. Max Cuthbert grabbed 2 wickets but James Sells contributed 43 priceless runs, with Dan James adding another 22 to reach the victory target with time to spare.
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SP2nd XI v JG Meakins 2nd XI – Talbot Shield
On Sunday the SP2 Talbot Shield tilt was quickly snubbed out by a powerful JG Meakins 2nd XI.
SP2 batted first and it looked very tough at 12-3 off 12 overs, but the introduction of club chairman Pip Fitzherbert made a game of it. Fitzherbert’s swashbuckling 59 featured 10 boundaries (and very few 2’s and 3’s!) and ably supported by a quick fire 33 off 16 balls from Rob Pochwyt helped post a competitive target of 166-9 off 45 overs.
JG Meakins went at it like a bull in a china shop after tea and, aided by some off radar bowling, rattled up 98 before Hugh Rennie was dismissed for 41. Their innings was founded on a backbone of 62 from the powerful Martin Lawton, and was finished off by Louis Gwynne’s 28no who impressively carried Meakins into the next round, needing only 25.3 overs to reach the finishing line.
With the cup distraction now over, SP2 can concentrate on the league!
