It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Stone Cricket Club’s 1st XI, with a fine league victory marred by them being dumped out of the Talbot Cup the following day.
They continued their impressive league form at home to Porthill Park on Saturday with an emphatic six-wicket win over the visitors.
Having lost the toss Stone were invited to bowl first, and the attack was once more led by Matt Coxon’s excellent seam bowling. Coxon removed Porthill’s first three batters in his first spell and then returned to mop up the tail to finish with fine figures of 5-55. Steve Morgan’s tight control was rewarded with figures of 3-18 from 9 miserly overs, and despite some late resistance Porthill were dismissed for a below par 128 in the 39th over.
Porthill’s Pakistan professional Iftikar Anjum Rao bowled impressively to pick up three cheap wickets and with the home side four down with only 44 on the board a nervous run chase may have ensued. However the recalled John Cheadle (39*) together with Sam Graham (43*) took the sting out of the Porthill team and batted superbly to compile an 87-run partnership and saw the home side to a welcome 20 points for the loss of no further wickets.
The victory and results elsewhere means that Stone now sit 17 points clear at the top of the Premier league going into Saturday’s local derby against rivals Little Stoke.
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On Sunday, Stone’s Talbot Cup ambitions came to an abrupt end in a run fest at Knypersley.
Stone batted first on a flat pitch and were indebted to a fabulous innings from the in-form John Cheadle who crashed an unbeaten 122 off 132 balls. Supported by Sam Graham’s half century, Cheadle guided Stone to a seemingly formidable total of 269-6 off their allotted 45 overs.
However, the Knypersley batsmen rose to the challenge, in particular the left-handed duo of Jake Thompson and Phil Dutton. The pair smashed the ball to all parts of the ground as they compiled a splendid 238-run partnership for the second wicket.
The Stone attack never settled, the bowling was wayward, and invited a continual flow of boundaries, with the lack of control allowing the batsmen to punish the loose deliveries in fine style. Despite the late dismissal of Thompson for 116, Dutton remained unbeaten on 88 as the home side cantered to victory with six overs still remaining.
Knypersley’s reward for the victory is a Cup final appearance under floodlights at Meakins CC on August 30th.
