Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) v Sparsholt on Sat 17 Apr 2010 at 1:00pm

Scorecard

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) v Sparsholt on Sat 17 Apr 2010 at 1:00pm
Andover Cricket Club Won by 2 wickets

Match report Andover’s cricket season got off to a flying start with a tense win over local rivals Sparsholt in the first of their pre-season friendlies. On a hot sunny day at London Road, the town’s new skipper Richard Taylor lost the toss and was asked to field first. The wicket was sluggish, typical of a pre-season track, and bowlers found it difficult to extract any life from it. Openers Harry Blackburn and Mike Adams lacked control and discipline as 60 runs were piled on in the first 10 overs and it was only when overseas all-rounder James O’Gorman and local pace-man Luke Graham were introduced that the runs begun to dry up.

O’Gorman, here for the summer from New Zealand club side St Albans, is a batting all-rounder who made the NZ under 19 squad and looks to be a promising signing for the town side. It was O’Gorman who made the first breakthrough with a ball that jagged back and bowled the Sparsholt opener. He then followed by clean bowling the number 3 batsman and the wickets started to fall with regularity. However, due to the lightening fast outfield and some lusty blows from the Sparsholt middle order, the runs continued to mount up. The Sparsholt batsmen took a liking to the bowling of Jonty Hadfield in particular who took some punishment despite bowling an excellent line and length. Meanwhile, at the other end, David Webb, on first team debut, took 3 wickets thanks to some safe catching and a sharp stumping from Ali Hooper, who later dislocated his finger attempting to catch a ball swinging down leg-side off Luke Graham.

Mike Adams and Richard Taylor came on at the end and took 3 wickets between them but were quite expensive in the process. Sparsholt ended up on a very competitive 236-8 off their 42 overs which left Andover some work to do with the bat.

The big run chase started in disastrous fashion losing hard-hitting Ali Hooper and pinch-hitter Luke Graham in the first over but the recovery was built with O’Gorman and Martin Roberts at the crease. The dependable Roberts (38) supported O’Gorman in style, rotating the strike and hitting the bad ball when it came along and was unlucky not to notch up a half-century. O’Gorman continued with Copleston and looked in a class of his own, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground. He was cruising to a century when he took his eye off the ball sweeping the leg spinner and was adjudged LBW for 75. The Andover innings stuttered somewhat as wickets continued to fall and with 100 runs needed in the final 15 overs with only 2 wickets remaining, this looked too much for the town side. However, skipper Taylor and Jonty Hadfield had other ideas and they steadily guided Andover towards their total. Both played with maturity and a level head and when it came to scoring 18 off the last over, Richard Taylor showed the sort of composure that is going to be needed this season. Two blistering sixes and a beautifully timed four in the final over took Andover past their target and won them the game with one wicket to spare.

A great start to the season for Andover as they look to get back into the Gold league. Tomorrow there is a trial match between the 1sts and 2nds while the 3rds make the short journey to Overton and the 4ths host Fair Oak at London Road number 2 pitch. If anyone wants to play cricket for any of Andover’s six Saturday sides or two Sunday sides then it is not too late to register with the club. Just contact Paul Funnell on 07771641657 or visit www.andovercricketclub.co.uk for details.

Sparsholt Batting

237 for 8

Player name		Runs
D Waters	Bowled Webb	57
G Potter	Bowled O'Gorman	14
J Allen	Bowled O'Gorman	1
T Vokes	Caught Taylor / Webb	33
T Standard	Stumped Hooper / Webb	46
J Pickering	Bowled Adams	2
J Vokes	Not Out	15
D Pickering	Bowled Taylor	1
D Foy	Bowled Taylor	14
Hinder

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) Bowling

Player Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Mike ADAMS	6.0	0	36	1	36.00	6.00
Harry BLACKBURN	4.0	0	27	0	0.00	6.75
James O'GORMAN	5.0	1	13	2	6.50	2.60
Luke GRAHAM	9.0	0	44	0	0.00	4.89
David WEBB	6.0	0	25	3	8.33	4.17
Richard TAYLOR	3.0	0	15	2	7.50	5.00

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) Batting

240 for 8

Player Name		Runs	Catches	Stumpings
Ali HOOPER	Lbw Vokes J	0		1
Martin ROBERTS	Caught Vokes J / Foy	37
Luke GRAHAM	Bowled Vokes J	0
James O'GORMAN	Lbw Foy	73
Mark COPLESTON	Caught Vokes T / Foy	18
Jonty HADFIELD	Not Out	36
Mike ADAMS	Caught Ellis / Foy	0
David WEBB	Caught Vokes J / Waters	6
Harry BLACKBURN	Run out (Hinder)	0
Richard TAYLOR	Not Out	46	1
A.N. Other

Sparsholt Bowling

Player name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Hinder	4.0	0	25	0	0.00	6.25
J Vokes	7.0	0	64	2	32.00	9.14
J Pickering	9.0	0	50	0	0.00	5.56
D Pickering	3.0	0	20	0	0.00	6.67
D Foy	9.0	2	28	4	7.00	3.11
N Vokes	1.0	0	14	0	0.00	14.00
A Waters	9.0	1	35	1	35.00	3.89

Umpire :
Keith Williams
Scorer :
Lesley Morgan