Alton v Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sun) on Sun 11 Jul 2010 at 3:00pm

Scorecard

Alton v Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sun) on Sun 11 Jul 2010 at 3:00pm
Andover Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report SEC T20 Cup: Quarter Final

After another crushing saturday win, Andover's T20 outfit travelled to Premier Division struggler's Alton knowing that an upset could potentially be on the cards. On arrival the music was blaring out around the Jubilee Ground and the Alton players were being put through their paces in an impressive and elaborate warm up. With confidence high Andover preferred soaking in the atmosphere which was, with a large crowd, somewhat hostile and intimidating, ahead of the crunch quarter final and did little in the way of preparation. This relaxed approach proped dividends when Andover skipper Jonty Hadfield won the toss and began making early inroads into the Alton line up. Richie Taylor (1-21) bowled an agressive line and managed to secure the wicket of R Hale for a meagre 1. However, playmaker Dave Taylor was the dangerman and he bludgeoned the bowling of Mike Adams initially hitting one towering maximum and a couple of delicate boundaries. It was not the first time Adams had experienced being in the forests that weekend. This onslaught was abruptly brought to an end by the cunning Adams who unleashed his self nominated 'best slower ball in the league' to great effect. It exploded off the wicket and caught Taylor (19) on the hand and looped up for a simple catch to Cillie van der Merwe. An excellent example of why this young and innovative Andover team has been successful in the T20 competition this season. Subsequently, Andover were able to tighten the screw, accumulating dot balls and applying pressure which led to a severe decline in the scoring rate. Leg Spin ace Chris Hadfield (1-18) took one wicket thanks to a superb catch by brother Jonty at mid wicket. The only batsman of any real significance was D Augustus who caressed his way to 35 off only 26 balls. When he was dismissed by J Hadfield, stumped by van der Merwe after being bamboozled in the flight Alton found themselves in a bleak situation needing a late injection of runs. However, the sublime control and thought applied by both Hadfield (3-15)and James O'Gorman meant that this could not materialise and the innings petered out with a flurry of wickets to a shabby 116-7 off their twenty overs.

A score of this magnitude should have been accomplished easily as it was under a run a ball but Andover were up against an allegedly superior bowling attack and a substandard pitch which was behaving extremely promiscuously. All that was required was a steady start that would surely have seen Andover to victory but the foolish Al Hooper tried to destroy former first class player Dave Taylor from the off but only managed to top edge the ball to the grateful Alton fielder. Hooper trudged off to Daniel Powter's 'Bad Day' which summed up his negligent batting performance. Two balls later Taylor managed to find the leading edge of J O'Gorman's blade and Andover found themselved reeling at 1-2 off the first over. This was a nightmare position with both of the town sides' main T20 components back in the pavilion. When Chris Hadfield chipped Taylor (3-15) to mid wicket for 3 Andover were 9-3 and staring defeat in the face. However, the enterprising J Hadfield joined the out of form Mark Copleston in the mire and set about the monumental task of rebuilding. Hadfield (17) carefully manoevered the ball while Copleston was more willing to express himself and imposed his array of shots on the Alton attack. With this partnership flourishing Andover remained in pole position but then Hadfield was dismissed at just the wrong moment. Van der merwe crawled his way to 10 before being sublimely caught by J Cartwright which sent the Alton faithful into raptures. However, still needing a little over a run a ball Richard Taylor put his usual cataclysmic approach to batting to one side and pushed the ball into the gaps with style and grace. The only blip to Taylor's fine 23 not out was the awful decision making which resulted in the run out of the impressive Copleston for 35. After a match winning display in the previous round at Lymington, Luke Andrews played a similar role again as he confidently struck the ball with great power to end up with an unbeated 14 off just 8 balls to catipult Andover to victory with two overs to spare.

Another shock victory for Andover sent the players into delirium as the cheers erupted from the boundary edge. The disappointment was etched across the faces of the Alton crowd as the atmosphere of the day had just been extracted out of them in a sensational mixture of fine hitting and sensible, thinking cricket.
Jonty Hadfield's side roars into the Semi-Finals, like the previous year, and are only one more game away from a floodlit Rose Bowl final, which would be a stupendous achievement for a Silver Leage outfit.

Alton Batting

116 for 7

Player name		Runs
R Hale	Caught J Hadfield Bowled R Taylor	1
D Taylor	Caught C van der Merwe Bowled M Adams	19
S Myers	Caught C van der Merwe Bowled L Graham	18
R Morgan	Caught J Hadfield Bowled C Hadfield	14
D Augustus	Stumped C van der Merwe Bowled J Hadfield	35
MJ Heffernan	Caught J O'Gorman Bowled J Hadfield	15
E Hubbard	Caught J O'Gorman Bowled J Hadfield	5
J Cartwright	Not Out	3
J Ballinger	Not Out	3
A Hughes
?

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sun) Bowling

Player Name	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Mike ADAMS	3.0	20	1	20.00	6.67
Richard TAYLOR	4.0	21	1	21.00	5.25
Chris HADFIELD	4.0	18	1	18.00	4.50
James O'GORMAN	4.0	23	0	0.00	5.75
Luke GRAHAM	2.0	17	1	17.00	8.50
Jonty HADFIELD	3.0	15	3	5.00	5.00

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sun) Batting

117 for 6

Player Name		Runs	Catches	Stumpings
Ali HOOPER	Caught E Hubbard Bowled D Taylor	0
Chris HADFIELD	Caught J Cartwright Bowled D Taylor	3
James O'GORMAN	Caught R Morgan Bowled D Taylor	0	2
Mark COPLESTON	Run out D Augustus	35
Jonty HADFIELD	Stumped MJ Heffernan Bowled S Myers	17	2
Cillie VAN DER MERWE	Bowled J Cartwright Bowled J Ballinger	10	2	1
Richard TAYLOR	Not Out	23
Luke ANDREWS	Not Out	14
Tim CLARKE
Mike ADAMS
Luke GRAHAM