Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) v Sparsholt on Sat 23 Apr 2011 at 1:00pm

Scorecard

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) v Sparsholt on Sat 23 Apr 2011 at 1:00pm
Andover Cricket Club Won By 8 wkts

Match report Powells-sponsored Andover 1st XI demolished Bronze League side Sparsholt by 8 wickets in the last of their pre-season warm-up fixtures. On a scorching day at Andover's home of cricket, skipper Richard Taylor once again lost the toss and was asked to field first.

Sparsholt capitalised on a flat London Road pitch and fast outfield by scoring runs at a rapid rate, despite the early loss of Brook who found his middle stump cartwheeling in the fourth over thanks to a beauty from Taylor. At the other end, Australian import Payne made a well-constructed 32 and looked dangerous before he was trapped LBW by Luke Graham, the first of 2 wickets for him. Sparsholt needed a recovery act in the form of skipper Vokes (66) and talented youngster Foy who rebuilt the innings after a flurry of wickets before Vokes lost his off stump to the lofty James O'Gorman, back from his native New Zealand and ready for another English summer of cricket. The overseas star bowled at a lively pace and with unnerving accuracy and is chomping at the bit to get stuck into Gold League cricket. At the other end Tim Saye, on his return to the club, produced a good spell of bowling and his accuracy was rewarded with a wicket.

The away team continued to progress steadily but the Andover fielding was once again at a high standard with Saye leading the way with some excellent diving stops and a fantastic all round display of agility. The sixth Sparsholt wicket fell to the medium pace threat of rotund Mark Copleston, who bowled a devastating, wicket to wicket, spell of death bowling and in the process, put his name in the hat for the elusive 6th bowler slot that the town side require. The stocky seamer enticed Dubell (11) into a false shot with a well-disguised slower ball that was skied to the ever-alert Ali Hooper who dutifully plucked the ball out of the air with a brilliant diving effort. That was to be the final wicket for Andover as Sparsholt closed on 223 with Foy ending unbeaten on 62.

The run chase for Andover was always going to be a quick one with the hard hitters Hooper, Saye and Copleston at the top of the order and the Sparsholt bowlers could do little to prevent the onslaught. Hooper looked in immaculate form again as he cracked 3 powerful boundaries in the first over but was unlucky to be dismissed early for just 17. However, this only paved the way for Saye and Copleston to bludgeon their way to victory. Saye smeared 120 not out off 64 balls and gave the opposing bowlers no mercy with his wide range of shots leading to a host of sixes around the ground. Copleston was equally impressive as he muscled his way to 79 off 55 balls and proved that, following his bowling display, he is now a genuine all-rounder. Copleston unfortunately fell with just a few runs required for victory but it enabled O’Gorman to have some crucial time at the crease before next week’s league opener against Bournemouth. Andover cruised to victory with time and wickets to spare and can now look forward to hosting the current league champions at London Road next Saturday, 1:00pm start.

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) Batting

Player Name		Runs	M	Ct
extras TOTAL :	for 2 wickets	0 228	(0.0 overs)
Ali HOOPER	Caught Vokes (J) Aitken	17		1
Tim SAYE	Not Out	120
Mark COPLESTON	Caught Payne Taylor	79
James O'GORMAN	Not Out	0
Jonty HADFIELD
Robbie HADFIELD
Martin ROBERTS
Luke GRAHAM
Richard TAYLOR
Andy SALE
Phil BISHOP

Sparsholt Bowling

Player name	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Jon VOKES	3.0	23	0	0.00	7.67
Roger AITKEN	4.0	55	1	55.00	13.75
Steve WRIGHT	6.0	40	0	0.00	6.67
Dan PAYNE	4.0	39	0	0.00	9.75
Dan FOY	2.0	22	0	0.00	11.00
Mike DUBELL	2.0	36	0	0.00	18.00
Ollie TAYLOR	0.5	13	1	13.00	15.60

Sparsholt Batting

Player name		Runs
extras TOTAL :	for 6 wickets	0 223 (0.0 overs)
Dan PAYNE	Lbw GRAHAM	32
Tim BROOK	Bowled TAYLOR	0
Tim VOKES	Bowled O'GORMAN	66
Lewis DUNFORD	Bowled GRAHAM	8
Dan FOY	Not Out	62
James SMALLMAN	Lbw SAYE	21
Mike DUBELL	Caught HOOPER/COPLESTON	11
Ollie TAYLOR	Not Out	0
Steve WRIGHT
Jon VOKES
Roger AITKEN

Andover Cricket Club 1st XI (Sat) Bowling

Player Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Tim SAYE	9.0	0	51	1	51.00	5.67
Richard TAYLOR	9.0	1	29	1	29.00	3.22
Luke GRAHAM	9.0	0	52	2	26.00	5.78
Jonty HADFIELD	9.1	0	38	0	0.00	4.15
James O'GORMAN	5.0	0	17	1	17.00	3.40
Ali HOOPER	3.0	0	20	0	0.00	6.67
Mark COPLESTON	1.0	0	9	1	9.00	9.00

Umpire :
Keith Williams
Scorer :
Lesley Morgan