Alsbury’s fine knock guides Stone to a comfortable victory.

Stone vs Eccleshall.

Matchday 10 takes me back to Stone CC to watch their home fixture against Eccleshall. The visitors come into this game after a crucial home victory over Longton, which has pushed them back up to 6th after a run of two defeats and a draw. Stone secured a high-scoring draw on the road at Meakins as their patchy form continues. They’ve dropped to 8th in the standings, but they sit just 20 points behind 3rd-place Meakins, showing just how tight the league is at the moment.

Stone won the toss and elected to bat in warm and breezy conditions. The wicket had a good covering of grass on it, but looked very flat, and I expect the day to be full of runs.

George Hawbrook drove Matthew Wright’s second ball through mid on for the first boundary of the innings. He was shortly caught at first slip after a deflection of the keeper when he attempted to cut Murvin Abinash in the next over to leave Stone 6/1.

Jack Harvey drove through the covers before cutting Abinash behind point as he scored back-to-back boundaries in the 4th over. William Alsbury clipped Wright over mid-wicket for his first boundary in the 5th over. He had survived a big appeal for a caught behind earlier in the over, which looked out from my position. Tom Hibbert dropped a sharp chance off an Alsbury’s inside edge in the 8th over. The ball went quickly to his left-hand side, but he was unable to hold on. Alsbury rounded out the over with a beautiful cover drive to move the score to 25/1.

Harvey was bowled by Wright when he didn’t offer a shot to a ball that was angled back at him from around the wicket. Warrick Fynn square drove over point to get off the mark with a boundary two balls later. Another big drive from Fynn went to the boundary in the 11th over before a powerful back-foot drive through the covers followed later in the over as he began to look in good touch. An under-edge from a pull fell short of keeper Chris Plant as 10 runs came from the eventful over.

Fynn cut Abinash past short third man in the 14th over to move to 20. A fifth boundary followed in the next over when he cracked Oliver Palmer through the covers off the back foot. Alsbury punched a rare bad ball from Abinash through the covers two overs later. Fynn’s sixth boundary came when he dispatched a Dissanagge full toss over cow corner for a one-bounce four to move the score to 68/2. When drinks came onto the field after 18 overs, Fynn was 31 and Alsbury had been patient for his 20*. They were building a good platform for the home side after they’d lost two early wickets.

Alsbury advanced down the pitch and struck a lovely straight drive off Dissanagge for his fourth boundary as the 3rd wicket stand continued to grow. Another Alsbury boundary followed in the next over when he clipped Palmer to the fine leg fence to take the score to 83/2. Fynn moved to 43* when he clipped Palmer over square leg for his seventh boundary in the 25th over. Palmer then beat the left-handers outside edge when he angled a ball across him later in the over. Alsbury took 11 runs off the 27th over when he drove Palmer for two 4s through the covers as he moved into the 40’s.

A sweep off Dissanagge took him to 48 in the following over. He went to a well-made 50 with a push into the off-side in the next over. It had come from 94 balls and had contained eight 4s. Fynn hit the final ball through the covers to move to 47*. Dissanagge broke the 3rd wicket partnership when he bowled Fynn for 48 with a quicker ball to leave Stone 117/3. Fynn had added 92 with Alsbury, and it was a big wicket for the visitors just as the Stone batters were starting to take the game away from them.

Following the wicket, Dissanagge and Dan Byatt put the squeeze on the batters with only 8 singles coming from the next 5 overs before Alsbury broke the shackles with a pull to the mid-wicket boundary off Dissanagge. Stone reached 137/3 at the second drinks break after 36 overs with Alsbury well set on 66*. Richard Harvey swept Byatt behind square for his first boundary in the over after drinks. A drive through extra cover brought him a second boundary in the 39th over. An Alsbury sweep shot perfectly dissected the leg side sweepers as Stone moved to 161/3 with 15 overs remaining in their innings. Harvey was then well caught by Abinash off Muhammed Khan for 18 as he miscued an attempted drive. Abinash did well to dive forward and scoop the ball up just before it hit the turf. A second wicket in the over followed when Joey Sharp drove loosely outside off stump and could only nick through to keeper Plant.

Dan Lunn drove well through the covers in the 43rd over for his first boundary. Lunn then pushed the ball to point, and Alsbury called him through for a quick single. The throw was wild, and Stone picked up a bonus four overthrows. The visitors’ ground fielding had just begun to look ragged; this wasn’t the first example of overthrows in the past few overs.

Alsbury was caught and bowled by Dissanagge for 83 when he smashed a drive straight back at him. It was a good catch because the ball had been hit hard and low back at the bowler, who took a smart catch in his follow-through. It had been a fine innings from Alsbury; he’d batted for 137 balls and hit ten 4s in red-hot conditions to put his side in a strong position. With this wicket, Eccleshall had pulled themselves back into the game after a poor start. Lunn was then caught at point to give Khan his third wicket in only his 3rd over as Stone continued to implode after the second drinks break. Ed Batchelor then became the next batter to throw his wicket away when he chipped to mid off to leave the home side 186/8. Stone had now lost 5/22 in just 29 balls.

James Cope collected two boundaries in the 47th over when he first drove through extra cover before putting a full toss away through mid-wicket as the score moved towards 200. He was then caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Wright off Khan when he top-edged a pull in the 49th over to leave Stone 200/9. Reid Taylor became the second beneficiary of four overthrows when he nudged to point, and Abinash’s throw beat the fielder backing up at mid-on and ran away to the fence. James Green drove the returning Abinash to the cover boundary to move the score to 216/9 with 3 overs remaining. Taylor then edged Khan between the keeper and first slip for another boundary as the last wicket pair had added 20 valuable runs.

Taylor was well caught at slip by Knapper off Wright in the 54th over as Stone were finally bowled all out for 223. Green finished unbeaten on 13* as he and Taylor added useful late-order runs. Khan finished with 4/42 and was the main instigator of the Stone collapse after the second drinks break. He was at times erratic, but did bowl enough wicket-taking balls to justify this. Dissanagge finished with 3/44 as his wily off-spin kept the home side’s batters in check. Stone could have gone on to score more, but their middle order collapse was dramatic, and they did well in the end to make it up to 223. Leek chased down a similar score on this ground 2 weeks ago, so if Eccleshall can apply themselves, they do have a good chance of winning this game.

After a slightly wayward start, Green found Plant’s outside edge with his 4th delivery to leave the visitors 5/1. Connor Beasley offered a difficult chance to Sharp in the gully a couple of overs later when he drove at a full ball. It went quickly to Sharp, who got his hands up above his head but could not hold on, and the chance went begging. Hibbert drove Batchelor nicely down the ground for his first boundary in the next over. Green continued to cause problems and went past both batsmen’s outside edges multiple times in the opening overs. He was hitting a good length and finding seam movement with the new ball.

A fine catch by Lunn, standing up to the stumps to Batchelor, was the undoing of Beasley. Batchelor found some extra bounce and just got the ball to nip away from Beasley’s defence stroke, and Lunn did the rest to leave Eccleshall 22/2 in the 8th over. Hibbert drove a rare loose ball from Green to the cover boundary in the following over. Dissanagge opened his account when he fiercely cut Green to the point fence in the 11th over. Green responded by beating his outside edge with an absolute beauty that moved away off the seam and squared him up on the crease. The ball probably did too much, in all fairness.

Dissanagge deftly ran Batchelor to the third man boundary in successive balls in the 13th over as he began to look settled at the wicket. A 3rd boundary in the over followed when an under-edge beat keeper Lunn and ran away. It had been a very profitable over for the visitors, and the 3rd wicket partnership was beginning to grow. Hibbert flicked Fynn through mid-wicket for his 3rd boundary in the 16th over before Dissnagge neatly cut Taylor behind point for another boundary as he moved to 23*. Eccleshall were well placed at 63/2 when drinks came onto the field. The 3rd wicket pair had added 41, and the pitch had been docile after the new ball had worn off. The visitors required 161 runs from 38 overs at just over 4 runs an over.

Hibbert was well caught low down by Hawbrook at slip two balls after play restarted as Stone finally broke the dangerous 3rd wicket stand. Greg Clark began by lifting Taylor over mid-on for a boundary from only his 3rd delivery. Dissanagge crashed a Jack Harvey short ball to the point fence before Harvey got one to nip back and trap him LBW for 36. It was a clever piece of bowling from the left-arm seamer who had been running the ball across the right-handers before he got one to nip back and trap Dissanagge plumb in front. With that big wicket, Eccleshall had now slipped to 80/4. Clarke then picked up two boundaries in consecutive overs when he slashed Harvey over point before he flicked Taylor to the mid-wicket boundary as he began his innings nicely.

Abinash was then brilliantly caught down the leg side by Lunn to give Harvey his second wicket. Lunn dived full length to his right-hand side to complete the catch and leave Eccleshall 92/5. Clarke nicked Harvey just short of Hawbrook at slip before he hacked a single into the leg side as he showed that he was not going to be pinned down by the accurate Stone bowling. Taylor was then firmly struck over mid-on as he continued his counterattack. Two more boundaries followed off Cope when he drove him straight down the ground before smashing a half volley to the cover fence as he moved quickly to 31*. A lofted strike over mid-wicket followed in the next over before a brilliant piece of fielding by Jack Harvey ran out Jack Knapper when he pushed the ball into the covers. Harvey reacted quickly and moved sharply to his left. He gathered the ball and threw it to Lunn behind the stumps to run Knapper out by half a pitch after Clark sent him back.

Clark continued to be aggressive, and he dragged a Fynn delivery to the mid-wicket boundary before a straight six off Cope brought up his 50 from 57 balls with eight 4s and a six. He was then caught on the long-on boundary from the very next ball when he attempted to hit another maximum. It was an unnecessary shot as he’d just hit the previous ball for six and was looking like a thorn in Stone’s side as he was mixing steady accumulation with powerful boundary hitting. His wicket had now put the home side firmly in the driving seat as they only needed another three wickets for victory.

Byatt showed defiance after Clarke was dismissed and struck two boundaries through the leg side as he looked to steer his side towards a draw, but after he’d made his way to 30, he had an ugly slog at a delivery from Fynn and was bowled to leave his side 170/8 with 40 minutes of play remaining. He’d made 30 good runs before Fynn tossed one a little higher, and he couldn’t resist having a go at it. Palmer was then trapped LBW by Fynn two overs later before Wright’s 46-ball stay ended when he chipped Cope to Richard Harvey at mid-on to give Stone victory by 47 runs with just under half an hour’s play remaining.

It had been a good all-round bowling performance by Stone. Fynn finished with 2/33, and he was backed up well by Jack Harvey and Cope, who both claimed 2/29. They’d been the better side all day and apart from their collapse, they thoroughly deserved their victory. Stone move up to 7th in the table after this win, and Eccleshall drop to 8th as their scrappy form continues.