Audley won the toss in changeable conditions at Stone and elected to bat. The wicket looked hard and had a good covering of grass on it, so hopefully there will be assistance for the bowlers.
Audley began positively with Doorbar striking 3 boundaries in the opening three overs. He scored a further 2 boundaries before the end of the first powerplay. Wilde survived a close LBW off Green in the second over and settled into a more supportive role in the partnership. He struck a straight 6 off Fynn as Audley pushed their way towards 50. The introduction of spin slowed the scoring rate considerably and eventually led to the dismissal of Wilde as he tried to cut a ball off Taylor that hit the off stump.
Taylor dismissed the set Doorbar two overs later when he was excellently caught off a leading edge at midwicket by Sinclair. Doorbar made 37, which included six well-struck boundaries. Audley reached 73/2 at the halfway stage of their innings.
Captain Rob Hemmings was then LBW to Taylor shortly after drinks to leave Audley in trouble at 85/3. The Stone spinners were really doing a good job at strangling the scoring. Taylor bowled an impressive spell of 3/27 from his 9 overs, showing great control of flight. He varied his speed, showing discipline beyond his years.
The reintroduction of Fynn brought about the wicket of Ash Rogers, who was out LBW for 4 whilst attempting a sweep. Richard Holloway was bowled attempting to push the score along, leaving Audley 132/5 with less than 10 overs remaining. Jones was then stumped as Audley fell to 148/6 with 6 overs remaining. Archie Doorbar was caught behind as Fynn finished with 4/33 from 9 overs.
Ali Hamza Waseem held the Audley innings together with a well-made 63, which contained five 4s. He accumulated steadily and ran hard between the wickets; he just lacked support from the other Audley batters. Audley’s innings finished on 178/9 after the lower-order batters scrambled well in the final few overs. Stones’ ground fielding was untidy and probably allowed Audley an extra 15 runs over the course of the innings. I believe the final total to be around 20 short of what Audley would have liked in their innings, but the Stone bowlers really controlled the middle overs and did not allow acceleration towards the end.
Stones’ innings started badly when the big-hitting George Hawbrook was caught at mid off by Alex Coates, having an almighty slog at Waseem for a second ball duck, leaving Stone 3/1 at the end of the first over. Sam Graham then edged Alex Coates between keeper and 1st slip as Audley missed an opportunity to reduce Stone further.
Jack Harvey was caught in the gully driving loosely at a ball from Coates, who had worked up some good pace running down the hill to leave Stone 28/2 in the 8th over.
Warrick Fynn was adjudged LBW to Waseem for 12 with the score on 71; the ball appeared to strike Fynn above the pad when he was on the back foot. In my opinion, it was going over the top of the stumps. Graham and Fynn had added 43 untroubled runs up to that point.
The introduction of Doorbar into the attack began to cause the Stone batsmen problems. The scoring rate slowed, and they reached 80/3 at the drinks break. Shortly after, Graham was bowled by Doorbar when looking to work one to leg for a patient 41 off 73 balls. Stone had scored only 12 runs from the previous 7 overs as Audley clawed their way back into the game. Batchelor was then pinned on the back leg by Doorbar to leave Stone reeling at 88/5.
Stone had looked to have wrestled back the momentum as a partnership began to grow between captain Lunn and all-rounder Cope. They had added 34 before Holloway found a way through Cope’s defences to leave Stone 127/7. Doorbar ended up with impressive figures of 2/31 off 9 overs as he bowled well in tandem with Holloway.
Holloway then snuck one through the defences of Sinclair to claim his third wicket and leave Stone 141/8. Holloway finished with 3/29 from 9 probing overs.
When Green was brilliantly run out attempting a third run, Stone were on the brink at 149/9, Green could not beat Wilde’s throw from the deep, and Jones removed the bails at the bowler’s end with Green just inches short of his ground. Taylor was then caught behind off the bowling of Waseem to spark great celebration among the Audley players as Stone were bowled out for 156, leaving them victors in a tight game by 22 runs. Captain Lunn remained unbeaten on 22 as he could not get his side over the line.
Audley now have two victories from 2, and champions Stone have two defeats from 2.
