South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | July | 29
From the Gazette, first published Friday 29th Jul 2005.
Almondsbury 1st XI v Bishopston 1st XI
IF Harry Houdini was alive today he'd probably learn something from this Almondsbury side who once again were in deep trouble, only to perform another great escape.
Having been put in to bat on a wicket helpful to the bowlers, Almondsbury collapsed to 32-4 with Rob Young (five), Gary Goodwin (12), Tom Armfield (four) and the usually prolific Ross Wakely (0) all soon back in the pavilion. Ryan Edwards showed a degree of patience before holing out at cover for eight. This left the league leaders 54-5 off 20 overs.
However skipper Greg Stephens found a willing partner in Liam Hartigan and the pair began to rebuild the innings.
They had put on 58 when Hartigan was bowled by Stuart Luff for 35. Stephens soon followed, caught by O'Brien at mid-wicket off Jones for a workmanlike 43, and when Aaron Addicote was bowled by Jones for 23 the home side were back in trouble at 141-8 off 39 overs.
But once again the Almondsbury tail displayed grit and determination. Messrs Braund and Mortimore showed great agility with their running between the wickets and during the last couple of overs Mortimore found the boundary and tennis courts with regularity.
The home side eventually finished on 189-8 with Mortimore 33 not out and Braund 17 not out. Jones with 5-60 was the main wicket taker for Bishopston.
In reply, Bishopston's innings began briskly as 19 runs came from the first five overs, but the pace of Greg Stephens was replaced by the spin of Phil Mortimore and the Almondsbury bowlers began to seize control.
Tom Armfield removed openers O'Brien (one) and Connelly (21). Then Messrs Trench and Sturnham came to the wicket, but found scoring difficult as the Armfield/Mortimore combination kept the runs to a minimum.
Armfield then trapped Trench lbw for 22 and Armfield removed Sturnham in similar fashion for 20. At 80-4 off 29 overs the Almondsbury stranglehold grew tighter.
Stuart Luff laid a brief siege to the Almondsbury bowlers, but skipper Greg Stephens replaced the economical Tom Armfield with his off-spin and removed Luff for 22 with a fine catch by Gary Goodwin at short mid-wicket.
This effectively ended the visitors' resistance as Stephens, together with the guile of Pepall, claimed the last six wickets in 19 balls. Bishopston finished all out on 132 leaving Almondsbury victors by 57 runs.
For Almondsbury the bowling figures read Greg Stephens 9-1-35-3 and Fraser Pepall 1.2-0-5-3, but special mention must go to Tom Armfield (15-4-41-3) and Phil Mortimore (15-0-42-1) whose accuracy and control gave Almondsbury their tenth win in 11 league games.
Almondsbury seconds batted first and totalled 190-8 with the enthusiastic Kyle Hartigan top scoring with a hard hit 69. David Bow (18 not out), Nick Fairbairn (18) and Chris Slade (17) gave sound support whilst Mike Foot with 24 gave the innings a solid start.
Bishopston achieved victory off the penultimate ball to win by two wickets in an exciting finish, Imran 2-39, skipper Smith 2-27, Mike Foot 2-67 and Ed Davies 1-48.
Youngsters Elliot Cooper (21) and Kit Shepherd (13) were the main early run-getters for Almondsbury thirds whilst evergreen Ken Evans (14 not out) scored a season's best at number 11 in a total of 110.
The United Banks' more experienced team strolled a nine wicket victory with Andy Manser taking 1-6.
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