Stanford-Le-Hope CC 248 all out Beat Leigh-on-Sea CC 240/9 by 8 runs.
Stanford travelled to Chalkwall Park on Sunday with hope of extending their winning run in the Essex Sunday League against Leigh-on-Sea. Having won the toss, Stanford elected to bat and were soon in trouble. Leigh opening bowler Couzens (3/63) removed both Stanford openers Maher (2) and Knight (11) relatively cheaply leaving Stanford reeling.
Stanford’s number 3 Alex Ellis (3) offered some steel to the innings without getting much luck or credit his resistance deserved. Skipper Martin Leslie (46) continued his rich vein of form and started to release some of the pressure with a mix of good batting and savage blows.
As Stanford lost more wickets Cohen (15), Sanderson (6) and Gaylor (0) they were in real trouble at 120/8 before Greg Barr joined Ross Poulton at the crease.
Their partnership of over 100 took the game away from the Leigh-on-Sea players and the frustration was there to see. Poulton (117 not out) played a majestic innings of glorious cover drives, audacious reverse sweeps and sublime cut shots whilst Barr (24) at the other end was rotating the strike and even attempting his own version of the reverse sweep. Stanford ended their innings on 248 all out.
In reply, Stanford started horrendously. Fielding errors, bad bowling and general schoolboy errors presented the Leigh-on-Sea batsman with runs aplenty. At drinks Leigh-on-Sea had totalled 140-1 and looked as though the game was in the bag. After a dressing down at the drinks interval, Stanford attempt to save their blushes from an embarrassing result and started to put the ball in the right areas. Andrew Love (1/56) and Ross Poulton (2/37) started to chip away at the Leigh batsman and applied some pressure, causing some panic in the Leigh ranks.
With Leigh still well and truly in the box seat, up stepped, ‘Super’ Dave Gaylor (4/11) who ripped through the Leigh lower order in a magnificent bowling display that displayed control, accuracy and precision. Stanford wrapped up the game with a fine last over from Greg Cohen and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.
