Thurrock 222/9
Stanford-le-Hope 78 all out
THURROCK travelled to Grove Road, Stanford this Sunday to play in what turned out to be a convincing victory in a 40 over friendly match under a hot Essex sun. Thurrock captain Mark O’Neill won the toss and elected to bat, opening with Jordan Owen and David Tester. Tester was looking to enjoy this rare outing up the batting order but unfortunately he failed to trouble the scorers and was the first of Pearn’s 4 victims as the young Stanford bowler enjoyed bowling with the shiny new Duke ball and the assistance that it provided. Indeed it was the new ball that done for Jordan Owen.
Things looked to be going well with a huge six and a four, but it was not to last. A combination of an attritional innings the day before and a very good seaming away swinging delivery meant that Owen actually done well to get a bat on it before wicket keeper Kumar pouched it in the gloves behind the stumps. Captain O’Neill was the number 3 batsman and he shared brief partnerships with Tom Redman who scored 7 and seasoned campaigner Tyrone Owen who chipped in with a useful 26.
On the day that the Irish and the English renewed footballing rivalries the combination of O’Neill and Parker united to propel Thurrock into a commanding position. O’Neill eventually fell for 69 after being cleaned up by a delivery from Smith that kept low.
Both teams used this game as a chance to blood some young emerging cricketers in a senior game and although Arnold, Flain, Tagg and Owen Junior went cheaply, they would have a large say in how the game went during the Stanford innings. The not out batsman at the end of Thurrock’s innings were Mr Thurrock himself, Matt Hills, with a well worked 14 crafted from nurdling the ball around the gaps in the field and 70 not out for Michael Parker who hit 11 fours and a career first six to take his away batting average to 144 this year, although it must be said that his average at Blackshots is only around the 5.6 mark! At the end Thurrock ended their 40 overs on 222 for 9 wickets.
If the first innings was about the senior members of the Thurrock side, then surely the second was all about the youngsters in the youthful bowling attack. Credit must go to the people who run the junior sides at the club for developing a talented crop of players. Callum Owen immediately put Stanford on the back foot by dismissing the top three in their batting line up with the new ball. The combination of Owen’s right arm seam and Parker at mid on accounted for openers Evans and Hales before Moody was cleaned bowled with a yorker.
Young Owen was again in the action when he was the catcher to give fellow opening bowler Tagg the wicket of Kumar. Tagg then clean bowled Dollis to leave the Stanford tail exposed. Arnold took the opportunity to remove Pern’s bails before Tom Redman spun his way to a LBW decision to get his name on the wicket takers list. Stanford did put up some late resistance from Smith who ended up on 38 not out, but he ran out of partners after a 3 wicket burst from Flain wrapped up the tail and the innings as Stanford were all out for 78 and a youthful Thurrock side claimed a deserved victory.
