STANFORD-le-Hope 2nd XI returned to winning ways on Saturday with a hard fought win in a rain-affected match at Epping.
Having lost the toss, Stanford were inserted in what was a warm and muggy day. All appeared to be going well for Stanford with Duncan Page (10) and Matt Evans (20) putting on 44 for the first wicket. But, a middle order collapse saw Stanford reduced to 78-5. However, the experience of veteran Mathew Church steadied the ship with a well-crafted 94. Andrew Love (24no) and Daryl Woodford (12no) also provided some late order runs with Stanford posting a respectable total of 235-9.
Unfortunately at tea, the heaven’s opened with a huge deluge of rain which made the ground more suitable for swimming rather than cricket. However, once the weather improved, a huge clean-up operation was put in by both teams to try and get the game resumed and after a two hour delay, Epping were set a revised target of 136 off of 20 overs to win the game.
Epping looked to be on course to meet the target set with Waqar Yusaf (46no) and Jack Archer (30) leading the way and were well on their way at the halfway stage. But, Stanford’s bowlers tightened up in the final 10 overs with Andrew Love (1-12) and captain Andrew Robinson (1-15) proving to be the difference in their four over spell to lead the team to victory, with Epping finally finishing 19 runs short to pick up 20 points.
Stanford host Harlow Town next week.
Stanford 20 points
Epping 8 points
