Stour seal narrow win (From Dudley News)

Stour seal narrow win

2:34pm Thursday 9th July 2009

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STOURBRIDGE CC gave their promotion push a much needed boost with a last over win at Colwall.

Chasing 220 for victory, wicketkeeper Wes Griffiths and Matt Bradley saw Stour home with a ball and two wickets to spare.

The victory moved Stour up to fourth in the Crusader Worcester League Division One, though they still have plenty of ground to make up on leaders Pershore.

After James Musk struck the an early blow for Stourbridge, Colwall moved to 91-4 at the halfway stage.

Stour bowlers not only maintained control but exerted pressure by taking wickets as the home side ended on 219 all out from 49.5 overs.

G.Sharp was top scorer for the hosts with 94 not out. James Musk shared 3 wickets a piece with the spinner Mikesh Patel giving Stour chance of grabbing maximum points Stour skipper Richard Bradley (61) led from the front as the run chase began, putting on 107 for the first wicket with Alex Bingham (46).

After both men departed the visitors continued to score freely and an easy victory seemed in sight. But panic set in as the middle order collapsed from 200-5 after 44 overs before Griffiths and Bradley held their nerve to see them home.

Stourbridge second XI also picked up a timely win with a 124 run triumph over Droitwich.

Put into bat Stour got off to a disastrous start losing the openers Ryan Willettes and Keith Jones with just 4 runs on the board. Dan Growcott (29) and Steve Game (77) steadied the innings and Nick Pearson (24), Jitesh Patels (43) and Will Cooper (35) all chipped in as Stour reached 235-6 off the 50 overs.

The Stour bowlers then caused mayhem, bowling out Droitwich for 111 in the 39th over.

Teenage seamer Jitesh Patel took a sharp caught and bowled chance early on, while a superb spell of swing bowling from Kalpesh Patel saw him end up with seven wickets for 35 runs of 12 overs.

The third XI had an easy day at the office with a nine wicket win away to Cookley.

Skipper Ian Biddle won the toss and put the home side into bat. It proved the right decision his bowlers skittled the hosts out for just 70 in 31 overs, Shabir Butt was once again in the wickets claiming 5-25.

Dave Colesby took 3-10 to wrap up Cooley’s innings. Ian Biddle and Vishal Vijaykrishna each scored 20. Stour romped home winning by nine wickets the 25 extras given away meant an early end to the match. The 20 points at this stage will be greatly valued by Stour The fourth XI also had a rare taste of victory. Skipper Gully Hassan batted first and saw his team reach 219-9 off 50 overs.

Batting stars Aiden Avey 49 and Gareth Edwards 39 remained not out put their side in a strong position. Cookley were bowled out for 14 runs short of victory thanks to five wickets haul from the skipper Hassan.

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