Npower Village Knockout Cup - Round 1 Report

On Sunday, Stalbridge were victorious in their first tie in the 2007 ECB nPower Village Knockout Cup, when they travelled away to Redlynch & Hale CC.

The trip into Wiltshire meant that the opposition were an unknown quantity for the Dorset League Division I side, who had narrowly beaten Beaminster the day before in making heavy work of chasing a low total. Despite the Redlynch pitch looking like a slow batting track, this prompted skipper Mark Chant to bat first on winning the toss.

After a slow start and the loss of two early wickets, and with the wicket indeed making attacking shots difficult, Stalbridge eventually picked up the run rate with some fine aggressive batting from Rob Burfitt and Simon Miles.  Redlynch tried to control the innings with their slow bowlers, though Burfitt and Miles took the score to 153 for 4 in 30 overs, setting up what looked like being a good total with 10 overs remaining.

However, Miles was bowled for 30, breaking the Stalbridge momentum and leaving Burfitt and the tail to take the total to 187 for 9 at tea. Finishing on 74 before being stumped, 17-year old Rob Burfitt’s fine knock was undoubtedly the backbone of the Stalbridge innings.

In reply, Redlynch struggled to find runs against the experienced Stalbridge opening attack, with Steve Forshaw and Hayden ‘Wayzer’ Williams bowling 12 overs for just 23 runs. This gave Stalbridge a great start as the pressure soon began to tell on the Redlynch batsmen.

When spin twins Mark Chant (1 for 31) and Sid Ruffdimond (3 for 34) joined the attack, the Wiltshire side were soon reduced to 45 for 5. Despite a middle order rally, including a stand of 94 which briefly threatened to take the game away, Stalbridge got back amongst the wickets to bowl out the home team for 148.

Pacemen Rob Burfitt (2 for 28) and the returning Steve Forshaw (3 for 15) regained control of the innings.