Scorecard

Sporting Alfas Cricket Club Sporting Alfas Saturday v Oropesa-Sutton CC on Sat 03 Mar 2007 at 12.00
Sporting Alfas Cricket Club Lost

Match report The warm and sunny Spanish weather continued around the resort of Albir, and a small partisan crowd settled around the Columbus Oval full of anticipation of an exciting encounter and they were not to be disappointed. John Lambe was delighted to win the toss and once again Oropesa & Sutton chose to bat first in the blazing Spanish sunshine.
After last year's close low-scoring encounter, Oropesa & Sutton knew they had to make a solid start and post a big total for Alfas to chase down and the tourists did just that with skipper John Lambe leading the way with the bat.
He was the backbone of the innings and continued his good form in Spain with another good batting dispaly.The Alfas opening bowlers were a little wayard, with Sam Lupson bowling alot of wides and no-balls, however the junior Spanniard captain found away through Dave Mitchell's defences with a ball that nipped back and suprised the other Oropesa & Sutton opener. J.Lambe though continued from the previous day and grew in confidence every ball, with his delightful slog-sweep shots, a la Mal Loye style and also with his punchy firm drives as he went onto reach his second consecutive fifty of the tour. Sam Seadon made up from the previous day as he carved out an impressive 39 runs at a healthy rate as he and Lambe put on exactly 100 runs for the first wicket. The introduction of Alfas leg-spinner G.Crompton proved to be a handful as Oropesa & Sutton found him more of a different proposition to the other bowlers who were dispathced with some ease around the Columbus Oval. The leg-spinner was unfortunate not to grab a few wickets early on as the Oropesa & Sutton pair escaped with some outside edges. He did though have both S.Seadon (39) and D.Lewis (20) both stumped by keeper A.Shafiq as they failed to read his wrong-uns. J.Lambe just began to explode with some aggressive strokeplay, but he just began to loose concentration in the intense Spannish heat and he was stumped just 6 runs short of a deserved century trying to blast away the medium pacer Grindy(3/52) who enjoyed a good comeback. The Oropesa & Sutton batsmen continued to be positive and inventive in their scoring, with D.Mercer hitting a sparkling 34 from 40 balls and Russell Coombe a dashing 30 runs. With wickets falling regularly during the last 15 overs, the tourists built some useful partnerships in-between and reached 272 for 7 off their 40 overs, which would have satisfied skipper John Lambe.

The Alfas innings in reply mirrored Oropesa & Sutton's innings with one player acting as the rock and being supported with useful contributions down the order. After Oropesa & Sutton made a good start with the hard toiling N.Clark getting P.Pennick caught in the slips by J.Lambe, Alfas began to take control and steadily see off the opening pair of Oropesa & Sutton opening bowler's S.Seadon and N.Clark. Oropesa & Sutton did miss some chances in the field with A.Shafiq being dropped three times, as Oropesa & Sutton made life struggled in the sweltering hot conditions. The Alfas opener A.Safiq made Oropesa & Sutton pay for their mistakes as he breezed past his fifty in style with some cracking sixes and boundaries.

He and G.Compton, who proved to be just as effective with the bat as the ball put on 164 run partnership and Alfas were in complete control at 187 for 1 off 26 overs. The match though then began to change back into Oropesa & Sutton's favour as quick wickets once again began to fall easily. After a shaky start P.Whightman(3/52) tamed the Alfas pair and he was rewarded as he got G.Compton (68), who was well caught by Sam Seadon. Alfas then began to panic and Sam Seadon got back into his bowling stride when A.Shafiq edged behined after just reaching his century. It was a great knock by the Pakistanian, who hit an incredible 9 fours and sixes in his knock of 103.

After getting the dangerman out, Oropesa & Sutton were even more delighted when Seadon had G.Howe out for LBW first ball from a delievery which nipped back nicely. He was denied a hat-trick though as D.Climent survived Seadon's next ball, only to go very shortly as P.Whightman struck again bowling D.Climent. Oropesa & Sutton were on a roll and now looking firm favourites as Alfas were tottering at 201 for 5 off 30 overs. The match though then began to sway from one side to the other, with Alfas' Grindy determined to guide his team home. The boundaries were cut down as Oropesa & Sutton fielded like tigers in the late afternoon Spanish sunshine. Alfas lost wickets at regular intervals as Oropesa & Sutton bowled sensibly towards the end as the run-rate got big on the home side. The final 3 overs though saw Alfas eventually find some boundaries through C.Grindy, as Alfas looked to creap home at the final hurdle. D.Mitchell had to bowl the last over with Alfas needing 10 runs to win. S.Lewis was clean bowled for four and then C.Grindy(39 not out) lost strike and Alfas needed 4 runs to win off the last ball. D.Mitchell bowled and the ball flew through to keeper Russell Coombe and Oropesa & Sutton had sealed the win and retained the Valencian Cup. Sporting Alfas closed on a highly respectable 268 for 9 and Oropesa & Sutton Skipper John Lambe was highly commendable of his players and the hosts for playing their part in a truly great match.

Thanks to www.spanishmortgageservices.co.uk

Oropesa-Sutton CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
272 (0.0 overs)		     
J. Lambe Caught  94
D. Mitchel Bowled  5
S.Seadon Stumped  39
D. Lewis Stumped  20
D.Mercer Caught  34
J.Fry Caught  22
R.Coombe Stumped  30
P.Liddiard Not Out  2
C.Moore  
P.Whiteman  
N.Clarke  

Sporting Alfas Cricket Club Sporting Alfas Saturday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sam Lupson8.0076238.009.50
Christopher Grindey8.0052317.336.50
Phill Pennick6.005000.008.33
Stephen Lewis6.004300.007.17
Gary Crompton8.0122211.002.75
Alan Bacon4.002400.006.00

Sporting Alfas Cricket Club Sporting Alfas Saturday Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
268		        
Phill Pennick Caught  13 1
M. Shafique Ali Caught  103 1 3
Gary Crompton Caught  68
Graham Howe Bowled  0 1
David Climent Bowled  2
Christopher Grindey Not Out  39
Jeff Matthews Lbw  8
Sam Lupson Caught  4
Stephen Lewis Bowled  4
Matt Winter Bowled  12
Alan Bacon Not Out  1

Oropesa-Sutton CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Clark8.0043143.005.37
Seadon8.0054318.006.75
Mitchell8.0046146.005.75
Lewis7.0056156.008.00
Whiteman8.0052317.336.50
Liddiard1.001400.0014.00

  • Umpire :
    R Graham
  • Scorer :
    C Woodbridge