Hertfordshire on Sunday League Match Reports

RESULT - Stevenage won by 3 wickets

The late summer feast of runs in the HSL spilled over into Autumn as 10 man Stevenage chased a huge total of 282 to win. The day got off the best possible start for Stevenage with Simon Roberts getting the opener caught behind by Carr off the first ball of the day. In fact the dual left arm over pace attack of Roberts and Kevin Jones had a generally tidy start. However, despite decent back up spells from Kevin Fisher and Joel Hippolyte both picking up a wicket the total steadily built as the inexperienced and under-manned Stevnenage side struggled to maintain fielding standards. The Hatfield number 4 seemed to have taken the game away from Stevenage as he smached a quick fire 86 being particularly harsh on the spinners. The bowling changes were regular but it did little to slow the run-rate although wickets kept falling. A total of 281 was acheived and the home side went into the break full of confidence.
On the short walk to the middle the Stevenage openers, David Carr and Gary Brown, devised a with a simple plan for acheiving victory ..... get all the runs ourselves and get them before it gets too dark. The first over went for 19 runs and the first wicket partnership put on a massive 234 runs, leaving 48 runs to win from 9 overs. Carr was dismissed caught at point for 99, but Brown stuck around until the last over scoring the majority of the remaining runs with sensible but aggressive hitting in what was an incredibly mature innings. Roberts, Bayes and Fisher were dismissed cheaply as they tried to force the pace and work the strike for Brown, so with 1 over and 5 balls left 5 runs were needed. Hatfield had their quickest bowler on and 13 year old Scott Davies walked out to the crease. He played and missed at his first 3 balls and at this stage not only were his mum and dad not watching his dog had its paws over its eyes. Luckly Davies was watching the last ball of the penultimate over as he cover drove it to the sweeper on the boundary, but only made a single. So 6 balls and 4 runs needed and Brown at the wrong end. Davies swept the first ball for a single and there was a collective sigh of relief, with Brown back on strike. Two swings and misses later Brown was out stumped for 135 and still 3 runs needed from only 3 balls. A nerveless Simon Luxton strode to the crease, with only Trevor Davies, Hippolyte and Jones left to bat. He played a textbook square cover drive to his first ball and sent it rocketing along the ground between the cover and point fielders and disappearing into the boundary hedge before the cover boundary sweeper had time to make any attempt at a diving stop. An incredible victory by the 10 man Stevenage side proving a fitting way to finish the season.