Surrey Slam Runners Up

Monday 27th August 2018

Effingham, having won the SW Surrey regional final, had reached the very first Surrey Slam finals day at Beddington CC, along with the other 3 regional winners: Valley End CC, Outwood CC and Spencer CC.

Semi-final – Effingham CC vs Valley End CC

Effingham were drawn against Valley End, who play 7 leagues above them on a Saturday. Effingham won a crucial toss and, with a damp wicket following the previous day’s rain, opted to field first. Chris Fewson and Harrison Green opened the bowling  with the pitch proving very slow as expected. This made timing shots difficult for the Valley End openers and they got off to a slow start before spooning up catches to the infield after the pressure became too great. With the score at 18-3 the tight opening spell was followed up by more good bowling from Jake White and Joel Stroud who picked up 2 and 3 wickets respectively. Wickets continued to fall as the Valley End batsmen failed to adapt to the tricky conditions with more shots being spooned up in the air. The innings never really got going and the constant loss of wickets resulted in a total of 77 all out with Adam Burlison claiming the last scalp. All in all an excellent fielding and bowling performance from Effingham, including a brilliant one handed caught and bowled by Jake White and a good start to the campaign.

With a small total to chase the Effingham batsmen played low risk cricket after the early loss of Martin Keay. Benji Thomas made a valuable 20 before being dismissed and Harrison Green played very confidently for his 39 not out. Effingham won comfortably in the end with 8 balls to spare – on to the final!

Surrey Slam Semi-Final
Ships 81 for 2 beat Valley End Vikings 77ao
H Green 39* and 2 for 20
J Stroud 3 for 15
C Fewson 2 for 6

Final – Effingham CC vs Spencer CC

With a big crowd cheering them on, Effingham took to the field for the last time in the 2018 competition. Spencer CC, who also play 7 leagues above Effingham, won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket that was much drier than the one used in the semi-final. Harrison Green set the tone early again after bowling the Spencer opener and number 3 batsmen, leaving the score on 10-2. This was then followed by some good batting from Spencer who took the score up to 79-2 before losing their third wicket when their number 2 was bowled by Joel Stroud for 27. Just as the batsmen were getting going and scoring runs more freely, 16 year old Ollie Tebbitts came on to bowl. He bowled 3 overs of consistent line and length and picked up a key wicket along the way, the Spencer top-scorer after he had made 38, finishing with the excellent figures of 3 overs 1 for 13. Some good hitting in the final few overs boosted the total up to a very respectable 138 off their 20 overs. Effingham got off to a slow start faced by some good opening bowling from Spencer. Wickets fell regularly as Effingham tried to stay up with the run rate and the score slipped to 33-4. The Spencer CC slow bowlers in particular bowled very well and were tough to get away. In the end despite some late hitting from Jake White and Jordan Bond the chase was too much and Effingham finished on 124 from their 20 overs.

Surrey Slam Final
Ships 114 for 9 lost to Spencer Spitfires 138 for 4
H Green 2 for 19
J Bond 29
Jake White 21

Congratulations to Spencer CC who were deservedly crowned Surrey Slam 2018 champions. Considering the tough opposition, it was a great campaign from Effingham who exceeded all expectations.

Chris Fewson
T20 Skipper

Surrey Cricket Foundation Report

Inaugural Surrey Slam Reaches Climax

Bank Holiday Monday saw the culmination of the inaugural Surrey Slam with a fantastic finals day held at Beddington Cricket Club.

64 teams had battled it out across the local and regional rounds for the opportunity to fight for the trophy and come finals day the Outwood Outlaws, Spencer Spitfires, Effingham Ships and Valley End Vikings were left standing and ready to go for glory. Overnight rain did not hold up proceedings thanks to the great efforts of the members of Beddington Cricket Club and over 200 spectators made their way to Beddington Park to see who would be crowned the Surrey Slam Champions 2018.

The semi finals saw the Vikings take on the Ships, whilst the Outlaws tried to down the Spitfires for the chance to compete in the showpiece final.

Batting first against the Ships, the Vikings found going tough on a turgid pitch, eventually bowled out for just 77 from 18.4 overs. Runs were hard to come by with extras contributing 33 whilst wicket keeper Ryan Watt managed 11 from 24 balls. Wickets were spread around with 2 each for Harrison Green, Chris Fewson and Jake White whilst Joel Stroud turned in figures of 3-15 from his 4 overs. In the chase the Ships knew the going would be tough and used nearly their whole allocation to eventually overcome the Vikings by 7 wickets. Benji Thomas scored a watchful 20 off 48 balls whilst Harrison Green brought the team home with 39 off 44 balls. Cameron Colloff was the pick of the Viking’s bowling with 2-9 off his 3 overs. The full scorecard is available here.

In the second semi final the Spitfires had captain Harry Bardon to thank for their total of 124-8 as he hit 43 off 26 balls. Honours were dished out evenly among the bowlers, with the pick being Matthew Talbot’s 2-23. In reply the Outlaws looked like they may be able to steal victory thanks to Louis Russell-Watts’ blistering innings of 53 off 41 balls, but once he retired on reaching what would be the only half century on the day, the innings petered out with no other batsman able to make double figures. Jon Hare returned 2-22 as all of the bowlers bowled economically as the Outlaws finished 15 runs short. The full scorecard is available here.

After watching the Surrey Stars beat the Western Storm in their Kia Super League semi final, the stage was set for the grand final with the Spitfires of Spencer attempting to sink the Ships of Effingham.

Batting first the Spitfires lost Freddie Horler and Freddie Eltringham early to Harrison Green (2-19), leaving them teetering at 10-2 on a slow wicket proving hard to score on. A sensibly put together partnership of 50 between James Smith (27 off 23) and Harry Bardon (38 off 39) saw the Spitfires build a platform that would enable them to attack in the last 5 overs. This attack was spearheaded by wicketkeeper batsman Phil Cummings who hit 38 off 22 balls in a partnership with Nouman Bashir that added 57 more to the total. The Spitfires had seized momentum with a total of 138-4 which many thought was slightly above par.

With it all to do the key for the Ships was to start well, building a platform from which to down the Spitfires late in the second innings. Sadly, for the Ships they found themselves 25-4 and taking on water. Jordan Bond (29 off 32) and Jake White (21 off 15) provided some hope during the middle overs, but tight bowling combined with some athletic fielding left the Ships struggling to reach port and victory. Jon Hare’s 4-29 were the best figures of the day and he was backed up by some fine wicket keeping by Phil Cummings who collected a stumping and 2 catches (one of which was a stunning one handed catch taken down the leg side). In the end the Ships reached 114-9 and the Spitfires took the title by 24 runs. The full scorecard is available here.

The presentations saw the Spencer Spitfires win the coveted trophy (presented by Surrey Cricket Foundation Chairman Simon Dyson) along with a full coloured playing kit (donated by kit supporter Sharks Cricket). Phil Cummings won man of the match for his all round performance in the final and won a full sponsorship from ball supplier BAS cricket for the 2019 season.

Reflecting on the day, Participation Manager Simon Hards said, ‘It has been a fantastic day and a great opportunity to reflect on quite an extraordinary first season for the Surrey Slam. From 16 to 64 teams Matt Camp has demonstrated that there is an appetite out there for short format cricket and we look forward to supporting Matt further to grow the competition in 2019. The most pleasing element has been that the use of social media and PR has helped bring many new and lapsed players into local clubs – no mean feat against a trend of falling participation in adult cricket. Thanks must go to Beddington for hosting and all of the other people (including Matt himself) who have helped make this happen.’

http://www.surreycricketfoundation.org/news/inaugural-surrey-slam-reaches-climax-24291/