Academy Held to Draw After Ravenscroft Exploits
hants batsman, Jake George on his way to a well-made 65
Hampshire Academy v St Cross Symondians
ECB Southern Electric Premier League
Saturday 11 June 2011
Nursery Ground
Summary: Draw
Hampshire Academy: 314-5
St Cross Symondians: 207-8
St Cross Symondians hung on eight wickets down to force an ECB Southern Electric Premier League draw after the Hampshire Academy had posted a daunting 314-5 on the Rose Bowl Nursery Ground.
Former county Under-17 skipper Jordan Finney batted for over an hour to deny the young Royals the spoils. The visitors were in difficulty at 159-6 when West Indian Lionel Baker and Finney (20*) came together to block the Academy’s progress.
St Cross lost two more quick wickets at 200 and 207-8, but Hampshire ran out of time in their quest for further breakthroughs and had to settle for a greater share of the bonus points in the drawn game.
The mid-afternoon rain, which trimmed eight overs off proceedings, didn’t help their cause. The Royals batted consistently down the order, with teenage openers Jake George (65) and Rob Gibson (20) sharing a half-century start against former West Indies Test man Baker (2-53) who bent his back and got some genuine pace out of the surface.
Michael Bates (75) contributed some timely runs in a 71-run stand with George, but the real fireworks were provided by Tim Ravenscroft who cracked a boundary-strewn 92.
Charlie Esson (33) and George Adair (31) got St Cross away to a decent start, but two wickets fell at 96 and three more in the 150s after Lawrie Prittipaul (36) had stabilised the middle-order. With St Cross 207-8, the Academy fancied their chances, but had to be content with a draw.
Words: Mike Vimpany
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