2nd Round - Ropley vs Sparsholt at Home. 2pm start 3rd May. Lost by 32 runs.

Match Report by AW - Ropley clutch defeat from the jaws of victory.

On a day of alternating bright sunshine and dark clouds, Tom Wood in his inaugural game as skipper for Ropley CC 1st XI won the toss and put Sparsholt in to bat. Alex Portz opened from the bowling green end with rapid pace and tight lines. He took the scalp of Sparsholt's opener in his second over with the score on ten and their no. 3 batsman in his 5th over. Not to be outdone, 1st XI debutant Tom Stennet (only 15 years of age) went for 6 in his first over up the hill but proceeded to bowl a wicket maiden followed by two maiden overs.

 With the top three batsman dispatched by Ropley's opening pair, Christian Portz and John Sutton joined the attack as Sparsholt's batsman Vokes and Gough were settling into their stride and starting to look dangerous. Christian ended Voke's spell (16) at the crease, getting him to play early and sky a ball to the clutches of Stuart Curral at mid on. John Sutton was pinning down the batsman at the other end and the run rate was slowing up. As Gough started to score freely, the batsman at the other end capitulated easily. Christian Portz was astonished to not be awarded an LBW decision but trapped the same batsman LBW three balls later. John Sutton took a bizarre wicket as Chris Graham dislodged the bails giving the impression the batsman had been bowled. After admitting this to the umpire, the batsman was adjudged LBW as it hit his pad on the way through. The Sparsholt supporters were duly irate and I laughed.

In the 28th over, Tom Stennett's second spell was rewarded by forcing Gough (36) to play on to his stumps and the very next ball repeating this trick with the number 7 batsman Pickering for a golden duck. After 33 overs with the score on 87 for 8 Sparsholt were sweating and Ropley were firmly in control. Irritatingly the Sparsholt skipper came to the crease and bludgeoned 48 not out from the remaining 7 overs.

The stand out bowling figures of the day were Tom Stennett with 9 overs, 3 maidens for 13 runs taking 3 wickets. Ropley enjoyed a superb tea knowing that the game was there for the taking. This had been a fantastic bowling innings to watch and was enjoyed by a plethora of supporters.

Ropley's batting innings was too depressing to report in any detail. The figures speak for themselves and are below. Christian Portz (11) looked in great touch before gloving a ball to first slip. Stuart Curral (6) was caught brilliantly at first slip after an edge deflected off the keeper. Tom Stroud (GD) made a brief appearance in the middle and was followed by Martin Peters who steadied the violently rocking ship with a solid 28. As further wickets fell, only Chris Graham (17) and John Sutton (13 NO) made any inroads into the bowling.

Although we were beaten today, we went into this game as massive underdogs and gave an excellent account of ourselves with the ball but couldn't quite finish off the task with the bat. We were far from disgraced and the scorer in particular was proud of the team's efforts. Onwards and upwards.