Llama Tail Wags Once More

A towering six by Reigate Priory’s Richard Stevens with just three balls left in the game led the Priory to a nail-biting one-wicket away win over Cranleigh on Saturday, the third time this Llama team has won a game in the past two weeks by the narrowest of cricketing margins.
As was the case last week against Sunbury, it was the tailenders – the recovery and rescue squad of Stevens, Luke Beaven, Simon King and Will Hodson – who eked out the runs in the last 10 overs of the game from a position where the opposition victory seemed the more likely scenario.
Cranleigh won the toss and went into bat on a pitch which always held some swing and movement for the fast bowlers. Reigate’s opening attack of Stevens and Hodson kept the Cranleigh top order batsmen in check as the home side could manage only 26 runs in the first 10 overs.
At 68-3 after 20 overs and the top three batsmen back in the pavilion, Cranleigh rebuilt the innings with a 76-run partnership between skipper Matt Crump and number five batsmen Bruno Broughton. This pair stayed together for just over 18 overs at an average of close to five runs per over before Broughton was caught for 44 by Brad Scriven off the leg spin bowling of Angus Dahl.
Crump followed at 164-5, being well caught by Dahl at deep mid-wicket off King for 50.
Cranleigh opening pace bowler Robbie Montgomery hit a couple of 6’s off Beaven in a fast-scoring 27 not out in 19 balls, while Cranleigh’s 8, 9 and 10 all fell quickly in the pursuit of quick runs – the number eight to a fine run out by Chris Murtagh and numbers nine and 10 in identical fashion in the last over to catches by Stevens at deep mid-off, from King’s bowling, to leave Cranleigh with a final total of 209-9.
King ended with 3-29 from six overs, Hodson 2-32 from 10 overs and Beaven 2-43 from nine overs.
Reigate’s innings opened with a small disaster – Brad Scriven caught and bowled for 1 in the third over. Not only that but the person doing the catching and the bowling was his younger brother Jack, playing for Cranleigh, and now winning the bragging rights in the Scriven household.
Richie Oliver and Murtagh brought about a strong recovery with the largest partnership of the game - 78 runs in 15 overs. Oliver was the next out for a run-a-ball 47, when he was bowled by Scriven. Murtagh followed shortly after at 102-3, leg before to the Cranleigh and former Kenyan leg spinner Seren Waters for 28 from 58 balls.
With Oliver and Murtagh gone the Priory still needed another 108 runs to win with close to 29 overs to go. At the time it appeared a straightforward task.
Ben Shoare made 8 from 24 balls before being caught behind off Jonathan Gonszor, Cranleigh’s left-arm spinner. But Dahl and Delmont repaired the damage by putting on 38 together. With just 60 runs to win at 151-4 all seemed well.
But then Delmont was leg before to Gonszor for 40 off 51 balls. Raja was bowled first ball by a ‘snorter’ from paceman Montgomery - a swinging yorker that would have accounted for many a batsman - and Dahl, like Shoare, was caught behind off Gonszor for 18 to leave the Priory suddenly struggling at 158-7.
Stevens after his heroics (38 not out) against Sunbury was promoted to number eight and Beaven now joined him at number nine. Against Sunbury a week ago, this pair put on 50 together in 16 overs. This week, though, Beaven was caught at slip by Scriven off fast bowler William Rollings for two runs at 167-8 and Priory hopes sunk further.
King and Stevens put on 22 before King was caught by Crump off Montgomery having just hit the fast bowler for consecutive boundaries. King made 15 from 13 balls.
So now it was number 11 batsman Will Hodson meeting Stevens once again in the last chance saloon. Last week against Sunbury this pair made the 23 runs needed for victory in eight seemingly endless overs. This week they needed 21 for victory with only four overs and two balls to go.
There’s an old children’s joke: What goes 99 bonk, 99 bonk? Answer: A centipede with a wooden leg. So in cricketing terms: What goes prod, prod, prod, single; prod, prod, prod, single; prod, prod, prod, bonk? Answer: Richard Stevens building another winning innings.
When King was out, Bevan and King had scored 17 runs between them in 22 balls. Stevens had faced 33 balls with 23 of those balls being mostly forward-defensive prods. Then there were nine singles and the one bonk – a six over the mid-wicket boundary off Gonszor. He was, thus, 15 not out when King departed.
Hodson proceeded to score five off the 10 balls he received, Stevens also scored a further five runs (all singles, of course) also off 10 balls and five wides were contributed by the opposition when the 49th over finished.
The cricketing gods had decreed that in this last 50th over Stevens was to be the batsman facing and Waters, the leg spinner, was going to bowl. Exactly what Stevens would have prayed for.
It was only a matter of time. Prod! Prod! And then, the Bonk! The ball was last seen sailing over the long off boundary. The Priory had won by one wicket and escaped defeat yet again.
Stevens was left on 26 not out from 46 balls, which gives him a batting average so far this season of 67.