Alton Win High Scoring Game Against Farnham

Alton made the short trip to Farnham on Saturday with six changes from the opening fixture at Amersham, giving the side a more experienced look and adding strength to the bowling unit in particular.

Into the side came The Club’s Overseas Professional Player/Coach Matthew Bacon, together with the returning leg spinner Jack Myers and first outings for the season for Julian Ballinger, Toby Salmon, Michael Heffernan and Mark Heffernan.

Alton Captain Daniel Harris won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a good wicket in glorious sunshine and with one very tempting short boundary to the Par 3 golf centre car park next to the ground.

Ryan Covey and Michael Heffernan opened the innings up and took the score to 24 before Covey was adjudged LBW for 14 to Lloyd. This brought Harris to the crease for his first knock of the season and he immediately set to work before eventually being caught by Grimes off the bowling of Terry for 33 from 44 balls with the score on 90.

Scott Myers then joined Heffernan and they added 78 in 12 overs before Myers was LBW to O’Mahony for 44 from 45 balls, to mean that Mark joined brother Michael at the crease.
Michael, in his first innings of the season, having passed 50 and moved onto 84 from 113 balls then retired with the score on 211 and 10 overs remaining.

Jack Myers and Mark took the score to 228 before Mark was bowled by spinner Terry for 27, which brought Bacon to the wicket to join Myers. The pair took the score on to 246 before Myers was bowled by returning opening bowler Goldsworthy for 10. Bacon followed shortly after for 20, with the score on 259 leaving Joe Paul (25*) and Hakim Peruzi (11*) to plunder 40 from the last 4 overs to take the score up to 299-6 after the allotted 50 overs.
Goldsworthy was the pick of the Farnham bowlers with 2-36 from his 10 overs.

Farnham came out determined to chase down the high total and feeling that with the short boundary it was doable.
Bacon opened the bowling for Alton and looked keen to generate some pace and bounce early on. Toby Salmon shared the new ball and his first over proved eventful with him claiming the first wicket of Farnham Captain Grimes (0) with the ninth ball of the over, with the score on 15.

At this point Berry joined Davies at the crease and they proceeded to move the score along to 82-1 at the 17 over drinks break. Bacon had completed his first spell for Alton and had bowled 7 overs for 22 runs, and had generated enough to suggest there would days ahead where the wicket column would start to fill.
After drinks Farnham continued to move the score along nicely reaching 139-1 from 27 overs, at which point Harris tossed the ball to Jack Myers for his first bowl for the Club since 2017. His spell started with a wide first ball, but with his second ball he removed the impressive Berry (72 from 83 balls) and Farnham were 140-2. In the next over from Ballinger , who was into the 8th over of his maiden spell for 2019, Davies was run out by a smart combination of Salmon and Mark Heffernan, for 60 from 84 balls. In the same over Ballinger then removed the dangerous Ward for 2, caught by keeper Mark Heffernan and Farnham were 151-4. Ballinger went on to complete his 10 over spell and finishing with 1-57.
Myers then removed Rooney LBW with the first ball of his next over and Farnham had been reduced to 151-5, losing 4 wickets for 11 runs in 13 balls.

Farnham through Strachan and Crew then started the rebuilding process, with Strachan happy to play the supporting role to the aggressive Crew. Their 78 run partnership was finally broken when Myers had Strachan (23 from 39 balls) caught by Michael Heffernan.
Crew continued to be aggressive, despite losing O’Mahony stumped by Mark Heffernan for 1 off Hakim Peruzi and Terry caught by Joe Paul off Myers (4-69), and Farnham were still very much in the hunt.
Crew was eventually run out trying to come back for a second run, by the combination of Jack Myers and Mark Heffernan with the score on 267.
Peruzi (2-37 off 7.1 overs) finished the game by bowling Lloyd with the first ball of the penultimate over with the score on 280, to ensure a 19 run victory for Alton.

So 2 friendlies played and both have provided excellent workouts for the Team.

Next up are Surrey Championship Champions Weybridge CC who will provide the toughest test yet.