LEVANTE PUSH SPANISH CHAMPIONS TO THE BRINK

Sporting Alfas Cricket Club Sporting Alfas 1st X1 233 for 6 beat Levante C C 229 for 10

SACC travelled up for an away day to the picturesque Valencia city centre ground, home to the ever improving Levante C.C. team.

The converted baseball ground on the dry river bed, its multi-coloured astro-turf soaking up the stifling summer heat and the constant city centre noises providing an interesting and exciting backdrop for a game of cricket, and the two teams produced a thriller.

The Levante captain won the toss and elected to bat, no doubt believing that the midday sun would serve to gently broil the Alfas fielders and sap their energy. With short spells the order of the day, the opening bowlers Roper and Laundon, jogging in off short run ups, managed with considerable sweat and endeavour to nip out a cheap wicket each.

This brought Hunt to the crease, who set about the Alfaz attack with some relish, dispatching anything off line or length. With former SACC favourite Burchell joining him soon after, they put on an excellent century stand. At the second drinks break, with Levante poised to charge at 141-3, some calm consideration was required from the away team´s captain and front line bowlers, a couple of field changes offering better protection and drying up the scoring opportunities.

The pressure told almost immediately with Hunt offering a skier to Roper, and Burchell running past a doosra from the evergreen Taylor, giving keeper Ward the second of his two stumpings to add to two well taken catches.

The end was nigh, the Levante lower order unable to handle the guile and disguise of allrounder Pennick, who mopped up the tail and trundled, grunted, sweated, steamed nd complained his way to 3-18 off seven overs.

The Alfaz chase began brightly, the openers looking largely untroubled by Levante´s bowlers. When Pennick fell LBW for the 257th time this season (a new club record), Muñoz joined Brook and the two added good runs at a healthy pace, taking their team past the hundred mark. Levante, in need of inspiration, brought on Burchell,reinvented as a mistery spinner, who immediately got rid of the dangerous Muñoz, but bringing in the equally dangerous Crompton, fresh from his unbeaten century last time out.

He began exactly as he had left off in the previous innings, piercing the field with trademark cover drives and pulls, before Fareed produced the perfect delivery to dismiss him. Firstly he set him up with a half tracker which sat up for Crompton to dispatch into the stands, before cunningly following it up with another half tracker, this time using local knowledge to find a dead spot in the strip, meaning the ball never got above ankle height and rolled along the floor into off stump.

The Levante fielders, knowing they were very much back in it, ramped up their already energetic fielding display and began exerting pressure on out of form and injured captain Fletcher, who dispite hitting his first ball back over the bowler´s head for four, was finding scoring difficult. The comedy run out of young gun Roper adding to the pressure, and when the captain was caught in the deep SACC still needed 42 to win off 5 overs with four wickets in hand.

Fortunately the lower middle order is made of sturdy stuff and have bailed the team out on numerous occasions this season. Shahzad and 16 year old Tyler Hogan-Brown strode out to the middle, calmly planted a couple out of the ground, flicked a couple off the legs like seasoned pros, and made a fairly tough chase look relatively easy.

SACC now go into the July break top of the first division with three matches remaining.

Many thanks must go to Levante, not only gracious hosts but also proved once again that they are an improving team and very much on the up.

Sporting Alfas Cricket Club