The under 19 T20 kick started at Loperwood Park on Bank Holiday Monday, seeing 3 local Totton sides compete against each other to decide who has the local bragging rights, .with Calmore convincingly coming out on top.
The day began with Totton Tigers V Langley Lions, Langley posted 113 after 20 overs, a total Totton chased down with ease, thanks to a swashbuckling 50 from Ollie Perrin, seeing them home in 13.1 overs.
In the second game Calmore Cougars kicked off their day against the Langley Lions. Captain Matt Taylor won the toss and decided to bat, with huge strength in batting depth, Johns and Nicholson started brilliantly scoring boundaries with ease, seeing us to 98-0 after 9. Johns retired (53*) with the biggest six Loperwood Park has ever seen, rumours from space are that it is still going!! Taylor, Donovan and Woodhall all came and went, and when set batsmen Nicholson fell for 32, Calmore had slowed to 121-4 after 16. Some late hitting from Taylor Vane (17*) supported by Kaine Stanton (8), saw us to 157-7 after 20 overs.
Langley never looked like reaching the under par total when off spinner Ben Johns picked up 2 wickets in the first over to leave Langley 4-2 after 1 over. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, bowling Langley out for 84, with Kaine Stanton picking up 2 wickets, Tom Pattison 1 and an amazing 4 run outs, including one from chunky left-arm seamer Ryan Lomax off his own bowling.
After a quick break, Calmore were back in action against Totton; a much tougher test. Calmore again won the toss and bowled first. after a good first over from Totton, Kaine Stanton picked up the most vital wicket of Perrin for 6, caught behind at the second attempt by juggling brother Callum Stanton. This was a big wicket for Calmore, after Perrin’s swashbuckling 50 in the first game. Calmore kept things tight, but the second wicket didn’t fall until the 10th over when the score was 67, Nicholson taking a great catch on the boundary off spinner Ben Johns. Woodhall then picked up a scalp and returned with great figures of 4-0-14-1. Johns picked up another wicket, with set batsmen Darney running past one with Stanton doing the rest behind the stumps. Lomax picked up 2 late wickets with a great caught and bowled, seeing Totton end on 137 for 6 after 20 overs.
Calmore knew with their batting line, if they batted sensibly the game was theirs for the taking. They didn’t get off to the best start when Nicholson fell for 5 after 2 overs. Taylor joined Johns at the crease, and the pair put on 38, before Johns skied a drive to mid off. Woodhall soon came and went, with Taylor joined by Donovan. The pair put on 41, with Taylor doing most of the scoring including 2 sixes over the club house, Donovan then fell for 8, and Taylor retired for a captains innings of 50 with the score on 105-4 after 14. Taylor Vane and Callum Stanton batted with great skill picking off the bad ball to see us home with 3.4 overs to spare, with Vane making 30 off 14 balls, while Stanton added 11, including a magnificent straight six when the game was at its tightest.
After 3 great games, Calmore Cougars came out on top of the battle of the Under 19 T20 Totton teams. Massive thanks to coach Mark Lavelle, who inspired us with a great team talk before the Totton game, Clare Taylor for organising the whole day and scoring, Rob Lomax for the barbecue and Mark Stanton for the music.
Up the More, hear the Cougars roar!
