Belnor went into this 2011 Sunday season under new leadership, with 19-year-old Gareth Messenger taking the reins in his first full year in charge against a young, vibrant Stockbury side.
Messenger made many changes from the usual Sunday 1st XI with many key faces missing for the first week, James Elkin and Paul Gilbert just two of the six names unavailable.
Debuts were given to Leo Grover and Messenger's university housemate Finn Nickells, whilst loyal servant and socorer Stuart Bishenden and Shaun Edwards Jnr were given run outs to start the year.
On a poor pitch, Messenger lost the toss and his side were put into bat. Not a great start to the highly expected day, and things were to get even more worse shortly after when opening batsman Barry Moody fell for a duck on just the second ball of the game. Fellow opener Manu Malhotra fell for just 5 and Grover on his debut shortly followed without scoring.
The ever-resilient Alan Green worked hard for his 19 and was supported well by Nickells, but a mix-up among the two resulted in Nickells being run out for 11, despite looking relatively solid. Belnor's day seemed to be plummeting quite easily, especially when Edwards Jnr received a blow to the head whilst batting, forcing him to a retire off the field and a trip up the A & E, meaning not only were Belnor down a man in the field, but they had lost their wicket-keeper for the day.
Messenger came in at 7 and despite scoring only 9, used up a tidy 20 balls in trying to stabilise an innings before he was cleaned bowled. Vice captain Eddie Mummery scored a quickfire 12, including a huge 6 to square leg but himself and Lee Edwards were dismissed quickly, leaving Belnor's first Sunday innings of 2011 at a poor 103.
Stockbury started brightly with danger-man Hal Pearson at the crease and the game looked to be shortly over. But, the pace of Lee Edwards caught him off guard and he was bowled for just 6. Time for inspiration it seemed, and it came in the form of Mummery. Taking three wickets in a short space of time to reduce Stockbury to 28-4. One of these wickets courtesy of a fantastic one-handed catch from Nickells at slip, after he fumbled the ball three times.
It was all set up for an intriguing tie, but never write off Stockbury. A stable 25* from opener George Cornah and a hard-hitting 53* from Emery coming in at 6 took the tie past Belnor and the Tigers' season started with a defeat.
Belnor CC 103/9 off 24.5 overs
Stockbury CC 104/4 off 23.1 overs
STOCKBURY CC WIN BY 6 WICKETS
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