Liphook& Ripsley travelled to Stoke Green knowing they would be in for a toughcontest in the first national round of the village cup and so it proved. StokeGreen high on confidence after comfortably coming through their regionalgroup won the toss and chose to bat first on a pitch that was slightly damp ontop from some overnight rain.

The destructive Hussain took the attack straightto the Liphook bowlers hitting Janczur for a four and a sweetly struck six offof the second and third balls of the innings as a signal of their intent. Hisaggressive style came unstuck shortly afterwards after top edging a shot andbeing caught at cover by Pryce off the bowling off Janczur.  Liphooksopeners continued to bowl tightly and consistently test out the defences ofStoke Green's top order and pick up wickets at regular intervals. Janczurforcing Basharat to glove behind with a sharp bouncer as the hosts foundthemselves struggling at 30-3.

Burton & Ganguly then came into the attackand continued to apply the pressure with more tight bowling which was backed upwith excellent fielding as the hosts crept along with the run rate coming to analarming halt. Burton bowling an outstanding spell giving the batsmen nothingto work and beating the outside edge regularly. He bowled his 8 overs straightthrough finishing with excellent figures of 3-10 and putting Liphook in the ascendancy.

Amis and Hall then came into the attack to provide spin at both ends and thewickets continued to tumble as some excellent bowling and fielding meant StokeGreens innings finished on 117 all out which looked slightly below par on abowler friendly wicket. An outstanding bowling and fielding performance by theteam. 

The chase started in disastrous fashion with a mix up in the first over and Nicklin beingleft short and run out for only the second time in his career. Stoke Green thenafter two overs of seem went to spin from both ends and surrounded the batsmenas they squeezed and created a hostile environment for the Liphook batsmen.Munt was next to fall to an LBW decision which looked to be sliding down legside. Martin and Ganguly then counter attacked with success as the run rateshot up and Liphook got ahead of the rate with grey skies above. Ganguly andPryce then both fell in quick succession to the spinners leaving the game inthe balance at 60/5 and the hosts in buoyant mood. Neave then struck a coupleof crunching blows over the top before being caught and putting Liphook underfurther pressure.

Rouse and Hall then came together and batted with caution asthey looked to push the singles and rotate the strike pushing the score uptowards 100 runs and put Liphook on top. The game then took another twist asLiphook lost both Hall and Captain Burton in quick fashion leaving the visitorsreeling on 100/8 and still requiring 18 runs to see them over the line. Amisthen batted with maturity and ably supported a fantastic innings by Rouse ashe saw Liphook home to the delight of the travelling fans with a crunching pullfor 4.

A very tightly contested game played in a competitive spirit with Liphookfacing their first true test of the competition.  Liphookwill next face another stern test as they travel to Eaton Socon CC next weekwho beat Blackheath in a bowl off as they enter the last 16 of the competitionas they look to retain their unbeaten record in 2020 in all competitions.