SYMENE Sports took one of their most memorable victories in recent years as they thrashed league leaders Shillingstone, including Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, by 202 runs.
Ominously, Shills selected Sangakkara after his commentary duties with Sky Sports ended early for the weekend due to England’s massive innings win over the West Indies.
Shillingstone won the toss and invited the hosts to bat but this was a decision that backfired as Luke King (56), Sam Challis (77) and Sam Good (58) racked up a mammoth total of 274-6.
A superbly well-paced innings had actually started quite slowly by Symene standards as they took until the 18th over to reach 100 but then the blitz began with Sam Good clearing the boundary six times.
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An asking rate well above a run a ball meant Shill had no option but to set out quickly but they came up against an inspired Rob Jones who blasted out the top three to leave Shillingstone in trouble. No other batter made double figures.
The highlight of the afternoon was a Jones wobble-seam delivery to remove Sangakkara, bowled leg stump as he aimed to clip Jones to square leg, adding just 47 runs to his record of over 28,000 international runs.
Jones then mopped up the tail to finish with incredible return of 8-28.
Meanwhile, for the second week in a row, Symene Seconds narrowly failed to beat a team in promotion contention, going down at Buckhorn Weston by three wickets.
Symene were asked to bat first and made a solid start with opener Reuben Kingston’s patient 22 anchoring proceedings alongside Lucas Richards and then Sam Hart.
The arrival of Justin Gurd helped the visitors plot their way to a promising 76-3 after 24 overs. Hart was promptly caught for 16 and he was quickly followed by Gurd for a rumbustious 24.
This proved a turning point as the innings subsided with the loss of the remaining six wickets for the addition of 34 runs in just 10 overs, with Jake Douglas’s 4-18 chiefly responsible.
After tea, the Buckhorn openers made a solid start with the top three mustering double-digit starts until the run out of Josh White for a hard-hitting 21 off 19 balls following a great throw by Richards which tilted the match back in Symene’s favour.
Brody Gunning’s 3-13 and Richards (1-16) maintained pressure with the ball to chip away at the batting but the hosts were indebted to home skipper Charlie Payne’s 28 not out to see them just over the line.
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