Stanmore set for one more try to settle tie

Alexander Clyde13 April 2012

Stanmore and Havant will resume hostilities this weekend in their battle to reach the semi-finals of club cricket's National Knockout Cup.

The north Londoners must travel to Hampshire on Sunday to resolve a quarter-final which has already been abandoned twice in controversial circumstances.

The first tie, on 28 July, was called off after 10 overs when the umpires ruled the Stanmore wicket too dangerous to play on.

The England Cricket Board ordered a replay in Hampshire last Sunday, which was washed out three overs into Stanmore's reply to Havant's 185-8. The conditions prevented a bowl-out and Havant's claims that they should be awarded the tie were disputed by the Middlesex League club. It was referred to the ECB's operations manager, Frank Kemp, to make a ruling.

Kemp ordered another replay at Havant this Sunday, with a toss of the coin as a last resort to decide who faces Saffron Walden in the semi-finals. The other semi, between Guisborough and Barnt Green, takes place on Sunday.

"It's an extremely unfortunate situation but we must do all we can to resolve such an important match by cricketing methods," said Kemp. "Havant are not happy but the sanction against Stanmore has already been taken by depriving them of home advantage."

Stanmore captain Glucka Wijesuriya said: "I'm very pleased we've got another chance."

Stanmore's National Cup saga has forced another postponement of their Evening Standard Challenge Trophy quarter-final at Ealing.

It has been pencilled in for Sunday 18 August, provided Stanmore aren't in the National semi-finals.

Two other Challenge Trophy quarter-finals are scheduled for this Sunday: Teddington face Wimbledon and Bexley play Brentham. The winners join High Wycombe in the last four.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in