Youngsters could get chance as Stone edge towards safety

Victory at high-flying Bredon last weekend means that one more win would all but guarantee their place in the Gloucestershire division next season.

Stone are 35 points above bottom club Fairford, who they meet in nine days, and with a considerably better average.

They are now looking up to mid-table after other results went in their favour last week and Lavis is confident his team can see the job through and stay up.

With opening batsman Darren Turl unavailable this Saturday, young brothers Henry and Charlie Ball will hope to shine after being promoted to the first team, and Lavis says he hopes to give more youngsters a chance before the end of the season.

He said: “We gained on everyone around us so hopefully we can pick up another win and if we beat Fairford we’ll definitely be safe. “I’m confident of staying up even if we lose on Saturday.

“If we can win this week then we can bring up a couple more youngsters to give them more experience, and then later next year they can come up and do a job.

“It’s safety first, youngsters after!”

Ian Hall took 4-24 and Trevor Burley grabbed 2-30 as Stone restricted Bredon to 147-9 on a damp wicket.

Bredon danger man Wade Ridsdale was dropped early but Lavis claimed that was the only chance his side missed in the field.

Miles Palmer (39) and Andrew Hall (43) set Stone on their way to reaching the target, and Dave Jones’ 33 not out saw them home with three balls to spare.

Lavis said: “We bowled well, just dropped one catch and had one mis-field all game so we took our chances when they came.

“It was hard work to bat on but we were happy to get the win.”

Skipper Lavis now hopes Stone can take the momentum from that win into their home fixture with Redmarley.

He said: “At our place I’m always confident. They’ve got a good batsman in Ali Watkins but hopefully we can turn them over.

“We’re high on confidence, if we field like we did last week then we can beat anyone.”