COULD a schoolboy outsmart first-class cricketers in a bowl-out? To judge from the performances of the Surrey and Warwickshire players, who hit the stumps only four times in their first 20 attempts at the Oval on Monday evening, he would reckon he could.

The Times invited Alex Stogdon, a 14-year-old who plays for Ropley CC and Hampshire Hoggets, to have a go. His surprising conclusion was to condemn not the pros but the Twenty20 rules.

Stogdon normally aims to swing the ball away from the right-hander, which is reflected in his action. He strives for a consistent line just outside off stump. At Ropley yesterday he ran his fingers slightly across the seam and attempted to bowl a full length, which he felt would be his best way of hitting his target. He found his task far harder than he expected.

His first three balls missed the off stump. He struck with his fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth balls, which were interspersed with ones that missed leg stump. Unlike the professionals, he did not have the benefit of being in the middle earlier in the day — and neither did he emulate them by bowling a beamer. His next five balls missed either leg or off stump and in one instance went over the top of leg stump.

The last five attempts resulted in two wickets and three balls that went past off stump. So, with six hits out of 20, Stogdon had surpassed county and Test cricketers who are supposed to hone such a skill almost daily. “It was harder than I expected,” he said. “Normally I try not to bowl at the leg stump because the batsman would look to flick me away. This is not a good way of settling a match because it is unfair on the bowlers. I think a two-over slog, the equivalent of extra time, would be a fairer method.”

Tim Tremlett, the Hampshire director of cricket, an accurate medium-pace bowler in his day and the father of Chris, who is in the England squad for the first Ashes Test, starting tomorrow, observed that some of those involved in the bowl-out at the Oval still held the ball along the seam. “When they are trying to bowl accurately, their grip should be across the seam so that the ball does not move after pitching,” he said. “They should also look to bowl yorkers.

“Professional mediumpacers and slow bowlers should be able to hit the stumps 20 times out of 20. It is unreasonable to expect a genuine fast bowler to do so. But first-class cricketers tend to bowl wider of the off stump than in the past.”

Who would he select to guarantee hitting the stumps 20 times out of 20? “Derek Shackleton, whose adage was ‘If they miss, I hit’, Tom Cartwright, Derek Underwood and, of the quicker bowlers, Brian Statham. To bowl yorkers, Joel Garner,” he said.