Not sure about stem

Found the stem group difficult but enjoyed the rest. Some nice crossovers

Stem was clever I thought- didn't get the cricket.

Well done. Stem threw me at first as well, then I engaged brain!

Stem and close are not synonymous. You may close a pipe to stem a flow, but that does not make stem synonymous with flow, because stem applies to the flowing fluid, whereas close applies to the conduit in which it flows, not the fluid itself.

I didn't get stem association but deduced close from the other three words in what was the remaining group. I did it in less than a minute so not so hard, especially when I know nothing about cricketers.

Loved it! Thanks!

Good grid. By chance, I managed to group the cricketers, because all of the words could be followed by "up" !