Northern’s first match on grass of the season and it proved to be the first chance the lower order would have with the bat. Did they capitalize on the chance?
On a big pitch with long grass classical boundaries were always going to be hard to come by so the ability to slog was always going to be key. Dan Perkins took the opening over and 4 good balls were mixed with 2 balls that were hooked for 4 but the second really should have been stopped by Brett but nevertheless the first over went for 9. A solid opening over by Brett was followed by Ashley coming on and he bold with good pace and unsettled the batsman. The score ticked on though out and no-one looked like taking a wicket. Steve Hood came on to bowl and was unplayable in an opening maiden which Ashley followed with 5 dots and a single.
Ben Horlock replaced Ashley and was keen to banish the memories of his first match of the season and bowled fantastically well as he took 2 wickets in a 3 over spell that went for 7 runs. The first wicket was a catch behind by Dave Manley and the second opener was bowled.
Charles Brain joined Steve Hood to finish up the bowling but bowled poorly and 2 full tosses were hooked to the boundary as the score finished on 91. A score Northern would be confident of reaching but still challenging given the pitch.
In Jimmy Vaile’s absence Horlock and Hood opened the batting and although they never looked like getting out in the opening overs the run rate steadily climbed due to the difficulties in picking up more than the odd single.
When Hood was C&B Charles Brain came to the crease and tried to inject some pace into the innings but while he hit some boundaries managed to run out Ben by calling a run that was never on. Dan Jones batted well for a quickfire 9 but when Charles fell for 32 the run rate was well over 7 an over. With 3 overs remaining the game was taken beyone Northern and then the game became the D Leak show as he started on a sequence of 7 balls that went Bowled/Bowled/Bowled/Dot/Bowled/Bowled//Dot. The next over saw Dave Manley C&B and Brett Clarke bowled first ball leaving Northern stuck on 76 and just the 2 batting points to go with the solitary bowling point.
L Morgan Bowled Horlock 24
D Leak Ct (Manley) Horlock 36
J Rees Not Out 2
R Coles Not Out 18
D Thomas
A Tage
M Goddard
D Morgan
J Bulter
D Goddard
Extras 11
Total 91-2
O M R W
D Perkins 1 0 9 0
B Clarke 2 0 9 0
A Chedzoy 5 0 28 0
S Hood 5 1 24 0
B Horlock 3 1 7 2
C Brain 2 0 14 0
S Hood Ct & B Goddard 12
B Horlock Run Out 9
C Brain Bowled Rees 32
D Jones Bowled Leak 9
A Chedzoy Bowled Leak 1
B Willacott Bowled Leak 0*
B Black Bowled Leak 0*
M Britton Bowled Leak 0
D Perkins Not Out 1
D Manley Ct & B Rees 0
B Clarke Bowled Rees 0*
Extras 13
Total 77 all out
O M R W
Thomas 5 0 14 0
Goddard 5 0 18 1
Leak 4 1 20 5
Rees 4 0 22 3
bat bowl catch runout stumping play TOTAL B Horlock 9 38 10 57 C Brain 47 0 10 57 S Hood 17 15 10 42 D Jones 9 10 19 D Perkins 1 0 10 11 D Manley -5 5 10 10 B Clarke -10 6 10 6 M Britton -5 10 5 A Chedzoy 1 -10 10 1 B Willacott -10 10 0 B Black -10 10 0 Man of Match - B Horlock (on the basis that he'd have won if Charles hadn't run him out horribly)
