A fine performance at Stag Park on Sunday gave Norden a well-deserved place in the semi-finals of the LCFKO. Blackpool were the visitors and Greg Butterworth won a good toss and asked the seasiders to bat first. As so often this season, Scott Butterworth provided the early breakthrough, clean bowling Blackpool skipper Ben Howarth for just 6. Visiting professional, Shivam Chaudhary, looked a big threat to the Norden attack as he drove powerfully down the ground and he took the score to 42 alongside opener Rishit Sharma. It was Greg who lured Chaudhary into a mistimed slog-sweep and Alex Willis held on to the skier, just about, at mid-off. Sharma followed soon after, to the exact same combination, and Blackpool were in a bit of trouble. Andrew Needham and Josh Boyne came together to put on 49 for the 4th wicket as Norden mixed up their bowling options. There was the welcome return to the bowling crease of Dom Humphreys after injury, but it was his replacement at the Woodhouse Lane end, Dean Lord, who broke the stand. Boyne played back to a good length ball and chopped-on for 26, much to Lord’s delight. Needham found more willing company in the form of Tom Myerscough, and he had struck 7 boundaries in reaching 43 when Greg returned to take his outside edge into the safe hands of Mitch Owen at slip. Norden sensed an opportunity and Scott came back into the attack to rip through the Blackpool lower-middle order. Oli Holt also joined the party with 2 wickets in 2 balls and Norden will have felt very satisfied with their bowling effort when Blackpool lost their last man in the 42nd over with the score on 165. The Butterworth brothers shared 7 wickets between them, with Greg also taking 3 catches off Scott’s bowling, including an excellent diving grab at mid-off.
Norden lost Scott early in the reply, but Owen and Josh Tolley were intent on taking the attack to the Blackpool medium-pacers. After miscuing and nearly holing out 2nd ball, Owen attacked the short, straight boundary to good effect whilst Tolley was his usual, unflustered self at the other end. Owen had raced to 43 and the total to 72 in just 9 overs when the Norden pro played round one that nipped back from Matthew Grindley. Jack Taylor played nicely for 17 before failing to pick the googly from Izzy Stankzai and there was a moment of concern for Norden when Tolley appeared to pull up holding his groin. This wasn’t going to stop the Norden opener, though, and he brought up his half-century from 76 balls. Lee Crabtree, who has been in good form of late, got a little bit of luck but then found his sweep shot and between them, he and Tolley knocked off the further 58 runs required. Tolley finished unbeaten on 58 and Crabtree 30. Norden will travel to Ormskirk in the semi-final on the 28th of July, with the league fixture against Church to be re-arranged.
LCFKO Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6610012
LCFKO Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7TOuJdR-j4
Saturday’s league game with Burnley was looking like it was slightly in Norden’s favour when the weather intervened. Burnley had battled hard and were aided by some sloppiness in the field to recover from 106 for 8 and post 186 for 9 from their 50 overs. Greg Butterworth was Norden’s star man with the ball, taking 5 for 51, and Jack Taylor also found some turn to take 3 for 39. Only 4.3 overs were possible in the Norden reply as the rain came down heavily to start with, and then never eased off enough for a resumption.
1st XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6107854
The 2nds had an unprecedented 16 players unavailable for their trip to Burnley and were never likely to be competitive against a strong home side. David Bebb and Mohammad Omar put on 35 for the opening wicket after Bebb had elected to bat, but the Burnley spinners proved to be too good for the depleted Norden team. Only Theo Andrew made it into double figures from the remaining batters and Norden were all-out for 69 in the 31st over. Burnley only needed 10.3 overs to knock off the runs, but there was a debut wicket for Sebastian Howard, who will return to this level better equipped in the years to come.
2nd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6110315