In the last game of last season, Darwen arrived at Stag Park knowing that a win would secure them the league title, only for Norden to deny them with a fine performance. This year, Darwen needed a win from the penultimate game to take their title tilt to a last-day decider against Burnley. This time they were able to achieve their aim, as an aggressive batting performance set up a 74-run win.
Stand-in skipper Lee Crabtree elected to bowl first with bad weather seemingly certain to arrive at some stage during the day, and Darwen’s tactics were clear from the outset. They were going to take the game on, and try to turn any potential DLS calculation later on in their favour. The run-rate rarely dipped below 5 an over, as every Darwen batter to come to the crease, did so with the same attacking intent. Openers Ammer Mirza and Reece Davies showed no respect to Norden’s in-form new-ball duo of Scott Butterworth and Dom Humphreys and they flew to a 50 partnership before Davies walked right across his stumps and was struck on the pad by Butterworth for 21. West Indian Test batter Kieran Powell was standing in as Darwen’s sub professional and he needed no second invitation to target the shorter boundary. Mirza fell, caught and bowled by Norden’s sub pro Raveen Yasas, but Powell was moving effortlessly through the gears. The man to trouble him the most was Dean Lord, who bowled an excellent spell from the Woodhouse Lane end. He picked up the wicket of Jack Davies and was very unlucky not to be rewarded further. As it was, Powell and Scott Friend combined for another stand of 50 plus, before Friend was run out by a good throw from Stan Kearns on the point boundary. Powell moved past his half-century, but Butterworth returned to have him taken by li Holt at short third man, looking to reverse ramp the Norden seamer. The aggression kept on coming from Darwen’s batters, and Kamran Anwar and Sam Painter scored 57 between them from just 36 balls in an 8th wicket stand that took the game away from Norden. A short rain delay had reduced the game to 45 overs a side, but it seemed as if Darwen didn’t care about that, they just wanted as many as they could as quickly as they could, and then to bowl 20 overs as quickly as possible to get a game in. This meant Norden were able to keep picking up wickets and secure 2 bowling points by bowling the visitors out for 250 in the 41st over
The target became 248 from 45 after DLS, and Darwen opened with the spin of Dave Bowden to try and hurry things along. Bowden is rarely expensive with the ball, but runs were coming more easily off Reece Davies at the other end. Davies did, however, pick up wickets as he clean bowled both Crabtree and Spencer Allen. Yasas joined Josh Tolley and the pair looked comfortable as they rotated strike and punished anything loose. In fact, as the rain began to fall, it looked for a while as if Darwen’s urgency might end up being their undoing as the Norden pair caught up with the DLS par score as the magic 20 over mark approached. The key moment, though, was provided by Davies as he found Yasas’ middle stump as the Sri Lankan aimed a misjudged swipe to the leg-side. From that moment, as the rain eased, the result was never in doubt. There was a good knock of 33 from Butterworth before he was taken spectacularly by Powell on the long-off boundary, and Tolley eased his way to a fine 68, but the task was too much. Norden succumbed for 173 in the 36th over and Darwen had their revenge for last year and the chance to make amends in the title race.
1st XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6107908
1st XI Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4YwiIBuw00&feature=youtu.be
The 2nds secured their top division status for next season as their game at Darwen was rained off half-way through. Darwen posted 219 for 7 from their 45 overs, with Mo Waheed taking 3 for 32 for Norden. The heavens then opened and the rain did not stop in time, so it was 5 points each.
2nd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6110370
The 3rds went down to title-chasing Greenmount at Stag Park on Saturday. A very young Norden team, and Alan Howard, took to the field and battled hard to restrict Greenmount to 153 for 8 from their 40 overs. Sebastian Howard and Mohsin Umar were the standout bowlers for Norden, with 2 wickets each. The chase was helped by 47 extras from the visitors, but only Howard, Michael Thorpe made it to double figures as the Stags were bowled out for 128.
3rd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6110037
3rd XI Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwzh0J3u4A