After Saturday’s washouts in the league, Norden’s 1st and 2nd XIs were in cup action on Sunday afternoon. Both teams made it through against Accrington but the manner of the two victories could hardly have been more contrasting.
Hashum Malik’s 1st team made the journey to Accy’s Property Shop Arena and asked their hosts to bat first in pretty wet conditions. Norden’s senior seam bowler, Chris Humphreys, was able to take full advantage of the moisture in the pitch and he ripped through the home side’s top order, taking 3 early wickets including that of professional Lasith Lakshan caught at slip for a duck. Teeno Saeed was the man to take over as destroyer-in-chief and he continued to impress this season. At one point he held the remarkable figures of 3 for 3 and went on to pick up a fourth wicket to finish with 1st team best figures of 4 for 24 from his 8 overs. Accrington never got going at all and it took a 10th wicket stand of 20 to take them up to 3 figures. Despite losing 2 early wickets in reply, a target of 101 was never going to be much of a challenge and an unbeaten partnership of 87 between Stephen Pimm and Ash Zaidi gave the Stags a comprehensive 8 wicket victory. Zaidi finishing on 59* and Pimm 24*.
Back at Stag Park, it was a much tougher day for Phil Docker’s men. They also chose to bowl first but were unable to find an early breakthrough. Openers Connor Tattersall and Tariq Hussain combined to put on 62 for the first wicket with Hussain taking advantage of the power play, hitting 5 sixes in his 44. Chris Hartley produced a fine yorker to remove Hussain and Norden were able to establish some control. Oli Holt was brought on and had an immediate impact with 2 quick wickets and at 83 for 4 at drinks it looked like a good opportunity to bowl Accrington out for under 150. Husnain Pervaiz and Sam Tattersall had other ideas, however, and Pervaiz launched into an aggressive counter attack. He contributed 44 in a partnership of 60 in just 8 overs before Holt trapped him in front. Rasheed followed 2 balls later and again Norden sensed the opportunity to restrict the visitors to a manageable total. When skipper Williams joined Tattersall, the latter began to open his shoulders after a cautious start and the wheels started to come off for the Stags in the field. Dropped catches and extras contributed to a pretty ragged display, albeit in pretty constant rain, and the runs were now flowing freely. Tattersall brought up an excellent half-century and Accrington were able to get up to an imposing total of 253 before being bowled out in the penultimate over. Holt finished with 4 for 41 and a mention should go to Hartley whose figures of 1 for 28 from 10 overs were by far the most economical of the day and could have been so much better had it not been for some poor catching.
Not many 2nd team games are won chasing that kind of total but Docker and his team were not prepared to bow out of this competition at such an early stage without a fight. When Holt came in to replace Dean Lord with the score on 25, he looked to take on the bowling from the outset and his innings completely changed the momentum of the match. His 55 of just 40 balls meant that Norden were well up with the rate throughout and enabled Docker and his new partner, Spencer Allen, to accumulate steadily at the start of their partnership before becoming more aggressive. Allen showed great maturity and match awareness and Docker was exemplary in knowing when to be circumspect and when to attack. Both, though, were dismissed in relatively quick succession after adding 93 and there was still work to do but Tom Booth and Jack Harrison put any home nerves to bed and a memorable win was achieved with over 5 overs remaining.
1st XI Scorecard https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/4545391
2nd XI Scorecard https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/4545526
2nd XI Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y87V1olffgY
In the second round Norden 1st XI will host Middleton, whilst Norden 2nd XI will make the journey to Colne. Both games are scheduled to be played on Saturday the 29th of May.
The full draw can be seen here : http://www.lancashireleague.com/Articles/16/16466.html