Saturday saw the final game of the season for Norden professional, Mitch Owen, before he heads off to play T10 cricket in the Cayman Islands and then back home for pre-season in Tasmania. He saved his highest league score of the season for his farewell game and his magnificent 118 from 85 balls helped Norden to a comfortable 85-run win against Middleton at Towncroft. Owen had to wait until the score had reached 74 before he came to the wicket, as Lee Crabtree and Josh Tolley put on a good opening stand after Norden had been invited to bat first by home skipper Andy Gregoriou. The introduction of the slow-left-arm of Dale Highton had an immediate effect for Middleton after the opening pair of James Tierney and Tom Rutter had been unable to stem the flow of runs. When Crabtree found the safe hands of Rehan Udwadia, Owen entered the fray and looked like he meant business from ball one. Tolley passed 500 league runs for the season during his knock, but he was given out LBW when on 39. Jack Taylor and Greg Butterworth, however, both proved more than adequate foils for Owen as he showed no mercy to any of the 6 bowlers tried by Gregoriou. After Taylor had fallen for 30 and Butterworth for 21, wickets started to tumble but Owen could not be stopped. He struck 12 fours and 4 sixes as he brought up his century, before finally being dismissed when he picked out Rutter off the returning Tierney. It was a memorable innings, and Norden’s 277 was a total that not many in the ground felt Middleton would be able to chase down.
Much would depend on Owen’s Middleton counterpart, James Price, and he came in at first-drop rather than his usual number 4 spot after Scott Butterworth had clean bowled Tierney, himself promoted to the top of the order. Price was more circumspect early on than Owen had been, in the face of some testing new-ball bowling from Butterworth in particular. He looked to be getting himself set on 15, though, but Butterworth did the trick for Norden as Owen took the catch to send Price back to the pavilion, and surely any Middleton hopes with him. Owen added 2 wickets for himself to cap of an excellent day, and Greg Butterworth did what he has done so often this year, and made his way through the middle order, taking 4 for 38. Keelan Shipley played nicely for his 64, and Middleton’s lower order were stubborn enough in good batting conditions to survive only 8 wickets down. The vagaries of the points system meaning that, despite this being as comfortable a victory as you could hope for, Norden were rewarded with only 10 points.
The final word should go to Owen, who finishes with 891 runs and 23 wickets in all competitions in his first season as a league professional. A fantastically talented player, who will undoubtedly go on to great things as his career progresses. Everyone at Stag Park would like to thank him for his efforts throughout the year.
1st XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6107890
The 2nds chalked up a 2nd consecutive victory in their battle to stay up, as they comfortably defeated recent Junior Cup winners, Great Harwood. As last week at Clitheroe, the main man with the ball for Norden was Modessar Hussain. At one stage he had the remarkable figures of 5 for 0 as he tore through the Great Harwood batting lineup. Hussain’s pace and movement off the pitch was too much for the visitors to handle and he ended up with 6 for 22 as Great Harwood were dismissed for 123. There were also good spells from Oli Yates, Ste Wild and Jamie Taylor to back up Hussain in an excellent display with the ball. Norden were equally good with the bat as Danny Devine and Yates both made half-centuries in their opening stand of 112. Yates fell just before the target was reached, but a 9-wicket win and 12 points was just rewards for the best performance of the season.
2nd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6110355
2nd XI Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dKpvhaz03s&feature=youtu.be
A perfect weekend for the club was completed on Sunday when the 3rds put in an excellent performance of their own to beat Church by 10 wickets. Abu Farooq was the star of the show, taking 3 for 20 and scoring an unbeaten 62 as Church’s 152 all-out was chased down with minimal fuss. Oli Kirkby, playing his first game back after a knee injury, was also quickly back into his batting rhythm, and he found the boundary 12 times in his 73*.
3rd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/6110017
3rd XI Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH_H3vN2urM