A good Norden performance with both bat and ball proved more than enough for a comfortable home victory against Greenmount on Saturday. For much of the visitors’ innings it looked like the best Norden could hope for was a 10-point victory as Greenmount made their way to 131 for 5 with just 6 of the 36 overs remaining after the match was shortened due to rain. What followed was a remarkable collapse which saw the villagers lose their final 5 wickets for just 5 runs. Greg Butterworth, surprisingly held back until the 29th over, took 3 of those wickets and Ashar Zaidi the other 2 on a pitch that was offering some help to all the bowlers. The returning Scott Butterworth had found some seam movement early on and he was too good for Evan Williams before Usama Malik picked up the big wicket of Andy Kerr. Greenmount professional Chesney Hughes, Tom Heaton and Dan Stephens all got good starts but nobody was able to kick on and Norden always had the game under control. Zaidi added another 4 wickets to his season’s tally and Norden were strong favourites at the break.
Despite losing Hashum Malik early on to a peach of a delivery from Callum Hunter, the chase was a very comfortable one. Alex Willis, promoted to number 3, joined Josh Tolley to put on 92 for the 2nd wicket and Tolley once again showed his class in making an imperious 82* from only 52 balls. Norden had 15 overs left when they reached their target and kept themselves in 3rd place in the table whilst pushing Greenmount further into relegation trouble.
1st XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/5000211
1st XI Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7FHex-8d0A
The 2nds came out on top in a high-scoring game at Colne. The Waheeds were to the fore as stand-in skipper Mo and son Sami combined for 8 wickets after Sami had scored 81 in Norden’s total of 249 for 9 from their 40 overs. Kabir Ahmed and Jo Gordon both fell just short of half-centuries as well for the Stags after both openers had fallen cheaply. Colne made a good fist of their chase as Jake Greenbank in particular played nicely for 71. The Waheeds proved too good with the ball, though, with Sami taking 3 for 49 and Mo 5 for 46 as Norden ran out winners by 36 runs.
2nd XI Scorecard: https://norden.play-cricket.com/website/results/5000323