Wow, what a game
at The Northleach Arena! This was not a good
afternoon to be a bowler, as both batting
line-ups enjoyed themselves on a belter of a
track, in a match that produced nigh on 520
runs. Thanks to a display of powerful hitting
from both teams, a number of balls disappeared
into adjoining gardens at frequent intervals -
as did several players and spectators to find
them!
Home captain
Dickie Hemming won the toss and asked Sherston
to bat, and was quickly rewarded as a
particularly fine piece of fielding off his own
bowling saw Glen Crompton throw down the stumps
to dismiss Sherston's opener As each Northleach
bowler got into his rhythm he was swiftly
knocked off it again, as a succession of the
Sherston batsmen played strongly, dispatching
the ball to the boundary on a regular basis. The
key knocks for the visitors were from Jed Pitman
(45), John Turner (50), and Alan Dickenson
(57no), as Sherston reached a mighty total of
259 for 7. None of the home bowlers were able to
shine against such powerful batting, but
Crompton and Ritchie Blackmore did well to stem
the run-rate during their spells.
The Rams' reply
got off to a flying start, with Blackmore
(35) and Crompton (61) stroking the ball to all
parts as the score reached 100 within 11 overs.
As wickets fell, each of the new batsmen quickly
joined the run-fest, with "Barney" Blundell
(57no) and Mark Larner (56) hitting several
large sixes each - indeed, the Northleach
innings included a whopping 15 sixes! With
Blundell marshalling the troops at the wicket,
Northleach reached 200 on the board within the
27th over. The Rams achieved their target of 260
with almost 2 overs to spare, as Captain Hemming
delivered the coup de grace with a fine boundary
to seal the victory - a great batting
performance, again disproving any theories about
the Rams being a two-man batting line-up!
Northleach now
move to the top of the table, but face a tricky
match next week, entertaining 3rd place Avening
& Cherington at The Arena.
