Captain Norton Leads the Way in Harpsden Victory

Harpsden v Stonor – 27th September 2009

Stonor
J Mayo ct Thornton b I Whittaker 58
B Denton c & b Hancock 29
M Bowden ct Norton b Hancock 1
J Powell* b T Nugent 71
N Reid Not Out 9
M Lovatt ct I Whittaker b T Nugent 12
R Hunt Not Out 2

TOTAL 202-5
Extras 20

Best Bowling: B Hancock 2-19, T Nugent 2-42

Harpsden
A Grimmer ct Sub b Agar 30
C Whittaker ct Hunt b Agar 16
O Boycott Run Out 12
A Norton* ct Lovatt b Powell 80
I Nugent + Not Out 41
I Whittaker Not Out 8

TOTAL 208-4
Extras 21

Best Bowling: A Agar 2-52, Powell 1-38

Harpsden entertained Stonor on a very warm September day in the annual closing fixture for both teams.

Stonor got off to a great start with the bat, with Mayo and Denton putting on 46 for the first wicket, before first change bowler Hancock struck in his first over, taking a sharp caught and bowled to remove Denton for 29. Hancock struck again in his next over, forcing an edge from Bowden’s bat, straight into the hands of Norton at gully. Stonor then rebuilt their innings well, with Mayo and Powell punishing any poor bowling. The pair had put on 107, before Harpsden made the breakthrough, with Mayo playing a rare rash shot into the hands of Thornton at mid wicket. Powell was next to fall, getting clean bowled by Nugent for 71. Lovatt provided some late order hitting for Stonor to take them up to a competitive total of 202-5 from their allocated two and a half hours.

Harpsden got off to a flyer, with the first over the innings going for 12 runs. Whittaker and Grimmer continued to play positively, reaching 40 before Whittaker smashed a full toss straight into Hunts hands at mid on. Grimmer was the next man to fall, hitting the ball straight up in the air into mid offs hands. Heath and Norton then rebuilt the innings, with Norton taking to the attack to the bowling, whilst Heath ably supported him at the other end, with a brick wall defence. Heath eventually was heading back to the pavilion after being run out by his captain. However, Norton more than redeemed himself, batting superbly, mixing attacking and defending perfectly to anchor the Harpsden innings, when he eventually fell for 80, Harpsden needed 23 runs from 5 overs, with Ian Nugent and Ian Whittaker at the crease, both batsmen used their experience to great effect, with Nugent hitting boundaries, and Whittaker giving him as much strike as possible in the now fading light. With one over left, Harpsden still needed 3 runs to win, and when the first 2 balls didn’t wield any runs, Harpsden fans and players were starting to worry, but 2 singles in 2 balls brought the scores level, and as the fifth ball of the final over sailed over the boundary for six from Nugent’s bat the victory was secured. For what was a brilliant end to a brilliant Harpsdens season, in which just 6 matches out of 54 were lost.