Harpsden cling on for draw

On a burning hot Saturday afternoon Harpsden CC & Benedick CC played out a fascinating draw with more swings in it than the local playground. There was no surprise when Harpsden won the toss and elected to bat first. Toby Stevens and Rob Harris opened the Harpsden innings and were soon into their stride as both batsmen struck boundaries in the opening overs. Benedick’s fort back however with two wickets in two balls from Northcott, the skipper. The fielders closed in on the new batsman for the hat trick ball but were left disappointed as the ball troubled the wicketkeeper more than the batsman.

Tom Hancock in his first game of the season showed some signs of a return to form in a well constructed 25. However both he and Bradley were to fall to good pieces of bowling by Pascoe. With two further wickets falling Harpsden were in serious need of rebuilding fortunately for them Hodgkiss and B.Hancock were up to the task. With caution at first and aggression later in their innings the scoreboard began to tick over. Hancock was to fall to the returning Pascoe, who was the pick of the Benedick bowling attack, for a precious 29. Hodgkiss went on to complete his half century having found support lower in the order from Birkett and Deville.

With Harpsden having made 204 from their 41 overs Benedick’s started their chase well with Acworth and on loan Harpsden Skipper Will Stevens taking full advantage of the lightning fast outfield. However when Toby Stevens began steaming in to his elder brother on a pitch that was starting to misbehave the Benedick pair did well to survive the opening salvo.

Acworth was particularly brutal on anything outside off stump as time and again Harpsden watched the ball disappear over the boundary. When he fell for 40 the Benedick’s total had reached 79 and Benedick’s looked on course to reach their target. As the final twenty overs of the game commenced two further wickets had fallen and 120 runs were required and the game hung in the balance.

Stevens had been steadily accumulating runs as he watched partners come and go, but unfortunately the long hot day in the field had taken their toll as he began to run out of energy. Caswell did his best to keep his partner moving but with Harpsden ringing the boundaries run scoring became an impossible task. Stevens was finally dismissed hit wicket having fallen back toward his stumps.

With the rate still only at 7 an over Harpsden turn once again to Toby Stevens who bowled a very tight couple of overs to effectively save the game for Harpsden. Benedicks did their best to still reach the target but with 14 runs required from the last 5 balls a win seemed impossible to achieve. But with Pascoe crashing a huge six of with a ball to go the impossible was still achievable. Unfortunately it was not to be as Benedick CC ended their 37 overs on 201-6 just four runs short of victory.

Harpsden

T.Stevens ct Burtt b Northcott 10
R.Harris ct b Burtt 38
P.Sayers b Northcott 0
T.Hancock b Pascoe 25
J.Bradley b Pascoe 2
M.Hodgkiss Not Out 53
M.Greenwood b W.Stevens 0
B.Hancock b Pascoe 29
R.Birkett ct b Burtt 16
M.Devile Not Out 8
Extras 23
Total 204

Benedick CC

W.Stevens Hit Wicket b Harris 86
Acworth b b T.Hancock 40
Hunt ct b R.Birkett 7
Bentley ct b Sayers 17
Burtt ct b Sayers 2
Caswell ct b Hodgkiss 30
Pascoe Not Out 16
Northcott Not Out 2
Extras 1
Total 201