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| > Staffordshire CCC v Norfolk CCC Match Report |
Staffs went into the reserve day of their MCCA Trophy Final in serious danger of being embarrassed. Chasing Norfolk’s challenging total of 257 for six from their 50 overs after a lengthy rain delay had delayed the start of play Staffs had slumped to 26 for four from the possible 9.3 overs bowled before bad light caused a premature halt to proceedings at the end of a very disappointing opening day.
For Staffordshire, who had gone into the game on the back of six straight victories in the competition including one over Norfolk in the group stages, their hopes of winning the trophy for the first time since 1993 had been blown out of the water following the century opening partnership within the first twenty overs from Ben Patston and Carl Rogers followed by the opening burst from the Norfolk attack which ripped apart Staffs make shift top order.
As it turned out there were no further weather problems and in glorious sunshine it was Norfolk that wrapped up the win, and with it the cup, by bowling out Staffs for 153.in 40.3 overs.
Staffs captain Paul Goodwin admitted, “It is very disappointing but we didn’t play well enough in any of the departments. To be fair they outplayed us. We have played some fantastic cricket to get to the final. Today wasn’t our day but I don’t really want to over analyse the way we played at the moment. We simply didn’t bowl consistently and the bad start with the bat put us really on the back foot.”
Looking at the game Goodwin continued, “I though 250 was a par score on the wicket and we were confident we could chase it down but we lost those early wickets and it snowballed from there. We didn’t get the good platform we needed and that made life very difficult. Even this morning I still thought we had a chance but it wasn’t to be. To get to the final is fantastic and we will be back next year.”
Looking for a solid start on the resumption of their innings Staffs woes increased with the early loss of Joe Leach, who after being given a life by wicket keeper Stephen Gray after adding just one run, was given out lbw for 5 to earn Michael Eccles a fourth success of the innings with the score on an abject 32 for five.
Former captain Richard Harvey was joined by the present incumbent Paul Goodwin and they steadily pushed the total up to 64 before Harvey was given a let off at backward point having scored 26. Having added just the one more run Harvey edged a rising ball from Martin Addison through to the keeper to bring to an end what may be his last appearance for Staffs with his score on 36 and the total 76.
The seventh wicket almost immediately followed, but new batsman Craig Barker was spared as the opportunity to the slip fielder was grounded by Rogers but with the total on 98, Barker gave Rogers the opportunity to make amends and this time he didn’t make a mistake.
Paul Goodwin showed some token resistance and struck Chris Brown for six over mid wicket but the Norfolk off spinner gained his revenge by bowling Goodwin for 32; the eighth wicket tumbling on 111.
The early destroyer Michael Eccles returned to claim his fifth wicket as Greg Willott fended off a rising delivery to Rogers at slip to finish with the magnificent figures of five for 34 from his ten overs and deservedly earn the Man of the Match Award.
The ninth wicket fell on 127 and when Will Purser was dismissed caught at long on with the total on 153 the result gave Norfolk a winning margin of 104 runs. Purser finished third highest scorer on 23 with last man Dave Edwards unbeaten on 12 the pair adding 26 for the final wicket.
Once play in the final got under way Norfolk made up for lost time after a frustrating morning after having won the toss at the scheduled 10.30am and electing to bat first as it wasn’t until 2.45pm the players eventually took to the field due to persistent rain.
Left hander Ben Patston raced to his half century off just 37 balls, hitting seven boundaries and two sixes to get the Norfolk innings off to a flying start.
Staffs skipper Paul Goodwin rang the changes from his array of pace bowlers to try and stem the flow of runs with Craig Barker the fifth bowler into the attack in the 16th over by which time the total had moved on to 88 without loss.
The century opening partnership was reached for the loss of no wickets in the 19th over as Staffs struggled to stem the flow with Patston continuing to ride his luck in between his explosive hitting and Carl Rogers providing solid support.
The breakthrough came in bizarre fashion as Mo Sheikh, having bowled 4.4 overs of his normal seam bowling suddenly chose to switch to off spin and with his second delivery of his new style totally deceived the dangerous Patston bowling the left hander for 65 with the total on 109.
Craig Barker’s introduction into the attack alongside Sheikh began to peg back the run rate which had at one time gone above the six an over mark, and he struck to remove former Leicestershire player Trevor Ward; caught at the wicket by Paul Goodwin for 2.
Craig Barker’s inspired spell continued when the same partnership conspired to remove Cambridge University wicket-keeper Stephen Gray for 1 to reduce the Norfolk score to 126 for three.
Iain Carr on his return to Staffs duties after a three year absence from the county scene conceded just two runs from his opening over and went on to bowl his ten overs for 44 runs and the wicket of Chris Borrett to mark a useful return for the Checkley player.
On a day when Staffordshire’s front line bowlers failed to fire it was semi-final hero Craig Barker who helped haul Staffs back into the game.
The return of Will Purser to the attack brought instant reward as opener Carl Rogers’ solid batting performance was ended as Peter Wilshaw claimed the catch. The Norfolk captain’s 91 came from 142 balls and contained nine boundaries as he held the innings together after Patston’s blistering start.
Youngster Sam Arthurton, on his 17th birthday scored just two before falling lbw to Mo Sheikh before a final fling from James Spelman and Chris Brown enabled Norfolk to close at 257 for six, setting Staffs a victory run chase of 258 at 5.2 runs per over.
In contrast to the Norfolk start the Staffs response got off to the worst possible start as the new look Staffs top order failed to function. Replacing the unavailable Jack Manuel and Dave Wheeldon Ben McGuire was promoted to open the innings with Iain Carr occupying the number three slot. Unfortunately both players departed in successive deliveries in the second over of the innings to leave Staffs in early trouble at four for two. McGuire departed lbw and Carr fended the next delivery into the hands of Trevor Ward at slip.
Worse was to follow as Peter Wilshaw was bowled by Paul Bradshaw for 9 to leave Staffs facing an uphill task as they slumped to 16 for three and the before play was brought to an early close due to bad light Staffs had slumped to 26 for four from 9.3 overs with Sheikh becoming Eccles’ third victim of a fine opening spell.
For Staffordshire the result was a massive disappointment after their impressive run to reach the final and not withstanding the unavailability of a number of key players the performance was well below par and there could be no denying the performance from Norfolk was worthy of a cup winning side. Staffs have the opportunity to get the performance out of the system very quickly as they play Suffolk at Knypersley in a three day championship match starting on Sunday.
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