News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
JK and Sweeney star as NCC turn certain defeat into comprehensive victory

JK and Sweeney star as NCC turn certain defeat into comprehensive victory

Matt Dawson12 May 2021 - 12:22
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.northchurchcc.com/

NCC snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday.

by Ollie Johnson

After a day of poor weather across Hertfordshire it was nice to finally play cricket in some sunshine. Skipper Mike James won the toss and decided to have a bat on a covered deck from the week’s rain which meant it was still hard and flat.

Opening the batting was JK and Jack Randall who came up against some quality bowling from the Hatfield Crusaders bowling attack. Both batsmen started by erring on the side of caution and with the rain we had on Saturday the outfield was slow and damp.

With the score on 13-0 off 5 overs JK started to look at going over the top to boost the run rate up and started to outscore the normally aggressive Bear. JK dispatched the Hatfield quick over his head for 4; a highlight of his innings. At 55-0 off 12 overs NCC would’ve started to think of 220+. However, The Bear tried to clear the pavilion to get his innings going and was caught smartly for 22 on the long-on boundary.

Mike James came to the crease but was soon dismissed for 0, which saw Ben ‘The Growler’ Towler come to the crease for his first knock of the 2021 season. JK continued to look to be aggressive but played one aerial shot too many and was caught at long-off, falling short of his first 50 for the club with an impressive 43.

At 73-3 The Growler and Lloyd Debenham looked to rebuild the innings and get NCC to that magic 200 but good tight bowling and pre-season rust from T.Growler saw the run rate drop. Lloyd allowed himself time to get in then played an array of lovely cricket shots through the covers and also a glorious sweep shot that flew down the hill for 4.

Lloyd would depart for a well made 30 off 38 balls but Chappers looked to continue the momentum that Lloyd created and did just that. Chappers made things difficult for the death bowlers, by coming down the pitch and hitting a few lusty blows. He departed with a near run a ball 18 when he was bowled trying a Tommy G style scoop.

New batsmen Calum Lindsay and T.Growler put on 28 in the last 4 overs to get NCC to a defendable but below score of 172-5 off 40 overs. Calum finishing on 16* off 15 and Growler 31*.

A very achy OJ and Ellis opened the bowling and bowled good areas, unfortunately, the chances created were difficult ones including an effort from Growler which would’ve been talked about for years if he had managed to hold on.

Hatfield were cruising along at 41-0 off 10 overs when OJ and Ellis had finished their spells. This brought on Chappers from the rec end and pace man Lindsay from the pavilion end into the attack. More chances would go down from the NCC fielders and gave the Hatfield openers more chances to keep the score ticking.

With an over before drinks Sweeney was brought on to replace the frustrated Lindsay. Sweeney picked up the Hatfield opener caught behind by JK with his last ball of the over to give NCC some hope but at 95-1 off 20 Hatfield were heavy favourites.

NCC came together and agreed that if they had any chance of winning they needed to have a 10 over spell where everyone all pulled together and didn’t give the Hatfield batsmen an inch. NCC did exactly that; OJ was brought back on to try and make things happen alongside Sweeney - let the chaos begin.

OJ bowled the set Hatfield opener for 50 and an over later OJ took 3 wickets in one over to get rid of the number 3 who smashed the ball into space before The Bear took a brilliant catch. Lindsay caught blue trainers at midwicket (who played one of the most interesting shots I’ve ever seen) and in the final ball of OJ’s spell the number 5 chipped it to Ellis. OJ finished with 4-26 off his 8 overs.

Sweeney, who gave NCC the initial momentum getting the opener out, would then go on to destroying the Hatfield middle order with his aggressive style of bowling, making it very uncomfortable for the batsmen, bowling a couple of bouncers to push them back into the crease.

At 107-4 Sweeney got the captain plumb LBW and in his next over Chappers caught a screamer at short cover (he told me to write that). The very next ball he bowled the 9 number with a peach of a Yorker.

Hat-trick ball got tickled away down fine leg and with one wicket left Sweeney had a chance at a well-deserved 5fer but finished the game for NCC by taking a fantastic catch off Chappers to win the game.

Sweeney finished with excellent figures of 4-19 and was unfortunate that Hatfield only had 10 batsmen due to an injury; he thoroughly deserved a maiden 5fer.

A brilliant game of Sunday friendly cricket with Northchurch winning by 55 runs. Thanks to Hatfield for getting a team together on short notice and contributing to an unreal game of cricket.

Man of the match was a joint award this week with JK top-scoring with the bat and Sweeney changing the game with the ball.

Onto the next one!

Further reading