Northchurch 2s secure win in first away game

A brilliant 95* from Mike James ensured that Northchurch 2nd XI chased down a score of 221, as they came away with a four wicket win against Waltham Cross Rosedale, in their first away match of the season. It was a resilient performance on a wicket and ground that was incredibly tough to negotiate, as the second team made it two wins from two in their opening Division 8b fixtures.

Like last week, Northchurch sent their opposition into bat, with captain Charles Fidler winning the toss again. However Northchurch found things tough in the opening ten overs, and then again throughout the middle part of the Waltham Cross Rosedale innings. The first wicket to fall was that of Phillips, as he fell trying to hit over the in-field. Fidler (1-15) got him swinging and the ball fell into the hands of Harry Chapman who took a straight forward catch at mid-on.

The Northchurch bowlers found it difficult to find the right line, as a challenging slope and an incredibly short boundary to one side of the ground, meant life was made challenging. Matt Dawson (4-53) proved more expensive than last weekend, going for runs in his first spell but picked up the next wicket of H. Winter, as he clean bowled him for a quick fire 29. Dawson then had Moore trapped in front for LBW shortly after.

Chapman, who picked up two wickets in his ten overs for just 25 runs, bowled a very tight spell to keep the pressure on the opposition. His wickets came in his final over, the first was that of the opener, Topham, as he fell LBW for 29, and then two balls later Chapman bowled Alex Washbourne for a duck.

The hard hitting of Waltham's number 5, David Beech, helped his team reach a respective total however, as he was able to relieve the pressure and put it back on Northchurch, scoring regular boundaries towards the short end of the ground. He hit a magnificent 65 before holding out to Adam Forshaw off the bowling of Ben Pyne inside the final ten overs. Before that however, was a wicket for Mike James who bowling in tandem with son, Joel James, bowled J. Winter for 16.

As the innings reached its conclusion, Northchurch did well in the end to restrict the opposition to 220 for 9. Pyne bowled an encouraging four overs whilst Dawson returned to pick up two more wickets, removing Jerry Pearce LBW and then bowling Michael Jepson in the final over.

In reply, Ronak Patel and Chapman looked to get Northchurch off to a good start. They found batting in the opening overs a little tough, with the ball keeping low, meaning it wasn't always easy to predict what it was going to do. They did however manage to find the occasional boundary before Patel was caught in the sixth over for 10 with the score on 28. The next wicket fell two overs later, as Chapman was bowled for 25 by Winter, who now had the wickets of both the openers.

James and Fidler, as they had the week before, were able to stabilise the Northchurch innings, both scoring at a very quick rate. However wickets were still falling around James who never showed any signs of getting out. He reached his 50 off just 53 balls, making things look remarkably easy. However Fidler was to go for 25, spooning a catch straight to the man off the bowling of Jepson, before Jimmy Smart and Randall both departed for scores of 5 and 1 respectively.

Dawson was the next man to the crease, as he and James were able to build a solid partnership that got Northchurch to within touching distance of victory. James was still timing the ball nicely, making light work of the Waltham bowling, but Dawson fell for 23 with just a single figure score needed for the win.

Victory was then finally achieved with both James' at the wicket. Joel was able to get his first league run, playing a shot to square leg for a single, before his dad then deservedly finished the job off with a four, finishing five runs short of a century. There were a couple of nervy moments throughout the Northchurch innings, but in the end they chased down their target fairly comfortably.