Northumberland won the toss and elected to field on a perfect day for cricket at Stone CC. Nils Priestley got Staffordshire off to a fast start when he struck two boundaries in the opening over. Ollie Walker was bowled for 5 in the 2nd over when he attempted a big shot off the bowling of Sean Tindle to leave Staffordshire 14/1. Priestley then struck four consecutive boundaries in the 3rd over as the tall left-hander was showing all of his skills in the shorter format of the game as he raced to 27 from just 14 balls.
Dan Lincoln struck two towering sixes in the 5th over as Staffordshire continued to attack whilst the fielding restrictions were still active. Priestley was well caught at extra cover from the final ball of the over for 31, leaving Staffordshire 55/2. They ended the powerplay on 59/2 after a quiet 6th over.
Lincoln struck another enormous six in the 10th over this time straight down the ground as Staffordshire made their way to 91/2 at the halfway point of their innings. Callum Hawkins then joined in the six, hitting when he hit one over long off to bring up the Staffordshire 100. This reporter then dropped the resulting catch! Lincoln was then well caught at extra cover in the 13th over for a breezy 41. He can consider himself unlucky because he struck the shot sweetly, and the fielder only just had enough time to get his hands to the ball.
Hawkins was then trapped LBW in the next over as Staffordshire lost two quick wickets at an important time in their innings. He’d been struggling to rotate the strike and had become bogged down before he was dismissed. Naill McHale was out LBW to the next ball as Staffordshire fell to 110/5 and were in danger of not posting a competitive total. The Northumberland bowlers had pulled the game back well after the power play, as it looked like Staffordshire were going to post a huge total at one point.
James Kettleborough struck Staffordshire’s first boundary in 5 overs when he ran a Jonny Bushnell delivery to the third man boundary as Staffordshire reached 124/5 after 16 overs. Matt Morris was caught at short fine leg attempting a ramp shot in the 18th over as Staffordshire’s innings was quickly losing momentum. They went past 150 in the final over when Liam Hurt struck back-to-back boundaries. They closed on 159/7, which looked slightly under par to me. After the start they had, they should have got closer to the 200 mark, as the wicket was good and the outfield was quick. The Northumberland bowlers were exceptional after Priestley’s early assault. Jonny Bushnell finished with 3/41, and Callum Fletcher and Oliver McGee impressed as well.
Northumberland began positively, Ross Whitfield struck two boundaries in the first over before he was caught at deep square leg in the next over off the bowling of Liam Hurt as Staffordshire made the crucial early breakthrough. John Oswell then struck Priestley from a huge six that landed on the road before Priestley got his revenge next ball when he snuck one through his defence to leave Northumberland 21/2 worse was to follow when Alasdair Appleby was trapped in front by Priestley 2 balls later when he attempted a sweep to plunge Northumberland into further danger.
A Hurt slower ball was then too good for Ross Greenwell as he was early on his shot and could only loop a catch through to keeper Lincoln to leave Northumberland 38/4. Joe Hawkins then dismissed Bushnell with his first delivery when he chopped a catch to Matt Morris at backward point, where he took the catch at the second attempt. Hawkins claimed his second wicket when Chris Youldon was caught at short fine leg again by Morris as they fell deeper into trouble at 54/6 in the 9th over.
15 runs came from the 11th over. Sean Tindle struck two sixes as Northumberland attempted to break the shackles. Tindle then holed out in the next over off the bowling of Walker as his useful cameo of 19 came to an end. Priestley returned to claim his 3rd wicket when Oliver McGee was well caught by Kettleborough as the ball seemed to hang in the air for an age before he completed the catch.
Harry Crawshaw struck two big sixes in the 15th over as he began to run out of partners. The first six sailed over the head of Walker, who was on the long-on boundary, and the second was an audacious reverse hit that cleared the deep point boundary. It was a truly remarkable shot. He then struck Priestley’s first ball of the 16th over for another maximum as he was attempting to win the game single-handedly. His fun was ended 2 balls later when Naill McHale took a fine catch running in off the deep mid-wicket fence to end his innings of 45 well-made runs. Priestley then completed his 5-wicket haul when he took a good return catch off Callum Fletcher’s bat to end the game. Priestley finished with impressive figures of 5/27 as Staffordshire ran out comfortable winners by 45 runs.
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