Staffordshire beat Northumberland by 68 runs.
Staffordshire made the long journey to Jesmond on Sunday with hopes of keeping their NCCA campaign alive. They won the toss and chose to bat first.
They were quickly in trouble when they were reduced to 35/2 in the 6th over. Matt Morris, 13 and Sam Kelsall both started well, but they couldn’t push on. So it was again left to captain James Kettleborough to get his side out of early trouble.
Initially, it was Dan Lincoln who supported his skipper; they added 74 for the 3rd wicket, with Lincoln making 38 of those before he was caught off the bowling of Joseph Stuart. Lincoln struck three 4’s and one 6 in his 55-ball stay at the crease. It was the partnership with Ollie Walker that was to be the game changer, though. The pair added 144 for the 4th wicket as they began to take the game away from Northumberland and push Staffordshire up to an imposing total. The partnership was made in good time too; it took them just one ball shy of 23 overs to compile it, and it was finally broken when Kettleborough was bowled by Max Williamson for a splendid 95. His innings contained seven 4’s and one 6 as he accumulated well in the middle overs.
Walkers’ innings, on the other hand, was more explosive. He was the aggressor of the two. His 95 came in only 77 balls and contained five 4’s and six 6’s as he took the attack to the bowlers. When Kettleborough departed, he shared a 35-run stand with Rohan Vallabhaneni in just 16 balls as it looked like Staffordshire might break the 300 mark. They fell 8 runs short of that mark when they closed on 292/9 off their 50-over allocation. Jonny Bushnell was the pick of the Northumberland bowlers, taking 3/45 off his 10 overs.
Northumberland’s reply began strongly as they attempted to chase the large target down. The returning Liam Hurt and Jacob Garlick couldn’t find the early breakthrough, and Garlick was particularly expensive in his opening burst. The introduction of the ever-reliable Tom Brett into the attack brought the first wicket when he had Alasdair Appleby caught by Garlick for 36, leaving Northumberland 76/1 in the 12th over. There was then a partnership of 41 between Haydon Mustard and Ross Whitfield as the home side went past the 100 mark in the 20th over. Mustard then brought up a well-made 50 in 57 balls, containing eight 4s.
It was Brett again who ended the partnership when he had Mustard caught by Morris for 56, leaving Northumberland 117/2 in the 27th over. Staffordshire then took two quick wickets as the Northumberland innings began to stall. Brett claimed his 3rd victim when he bowled Whitfield for 14. Morris then had Harry Crawshaw caught by Sam Atkinson as the home side slumped to 128/4 in the 30th over.
Ollie Walker’s fine day continued as he took four wickets to make sure there was no sting in the tail from the Northumberland lower order. When he claimed the wicket of the set John Oswell for 44, it broke the Northumberland chase as they were reeling on 192/6 with only 9 overs remaining. Northumberland were eventually bowled all out for 224. Walker wrapped up a man-of-the-match performance with 4/36 from 5.1 overs to go with his 95 from earlier in the day.
Brett, who began the wicket-taking proceedings, finished with impressive figures of 3/26 from 10 overs as the Staffordshire bowlers did a fine job restricting the Northumberland batters after their fast start.
It was a well-deserved victory for Staffordshire, who got the runs on the board and then bowled well. It just shows that when they can support the ever-impressive Kettleborough, they are capable of putting up big scores.
Staffordshire play Lincolnshire next Sunday at Bignall End as they look to advance to the knockout stages.
