Northumberland won the toss and elected to bat. Conditions had not changed, except that it had got hotter.
Alasdair Appleby made a positive start to the Northumberland innings when he swept a Nils Priestley delivery for a boundary in the opening over. He then dispatched a Liam Hurt slower ball for six over long on in the second over, after sweeping Priestley for another boundary, Appleby got himself into a tangle attempting the same shot again and could only get a thin edge through to keeper Lincoln, who took a good catch up to the stumps.
Sam Keeling-Wright then claimed the second wicket when he had John Oswell caught behind as he attempted a big drive in the 4th over. Ross Whitfield then struck two boundaries from the fifth over as Jacob Garlick could not find his range. He went on to concede 16 runs in the over, including 5 wides down the leg side. Northumberland had reached 43/2 when the over was completed.
A Joe Hawkins long hop was then smashed into the car park by Whitfield as the Northumberland 50 came up in the 7th over. Ross Greenwell then hit another six to finish the over as the Staffordshire bowlers were beginning to feel the pressure.
Matt Morris came in for some punishment in the 9th over. Both Whitfield and Greenwell hit him for boundaries before Whitfield slog swept into the old nets for an enormous six. The over went for 19 runs, and Whitfield had made his way to 45* by the end of it. Whitfield then brought up his 50 in the next over with a boundary and a single off the bowling of Hurt. Northumberland had reached 99/2 at the halfway point in their innings.
Greenwell struck a Priestley delivery onto the clubhouse roof in the next over before Priestley got his revenge when Joe Hawkins took a smart catch at short third man to dismiss him for an entertaining 33 that came off only 24 balls. The 3rd wicket partnership had been worth 96 before Staffordshire eventually found the breakthrough. Whitfield continued to be aggressive and had made his way to 68* by the end of the 13th over.
Harry Crawshaw then picked out Ollie Walker on the mid-wicket boundary again off the bowling of Priestley to leave Northumberland 130/4. Staffordshire then bowled two tight overs, where only 10 runs were added to the score as they began to slow the run rate down. The impressive Keeling-Wright then conceded just 4 runs from the 16th over as Staffordshire began to wrestle back the momentum.
Ollie Walker dismissed Whitfield in the 17th over for a brilliant 73 from only 48 deliveries. He was attempting a scoop, but could only send the ball skywards towards short fine leg, where Callum Hawkins took the catch. Whitfield’s innings contained seven 4’s and two enormous 6’s.
The Northumberland 150 came up in the 18th over when Jonny Bushnell drove Liam Hurt through the covers for a boundary. Morris then caught Sean Tindale at backward point off the impressive Keeling-Wright as Northumberland ended the 19th over on 164/6. Keeling-Wright finished with outstanding figures of 2/20 from his 4 overs.
Six runs came from the final over bowled by Hurt as Northumberland closed on 170/7. Priestley was again impressive with the ball as he finished with figures of 3/27 as the Staffordshire bowlers did well to pull back the Northumberland scoring rate at the end of the innings.
Priestley took 14 runs from the first over when he hit two boundaries. He then launched a huge six into the side screen to end the over. Naill McHale drove Bushnell through the covers in the next over as he made his own fast start. Priestley then cut the final ball of the over through point as Staffordshire raced to 25/0 after 2 overs. McHale was then bowled in the next over, playing a poor shot. I’m not quite sure why he’s been selected for this fixture. In all honesty, he got a first-ball duck in match 1 and just looked out of his depth in the 2nd match. Surely Staffordshire have better options available to them.
Dan Lincoln was quickly into his work when he pulled a short ball from Bushnell to the square leg boundary with ease in the 4th over. Priestley then perished when he attempted to slog sweep Joseph Stuart over mid-wicket but could only get a thick edge to short third man, where Greenwell took a simple catch to leave Staffordshire 38/2 in the 5th over. Lincoln then struck a textbook cover drive in the final over of the powerplay to leave the score on 48/2.
Callum Hawkins was then well caught by Oswell at backward point in the 8th over. He was attempting a reverse sweep, and Oswell took a sharp catch low down to his left off the bowling of Oliver McGee to leave Staffordshire 54/3. James Kettleborough soon followed when he was smartly stumped by Chris Youldon, who was standing up to seamer Calum Fletcher. Kettleborough had advanced down the pitch only to York himself, and he couldn’t get back into his ground before Youldon whipped the bails off to send the Staffordshire captain on his way with the score at 57/4.
Lincoln struck two boundaries in the 10th over as Staffordshire began to fall behind the run-rate. They had reached 73/4 at the halfway stage and had plenty of work to do in the final 10 overs of this match. Lincoln holed out on the mid-wicket fence in the next over as Staffordshire’s chances of victory were beginning to look rather slim.
Walker hit two towering sixes in the 13th over as he looked to up the ante. The first six went straight into the pavilion, and the second landed by the new nets. The run-rate at this point was nearly 10 an over, so they were welcome boundaries for the home team. Morris then began a counterattack of his own in the 14th over. He struck back-to-back boundaries to start the over, putting the pressure back onto the bowling team. The game then swung again when Walker was caught on the mid-wicket fence to leave Staffordshire 109/6. Liam Hurt came and went; he was well caught at short third man too in the next over to leave Staffordshire needing 61 from 34 balls.
Morris wasn’t finished, though; he found a partner in Joe Hawkins, and they took the score to 122/7 at the end of the 16th over. Hawkins helped a short ball over the square leg boundary for a maximum in the 17th over, as 14 runs came from the over. Hawkins and Morris were running extremely well between the wickets; they were scampering twos at every opportunity and using Stone’s big outfield to their advantage. Morris struck the 2nd ball of the 18th over straight down the ground for a boundary before Hawkins was caught at long-on to leave Staffordshire 143/8 with 14 balls remaining. Two singles were scored to complete the over.
Keeling-Wright then struck the 3rd ball of the 19th over for a boundary through mid-wicket before smashing the next ball into the trees to set up a grandstand finish as the equation was down to 13 off 8 balls. Two more singles were added before the drama of the last played out.
The final over was to be bowled by Sean Tindale. Matt Morris was on strike. Tindale had set his field back on the leg side, indicating that he planned to bowl straight to Morris, but he dragged his first ball down, and Morris pulled it away for a boundary behind square on the leg side. Morris backed away to the next ball and absolutely smashed it past mid off for another boundary, bringing the equation to 3 runs needed from 4 balls. It would have been easy for Tindale to collapse at this point, having seen his first 2 balls disappear to the boundary, but he steeled himself and bowled Morris with a perfect yorker to leave Staffordshire 9 down and still 3 away from victory. Garlick then came to the crease with the whole of Stone CC holding its breath. He managed to dig out Tindale’s yorker towards third man to take a single and get off strike. Keeling-Wright could do nothing with Tindale’s next delivery; it was a perfect wide yorker that he could only dig out to short cover. Staffordshire now wanted 2 runs to win from the final ball with only one wicket in hand.
Again, it was another perfect yorker, and Keeling-Wright jammed down on it, Garlick scampered through for a single, and the match was a tie. It had been a fantastic end to a wonderful game that ebbed and flowed through the afternoon.
Great credit must be given to the Staffordshire lower order, Matt Morris, especially his 41, which came off just 27 balls and contained six boundaries; he dragged Staffordshire back into the game after they’d looked dead and buried. Stuart finished with excellent figures of 3/17, Oliver McGee returned 3/36 and Tindale 2/39 as the Northumberland bowlers played their part.
The games were played out in front of a large crowd at Stone CC today, and the ground looked wonderful, so a large hand of appreciation must be given to them for their efforts today. Staffordshire are next in action next week when they travel to Wem CC to play a double header against Shropshire.
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