Honours even as local rivals clash at Highfield
STAFFORDSHIRE and Cheshire shared the spoils from their National Counties Cricket Association Twenty20 Cup matches at Leek on Sunday.
Cheshire outclassed their hosts in all departments in the opening encounter at Highfield, but Staffs kept their hopes of Group One qualification alive with a 30-run victory in game two, led by seamer Grant Thornton’s five-wicket haul.
That left Staffordshire top of the standings on eight points, two clear of Cheshire and Cumbria, who meet at Toft today.
Those two games could well prove to be pivotal in shaping who manages to finish top of the pile and qualify for finals day later this month.
The group matches conclude next weekend when Staffs head to Carlisle to play Cumbria and Cheshire visit Northumberland.
Staffordshire captain Zen Malik won the toss and chose to bat in the opening match, which was delayed by an hour because of a damp outfield.
Malik himself fell for a duck, before Louis Allison top edged a pull to mid-on and was caught for 20.
However, Alex Mellor, playing his first game of this season’s competition on his home ground, and Riki Wessels, led Staffs into a promising position.
The home side reached 60-2 in the ninth over before Cheshire launched a fightback which undid all of the Staffordshire’s early work.
It was Cheshire debutant Charlie Barnard, only 17 years old, who was at the centre of the mid-innings collapse.
The left-arm spinner trapped Wessels lbw for 24, before bowling Leek’s Mahaaz Ahmed for just a single.
And when Mellor fell victim to a leg-side stumping by Rob Sehmi off the bowling of Steve Green, Staffs had tumbled to 63-5 in little more than an over.
All-rounders Tom Hope and Jack Redman attempted to repair the damage inflicted by those three quick wickets, with the former finishing on 28 not out.
Redman went for 19 to Cheshire skipper Nick Anderson, before Spencer Byatt chipped in wth 11 prior to becoming Michael Finan’s second victim of the innings.
Staffs eventually closed on 124-7 from their 20 overs - someway short of where they would have hoped to have been after such a solid start.
Cheshire found themselves in a spot of bother in the early stages of their run chase.
Sehmi was snapped up behind the stumps by Byatt off Thornton, before former Leicestershire man Harry Dearden launched his second delivery off Alex Coates to Jack Redman on the mid-wicket boundary to depart for a duck.
That left Cheshire on 17-2, but a 60-run partnership for the third wicket between Will Evans and Sam Perry put Cheshire back in the driving seat.
Staffs didn’t help themselves with some loose bowling, and it took the
introduction of chinaman bowler Sam Wisniewski to break the stand when he bowled Evans for 41 - an innings which contained four fours and three sixes.
Wisniewski struck again to account for Alex Money, caught at long on by Thornton, but from a position of 974, Cheshire eased home.
Perry batted throughout the innings to finish on 38 not out, while Anderson made a breezy unbeaten 20 to steer his side to a six-wicket win with 11 balls remaining.
In the second encounter, Malik once again won the toss and opted to take first use of the Highfield pitch.
Staffs switched their batting order around, with Mellor moving up to open with Wessels and Malik dropping down to number four.
But it was Cheshire who seized the advantage when they claimed three early wickets with just 18 runs on the board.
Wessels was well held at mid-off by Barnard, Allison got a leading edge to Dearden in the covers, and Mellor presented keeper Sehmi with a catch.
Malik led the recovery mission for Staffs, making 26 before he played on to a Barnard delivery.
Ahmed (14) and Hope (11) played their part, but it needed Redman (19) and Byatt (17) to guide Staffordshire to 120 all out.
Andrew Jackson, Finan, Barnard and Anderson all took two wickets for Cheshire.
Staffordshire made a dream start to their bowling effort as Thornton trapped Sehmi lbw in the first over. He followed that up with the wicket of Perry, which started a Cheshire collapse from which they never recovered. Evans fell lbw to offspinner Redman, while Money and Dearden were dismissed by Ahmed as spin played a crucial role for the hosts.
And when Luke Young was stumped by Byatt off Redman, Cheshire were 47-6 in the 10th over. Anderson and Jackson joined forces to try to inject new life into their side’s victory quest - with their unbeaten record on the line.
But generally Staffs ensured that the run-rate kept climbing... and more risks had to be taken by Cheshire.
Jackson fell for 14 thanks to a fine Wessels catch off paceman Coates, and Anderson headed back to the pavilion, having made 21, after being bowled by Thornton.
The game was up for Cheshire at that point and former Warwickshire seamer Thornton struck twice in two balls to wrap up the innings for 90 and finish with superb figures of 5-12.
Staffordshire will now be keenly following matters at Toft today as their rivals for top spot, Cheshire and Cumbria, meet.
Cumbria’s hopes of a full points haul against Shropshire were dashed yesterday when the bad weather at Netherfield saw both games abandoned with the sides receiving a point apiece for each contest.