Norden stay in touch at the top
AGOOD team performance resulted in Norden picking up five points from their JW Lees Pennine League Premiership match at Crompton on Saturday.
Stags lost the toss and were asked to take first knock, a decision that looked as though it would pay off for Crompton as Norden lost three key wickets for only 46.
Josh Tolley was trapped leg before by Adam Good for 16, Dom Humphreys looked to be the victim of a harsh decision when given leg before to Good, and Ash Gowers tickled a delivery from Aqib Zulfiqar to be caught behind.
Rehan Udwadia and Harvey Fitton then built the foundations for a decent score, and slowly but surely they took the total up to 110 before the former offered a return catch to Akbar Rehman. The opener had scored 46 off 96 deliveries.
Ten runs later Greg Butterworth was bowled by Harry Dean, then Steve Pimm popped up a simple catch to make it 127 for six.
Enter Simon North who hit the only six of the innings on his way to a bright 34 off 33 balls.
He lost the help of Fitton who was out for 35, but Jason Collin then gave North as much of the strike as possible.
When North was caught by Simon Wright the total had gone up to 174, and four more runs were added before the overs ran out.
Udwadia, Fitton and North had set Crompton a target, but had Stags scored enough?
That question was partly answered second ball in to the reply when the stumps were clipped and top bat Denis Louis departed.
With 11 on the board John Punchard went for runs off Chris Humphreys who picked up his second wicket as Steve Pimm took the catch.
Sam Rigby and Aqbar Rehman then featured in a good partnership which was never spectacular but kept the board ticking over up to 64 before Rigby overbalanced when attacking a delivery from Hashum Malik and was stumped by Gowers.
Simon Wright was next to go, bowled by Malik, and Stephen Wright was caught behind off Greg Butterworth just after the total had passed 100.
It was obvious that Crompton hopes now lay with professional Rehman, especially when Zulfiqar was out to a brilliant slips catch by Tolley,
Kain Dean was caught by Chris Humphreys, and with the score on 132 Rehman was given caught behind off Butterworth. The batsman didn’t like it, but the umpires said he had to go.
That was almost it, and Malik mopped up the last two wickets to finish with figures of six for 42.
At the start of the Crompton innings, dad Chris Humphreys had been partnered by lad Dominic Humphreys in the Norden attack. Dominic showed pace without getting a touch of luck and had figures of 7-3-9-0. Norden J Tolley lbw Good ............................................. 16 R Udwadia c and b Rehman ....................... 46 D Humphreys lbw Good ................................. 4 A Gowers c K Dean b Zulfiqar ....................... 7 H Fitton c Si Wright b Zulfiqar .................... 35 G Butterworth b H Dean ................................. 2 S Pimm c Good b H Dean ............................... 2 S North c S Rigby b Zulfiqar ........................ 34 J Collin not out ..................................................... 6 H Malik not out .................................................... 2 Extras ..................................................................... 24 Total (for 8 wickets) ....................................... 178 Bowling: Good 14-1-54-2; Zulfiqar 12-1-35-3; Si Wright 8.1-0-31-0; Rehman 11-3-37-1; H Dean 5-0-15-2. Crompton D Louis b C Humphreys ................................... 0 J Punchard c Pimm b C Humphreys .......... 4 S Rigby st Gowers b Malik ............................ 35 A Rehman c Gowers b Butterworth ........ 68 Si Wright b Malik ................................................. 5 St Wright c Gowers b Butterworth ............. 8 A Zulfiqar c Tolley b Malik ............................... 5 K Dean c C Humphreys b Malik .................... 2 A Good not out .................................................... 4 H Dean b Malik .................................................... 3 J Parker b Malik .................................................... 0 Extras ..................................................................... 10 Total ..................................................................... 144 Bowling: C Humphreys 10-3-21-2; D Humphreys 7-3-9-0; Butterworth 12.1-1-52-2; Udwadia 4-1-18-0; Malik 14-2-42-6.
Austerlands 72 (Michael Harling 4-21), Rochdale 73-5 (Adrianne Morrison 4-32); Crompton 144 (Akbar Rehman 68, Hashum Malik 6-42), Norden 178-8 (Rehan Udwadia 46); Glodwick 78 (Jake Sandham 5-26, Danny Collins 4-45), Monton and Weaste 79-2 (Jake Sandham 40); Walsden 110-4 (Josh Gale 59no), Stayley
Ashton lost to Milnrow; Friarmere v Royton – no play; Oldham 119 (Lee Warburton 6-38, Imran Khan 4-31), Moorside 231 (Gerry Snyman 79, Ruan Havenga 60, Imrfan Osman Khan 6-65); Shaw 233-9 (Thorshan Thayalan 101), Hollinwood 111 (Jay Virpura 4-22); Uppermill 255-9 (Ayaz Tasawar 72, Nathan Boote 58), Middleton 129 (Harry Gee 44, Ayaz Tasawar 7-29); Werneth 165-3 (Matthew Taylor 43), Micklehurst 164 (Andrew Kohler 67, Hamzah Sajjad 4-32.
Greenfield 141 (Stuart Hanson 5-36), Walsden 143-5 (Jon Lord 57); Littleborough 87 (Basharat Khan 5-18), Oldham 89-1; Milnrow 56 (Waheed Munir 4 wickets), Friarmere 99 (Faad Khan 4-47); Monton and Weaste 197-9 (Brad Flegg 95), Glodwick 181-8 (Hassan Ali 63, Josh Brown 45); Norden 190-8 (Greg Tattersall 62, Joe Humphreys 42, Aidan Curtis 4-30), Crompton 84 (Mo Munowar 7-30); Rochdale 111-8, Werneth 109 (Tom Avery 5-23).
Hollinwood 54, Shaw 55-3; Micklehurst 148 (Matthew Barton 49), Austerlands 256-6 (Mohammed Naveed 116, Ammar Malik 72); Middleton 70-1, Uppermill 68 (Mohammed Sohail 6-18); Moorside 43 (Mark Adrian 4-11), Ashton 127-7 (Saqib Jalil 56no); Royton 89 (Bradley Flint 4-22), Heyside 91-5; Stayley 116 (Paul Dale 45no, Jamie Sutherland-Pownall 45, David Ward 6-30), Saddleworth 168 (Richard Jones 49).