DUO DELIVER LATE IN THE DAY TO EARN STAFFS AWAY VICTORY
CALLUM Leese and Jack Hammond guided Staffordshire Development XI to victory over Wales in their latest North of England Cup encounter.
Staffs had opened the competition with a win against Cheshire at Moddershall & Oulton - and appeared to be cruising to a second success at St Asaph on Wednesday after being set 245 to win from their 50 overs.
Openers Tom Moulton and Matthew Morris put on 147 for the first wicket before being parted in the 35th over... and that started a middle-order wobble which almost put paid to Staffs’ chances of winning.
A valiant fightback from Wales left Staffordshire needing 42 off the final four overs, but their hopes took another blow when Rahul Kaushal was dismissed for 21.
The equation boiled down to
36 off three overs, but Leese and Hammond kept cool heads to ensure Staffordshire’s excellent early work with the bat didn’t go to waste.
The 48th over yielded 13 runs, the 49th went for 18, before Leese hit the first two balls of the last over to the boundary to secure a four-wicket triumph.
Leese walked off unbeaten on 24 from 12 balls, with Hammond contributing 19 not out off eight deliveries.
Jason Foulkes and Matthew Humphreys both took two wickets for Wales, who had earlier seen a quartet of batsmen impress in their innings.
James Claybrook made 32 at the top of the order, before a fifth-wicket stand of 72 between Duncan Midgley (47) and William Ryan (37) helped them to 163-4.
The home side fell to 199-8, but Joe Howell’s unbeaten 33 ensured they closed their 50 overs on 244-9.
James Cox claimed 3-41 for Staffs, while fellow seamer Sam Atkinson captured 2-27 from nine overs.
Moulton and Morris then set about chasing down that target - and both hit half-centuries after the interval.
Morris was the first to go for 61, which contained nine fours, before Zen Malik and Mahaaz Ahmed both headed back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.
Moulton had reached 91, hitting 11 boundaries, before he departed, and when skipper Peter Wilshaw was accounted for, Staffs were 200-5.
Kausal was out with the score on 208, which looked to have finished the visitors’ chances of securing victory. But as Wales’ hopes of securing an unlikely win grew, Leese and Hammond put Staffordshire back on track.
The duo combined swift running with some clean hitting to see Staffs to their target with four balls remaining and maintain their unbeaten start to this season’s competition, which also features Cheshire, Northumberland, Cumbria and Shropshire.