Chapman cooks
ROCHDALE followers were treated to the familiar three course fare at Accrington on Saturday.
Collapse for starter, a main course of recovery and finally the sweet taste of victory – and the undisputed star was Ben Chapman who followed his 67 by blowing away Accrington’s late order.
This time Rochdale found themselves at 8 for 3 after being invited to bat by the home team on a pitch best described as dodgy.
What made matters worse at that stage was that one of the three was professional Ed Moore, a century maker the night before but left contem- plating the fickle nature of the game here after edging to slip without scoring.
The repair team on this occasion consisted of Chapman and Michael Harling who put on 122 for the fourth wicket, and their performance cannot be understated given the poor quality of the batting surface.
Chapman is a burly fellow and normally plays accordingly, beefing the ball about here and there, but the circumstances here required a degree of watchfulness and Chapman supplied it. Harling, on the other hand, is naturally more patient so was well suited to the role needed on this occasion and gradually they restored the balance, somehow negotiating deliveries that either flew through head high or kept low.
Both drove anything overpitched beautifully, in Chapman’s case, three straight drives going out of the ground and it was something of a surprise when Harling lofted Graeme Seddon meekly to mid off.
Chapman had passed his half century by this time, but he perished soon after for 67.
The quality of his, and Harling’s, innings was underlined by the rest of Dale’s order struggling to score, or even survive.
Still they managed to muster enough to post a challenging 185, a total most considered eminently defendable.
And so it proved. Steve Oddy did for the top order, claiming three early wickets, and with Tom Avery chipping in Accrington were sinking at 38 for 4 and in need of a Chapman/ Harling type of rescue.
Home professional Janith Liyanage and Seddon hinted at providing it, but a sublime piece of bowling by Will Avery, who lured Liyange too far forward for Jamie Roche to complete the stumping, halted the recovery.
In the process, any residual Accrington hopes were removed as their tail was exposed to Chapman, who, bowling full and straight, completed for him a memorable day. Rochdale J Avery c Bancroft b Clarke ............................. 1 J Pilling b Hayhurst ............................................ 7 E Moore c Hayhurst b Clarke ......................... 0 B Chapman c Bancroft b Grimshaw ........ 67 M Harling c Seddon b Grimshaw ............. 42 A Dawson b Grimshaw ................................. 12 J Duffy b Liyanage .............................................. 1 T Avery c Hayhurst b Liyanage .................. 10 J Roche b Liyanage ............................................ 2 S Oddy not out .................................................... 2 W Avery c Hayhurst b Liyanage ................... 1 Extras ..................................................................... 37 Total, 48.3 overs .............................................. 185 Bowling: Clarke 10 4 20 2; Hayhurst 5 2 14 1; Liyanage 8.3 1 40 4; Brown 8 1 28 0: Jakeman 2 0 8 0; Kasser 8 0 32 0; Grimshaw 7 1 35 3. Accrington R Hussain c Dawson b Oddy ....................... 10 J Clarke c Roche b T Avery .............................. 4 A Jakeman c Chapman b b Oddy ............... 8 K Grimshaw b Oddy .......................................... 3 J Liyanage st Roche b W Avery .................. 14 G Seddon b Chapman ................................... 16 A Greenwood c Roche b W Avery ............... 1 S Bancroft b Chapman ..................................... 0 J Hayhurst b Chapman ..................................... 1 R Kasser b Chapman ......................................... 0 Extras ..................................................................... 26 Total, 30 overs .................................................... 88 Bowling: Oddy 10 1 38 3; T Avery 9 2 25 1; Chapman 6 3 14 4; W Avery 5 3 6 2. Rochdale, 12 points, beat Accrington, 0 points, by 97 runs.
Rochdale moved into the third round of the Lancacsher Cricket Federation KO Trophy with a five-wicket victory at Lowerhouse on Sunday.
Dale restricted the home team to 176 for 9 from their 45 overs, before their reply was superbly marshalled by Ed Moore who, with the assistance of Ben Chapman and Andrew Dawson saw his team home with over seven overs to spare.
Moore’s innings comprised his usual mix of graceful driving, powerful pulling and cheeky improvisation, and he more than made up for his failure the previous day.
Rochdale will now travel to Penrith for the next round on July 1st.
Lowerhouse 176 for 9 (Erasmus 57). Rochdale 180 for 5 ( Moore 73 not out, dawson 32 not out, Chapman 30).