Tolley brilliance
Bentgate while leaders win away
ANYBODY who had the good fortune to be at Stag Park on Sunday afternoon will have left having witnessed surely one of the best games of cricket ever to be played at the ground.
A truly magnificent innings of 177 from Josh Tolley earned Norden a tie from a game that looked to be well out of their reach for the majority of the run-chase after the visitors, Walsden, had racked up an imposing 292 for 3 from their 50 overs.
Tolley left the field to a standing ovation from spectators both outside and inside the clubhouse when he departed with just three balls left and three runs required.
It was a record score for a Norden domestic amateur player and the fourth highest score ever by an amateur in the Lancashire League.
His innings contained 19 fours and seven sixes and took Norden to the brink of an unlikely victory. But as it appeared he had hit yet another six and finished the game, Cameron Hanson leapt on the cover boundary and took an excellent catch.
Dean Lord then hit two from his first ball to tie the scores but a dot ball followed and when Lord pushed into the covers and ran from the final ball, the throw to the bowler’s end was just in time and Lord was short of his crease.
There was debate about whether Walsden professional, Jomel Warrican, had the ball in his hand as the wicket was broken but the umpire believed Lord was out and the match was tied.
Walsden’s innings also saw a century for an amateur opener as Nick Barker amassed 119*, his second successive league century. The fireworks were provided at the end of the innings by Joe Gale who struck 58* from just 29 balls as Norden’s seamers in particular were harshly dealt with.
The 22 overs of seam bowled by the home side combined for 0 for 164 and this, coupled with some poor fielding, helped contribute to Walsden’s total.
Ashar Zaidi was the only wicket-taker for Norden and he finished with a very respectable 3 for 51.
Hashum Malik fell early in the reply but a century stand between Tolley and Greg Butterworth kept Norden in the hunt.
The run-rate was starting to creep up, however, and when Butterworth fell to Warrican it seemed like much would rest on Zaidi’s shoulders.
He hit 40 from 33 balls when he clipped a legside delivery to Majid Khan on the square-leg boundary and Walsden thought they had the game won.
There were still 102 runs required at that stage and just 12 overs to get them in, but Tolley was not done yet.
Even though wickets began to fall around him, Norden’s opener took 18 runs from the 47th over and all of a sudden the Stags had a real chance.
There were 10 from the 48th and 14 from the 49th but the dot ball from the final ball of that over kept Tolley off strike.
However, Stephen Pimm hit the first ball of the final over for six over long-on and then pushed a single for Tolley to try and finish the job. That he couldn’t quite was clearly of huge disappointment as he trudged from the field but hopefully, once the dust has settled, he will take huge pride in one of the greatest innings ever played in Norden colours.
Looking back on Friday night’s T20 game with Crompton, it seems implausible that it would not have provided the highest level of entertainment for the weekend. Crompton got off to the flyer of all flyers and raced along to 67 without loss from the first three overs.
At that point it looked like Norden might be chasing something stratospheric, but Zaidi had his opposite number
beaten when they travelled to Colne’s Horsfield ground.
The visitors won the toss and batted first, but they struggled to get to grips with Geeth Kumara’s bowling and could only muster 143 all out, Ben Roscoe top-scoring with 26. Kumara finished with 8-23 off his 11 overs, five of which were maidens.
Kumara then proved instrumental with the bat as his unbeaten 37 saw Colne over the winning line in the 39th over.
The Great Harwood v Accrington derby went the way of the home side in an entertaining match at Cliffe Park on Sunday that yielded plenty of runs for both sides. Great Harwood won the toss and opted to bat first, making 279-9 off their 50 overs.
In reply, the visitors made a fist of it, the innings underpinned by Ben Gorton’s 68, Hayhurst’s 43 and 28 off 15 balls from Yousuf Ali late in the day. But when Hayhurst was dismissed in the final over,
Accrington had fallen just short, all out for 254.
Church and Oswaldtwistle enjoyed a comfortable victory against Nelson on home turf. Nelson won the toss and opted to bat first, making just 132 as no less than six batsmen all failed to score. Church knocked off the required runs inside 33 overs, Levi Wolfenden scoring 30 and Sagar Vijay Trivedi 53.
Rishton were on the receiving end at Crompton, where the home side won the toss and batted first, running up a huge 335 The visitors were dismissed for 138 in reply, Richard Rostron top-scoring with 39.