Progression for Green in National Cup
YET again Hawk Green faced a difficult weekend of action, on Saturday a title topping clash with Dinting and on Sunday a last 16 battle with Cleator from North Cumbria in the last 16 of the National Village Cup.
On Saturday in what was to be a very tight game of cricket the Hawk Green skipper, Josh Unsworth won the toss and elected to bat, a decision he may have regretted with what was to unfold.
Hawk Green were 160 all out, Ben Littler with 68 and Pete Richards 57. G Draper then hit 34 for the home side but Josh Unsworth took 3-10 and Jordan Henderson 3-20 as Dinting were all out for 132.
On Sunday Cleator were the visitors to Rhode Field and on winning the toss decided to bat, much to the dismay of their huge travelling army – indeed, the crowd reached around 200 at one time and the away supporters were in full voice from the outset.
Their openers, Jamie Rogers and Tom Sharp, faced the Greens usual pair of Jason Downey and Ryan Stringer and they took the score to 19 when Stringer bowled Rogers to be replaced by the very dangerous Darren Clark.
In the next over, Downey had Sharp caught by Ben Littler for 8, 22-2.
Next to the crease was Chris Quin and the pair moved the score effortlessly to 48 when the introduction of Jordan Henderson and Josh Unsworth had a dramatic influence on the outcome of the game.
They stifled the flow of runs and dramatically, as first Henderson had Clark excellently caught on the boundary by Jack Needham for 18, 58-3.
This was to signal a dramatic collapse as Henderson took a further three wickets in seven balls to leave the visitors reeling on 58-6.
Worse was to follow as Unsworth had Quin caught for 17, 62-7, bringing Ian Clarke to the wicket and in partnership with Gary Lilly the pair patiently took the score to 129 when the introduction of Peter Richards was to be the downfall of Clarke, bowled for an excellent 55 and the innings closed on 148.
For the Greens, bowlers Henderson had 4-23 and skipper Unsworth an amazing eight overs with five maidens, 1-4.
The home team’s opening pair, Unsworth and Hampson set about the visitors bowlers with relish both being dismissive of any loose balls and Clark, Cleator’s saviour in last year’s encounter between the sides, was dispatched for 32 off his three overs.
Hampson was first to fall, caught Ian Clark bowled Darren Rooney for 24, 69-1.
Unsworth was joined by Peter Richards and the pair continued the run chase with Unsworth intent on closing down the target as soon as possible.
He was eventually dismissed bowled by Rogers for a fine 48, 92-2, and two more wickets fell on 113 with the dismissal of Jack Needham for 16 and Ben Littler for a duck.
Paul Needham joined Richards at the crease and took the score to 130 before Richards was caught for 34 and Jordan Henderson, next to the crease, silenced the home supporters’ glimmer of hope when he clubbed the first ball he faced for six and victory came for the Green in the 27th over, finishing on 149-6 in a very interesting game.
The victors will now meet the winners of Falkland versus Sessay, away on 23rd July.
Last Thursday the Greens’ T20 team faced Hazel Grove for a place in the Finals day and restricted their visitors to 83-7.
Needing to improve their overall scoring rate, the reply was led by Jordan Henderson who completed the task in exactly five overs of mayhem as Henderson finished on 53 not out in 16 balls and Richards not out on 34 in 14 balls to put the Green into finals day.
Next weekend the Green are at home to Hadfield on the Saturday and away to Broadbottom on the Sunday in the semi final of the Bissenden Cup both 1pm start. ●●DINTING scored a massive 237-9 batting first against Hawk Green seconds. Bradley Holme then hit 38 and Tom Chetwyn 32 but Ethan Tomlinson took 3-32 to help restrict the home side to 134-9.