How can you not be enthralled by this tie, asks Steve
THERE’S an old American adage that a tie is like kissing your sister – an unpleasant experience to be avoided at all costs.
But Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes doesn’t buy into that, claiming he was enthralled by his side’s dramatic One-Day Cup clash with Northamptonshire on Wednesday that ended dead level.
In truth, Northants should have cruised to victory, perfectly poised in their chase of 278 at 198-3 after 39 overs – thanks largely to Rob Newton’s maiden List A century.
But Newton holing out to long-on, Alex Wakely’s run out and Steven Crook being caught behind turned the tide, as the hosts suddenly needed 14 from the final over.
Adam Rossington paddle-swept two boundaries off Joe Leach but – requiring two from the final delivery – he couldn’t connect and had to settle for a bye to wicketkeeper Ben Cox, which left the scores tied.
“It was a really exciting enthralling game,” said Rhodes.“We did really well to get the score we did.
“We thought we were a little above par and at one stage Northants should have won comfortably but we kept going and managed to take something from the game.”
The hosts had the visitors in trouble at 118-5 until Ben Cox’s determined 82 and a handy unbeaten 42 from Ed Barnard set a healthy total of 277-9.
Opener Newton drove and cut well in response before dragging a Jack Shantry ball to long-on on 107 and the 27-year-old admits there was frustration at not finishing the job.
“We feel we’ve outplayed them for 85 overs and a couple of patches have let us down,” he said.
“We should’ve nailed them for 230 or 240 and Adam played a great knock to almost get us over the line but we feel we should have won.”