Rochdale crash to defeat at Norden

The title of the latest Bond film - Skyfall – came to mind as Rochdale crashed to defeat at Norden’s Woodhouse Lane ground on Saturday.

Four batsmen went for big hits but only managed to get height instead of length and saw fielders take the ball as it dropped from way on high.

Perhaps the kindest way of describing Rochdale’s performance is that it was poor.

They have a decent points advantage over bottom placed Werneth, and only one team will be relegated from the Premiership this season, but the lads from Redbrook could find themselves in deep trouble unless they get out of a losing rut.

One of their few bright spots came when Jon Henderson took an early catch to dismiss Daniel Salpietro with 11 on the board.

But there was little for them to celebrate later as Simon Harman scored 88 and Dan Buckley chipped in with a good to watch 25 as Norden took their tally to 192.

That score looked a tall order for Rochdale, especially after Kelton Aughey had launched a delivery from Chris Humphreys towards the clouds to be caught on the drop by Salpietro.

Four for one became 26 for two when Henderson got a leading edge when facing Martin Smith and became the first of Steve Pimm’s four catches.

Rochdale hopes were pinned on a decent partnership between Wes Lansdale and Shane Wornes, but with 19 to his name Lansdale swung to leg and was caught by Pimm who positioned himself perfectly under the long drop.

Brown was caught by Pimm without scoring, and the game was well and truly up when Wornes produced a lofted shot to be caught by – Pimm.

It was 47 for five and skipper Daz Cryer had what looked the hopeless task of trying to pull the innings round.

He was on six when he fell to a slips catch by Chris Humphreys, and one run later Derek Faulkner, who was joint top scorer with 33, had his stumps rattled by Ollie Makin.

Lee Grogan was caught by Salpietro from yet another skier, but the tail end did wag a bit. James O’Neill slammed Steve Wild to the square leg boundary to be caught by Pimm at chest height before Dale Highton and Jack Duffy featured in a last wicket stand of 31.

Duffy reached 23 before Makin took a catch. Highton was unbeaten on 15.

Earlier in the day several Norden batsmen had made starts without building on them and Rochdale could perhaps take some honour from restricting the home side to a score below 200.

Top scorer Harman has now amassed more than 1,000 runs in league, Wood Cup, T20, and Lancashire Knockout matches, and there is still a long way to go this season.

Norden

S Harman lbw Brown 88

D Salpietro c Henderson b Brown 10

O Makin st O’Neill b Highton 13

H Fitton c O’Neill b Lansdale 6

S Pimm c and b Lansdale 16

M Williams b Lansdale 6

D Buckley c Faulkner b Highton 25

H Malik c Wornes b Faulkner 15

C Humphreys lbw Lansdale 7

M Smith not out 1

S Wild c Henderson b Faulkner 0

Extras 5

Total 192

Bowling: Brown 6-1-33-2; Highton 14-5-60-2; Faulkner 4.5-0-19-2; Grogan 11-0-33-0; Lansdale 13-2-46-4.

Rochdale

J Henderson c Pimm b Smith 11

K Aughey c Salpietro b Humphreys 1

W Lansdale c Wild b Smith 19

S Wornes c Pimm b Malik 1

L Brown c Pimm b Humphreys 0

D Faulkner b Makin 23

D Cryer c Harman b Makin 6

D Highton not out 15

L Grogan c Salpietro b Malik 1

J O’Neill c Pimm b Wild 7

J Duffy c Makin b Wild 23

Extras 9

Total 116

Bowling: Smith 8-1-22-2; C Humphreys 8-2-19-2; Makin 7-0-26-2; Malik 5-2-8-2; Wild 3.3-0-19-2; H Fitton 2-0-22-0.

Norden made it a maximum points weekend when they defeated Heywood at Crimble on Sunday.

Heywood passed the 50 run mark without loss before crashing to 98 all out.

Ollie Makin took six for 23 and Hashum Malik 4-16.

Daniel Salpietro scored an unbeaten 57 as Norden went on to win by nine wickets.