Norden out of the LCB Knockout

Norden slipped out of the LCB Knockout on Sunday, defeated by Lancashire County League side Glossop in a third round tie.

Several cars around the ground sported stickers for Dale (the football team that is) and it was ironically a guy called Dale who effectively ended Stags’ hopes.

Home professional Lee Dale, who didn’t bowl, hit 92 runs despite struggling with a leg injury, then George Dyson swept up the loose deliveries to compile an unbeaten 47 which included 10 off the first three balls of the 45th over as he saw his side over the line.

Norden suffered an enormous blow in the third over when Daniel Salpietro chased a delivery down the legside and touched it on for wicket-keeper Dale Pennington to take the catch.
Simon Harman and Ash Gowers pushed the score along, but boundaries were few and far between, and in one spell Stags went eight overs without finding the borders.

Harman survived a strong appeal for a catch behind, and another when he just made it home to avoid being run out from a direct hit.

At the 25 over mark Norden were on 89 for one, and the next eight overs generally saw the bowlers on top.

Gowers was on 57 when bowled by Cameron Ball, but the runs had started to flow better again as skipper Simon North joined Harman in what was going to become a late chase for runs.

Stags were on 179 for two when the ground, earlier blazed in sunshine, was hit by a frightening strong wind and huge hailstones.

Tea was taken early and Stags went back on for the final four overs of their allocated 45.
Harman soon went, stumped by Pennington for 92, and North was caught off the final ball of the innings as Norden ended on 211 for four.

Was it enough? A local character called Erik the Viking felt the par score was 230, and so it proved in the end.

The first three overs of the reply brought only seven runs, but a wayward over from Dean Lord produced 20 runs for Glossop.

It wasn’t until the 14th over, with 63 on the board, that Norden gained a breakthrough when North bowled Pennington for 14.

Dale provided the aggression, but he was third out on 132 when he skied a delivery from Steve Wild and saw Salpietro take a good catch.

His 92 included 8 fours and five sixes.

The scoring rate had dropped before Dale’s departure and Norden picked up another wicket when Alex Coates hit a return catch to Wild.

Will Hargreaves was bowled by Salpietro with 196 on the board and only 13 balls left, and for a short time Stags looked slight favourites.

Martin Smith went for nine in his final over, Matt Sonczak slamming him for an out of the ground six, and it left Glossop needing seven off the final over from Salpietro.

The first delivery was down the legside and hit for two, the second was down leg and smacked for four, and the scores were level. The third was also down leg and hammered away for four by Dyson to the delight of his team-mates.

Norden
S Harman st Penningon b Ball 92
D Salpietro c Pennington b Usher 0
A Gowers b Ball 57
S North c Kenyon b Ball 45
S Pimm not out 12
Extras 5
Total (for 4 wkts) 211
Bowling: Usher 9-2-18-1; Hunt 4-0-32-0; Coates 9-0-23-0; Hargreaves 9-0-37-0; Kenyon 7-0-44-0; Ball 7-0-52-3.

Glossop
D Pennington b North 14
L Dale c Salpietro b Wild 92
O Kenyon c Harman b Wild 11
G Dyson not out 47
A Coates c and b Wild 13
W Hargreaves b Salpietro 17
M Sonczak not out 7
Extras 14
Total (for 5 wkts) 215
Bowling: Smith 9-3-38-0; Lord 2-0-22-0; North 7-0-36-1; Malik 9-1-50-0; Salpietro 8.3-2-27-1; Wild 9-1-39-3.

This was Steve Wild’s last match of the season for Norden. He goes off to Australia on Friday.