Norden hit the buffers at Greenfield

Norden hit the buffers and well and truly came off the rails when they entertained Greenfield in a JW Lees Pennine League match on Saturday.

Greenfield totalled 193 for eight, and some home players expressed the view that they should have been up to 250 or more on the wicket used.

This made it all the more a mystery as to why Norden stumbled and fumbled to 87 all out, with only professional Michael Price (45) reaching double figures.

From the sidelines it looked like Norden’s poorest display with the bat for a long time, even accounting for a couple of debatable decisions.

Rehan Udwadia was first to go with the score on 13, and Simon North quickly followed, both caught by Alex Bychkov.

Price did his best to hold the innings together, and for a time he had the help of Ash Gowers, but the latter never looked really comfortable and with eight scored he heard the sound of falling timber.

It sparked a late Whit procession, and from being 59 for two Stags found themselves on 60 for six.

Steve Pimm, Greg Tattersall and Martin Smith failed to score, and all slim hope vanished when Price was bowled.

The rest was a case of waiting for the inevitable whoops of joy from the Greenfield team which might have been underestimated as it gave Stags their biggest thrashing for some time.

Bychkov finished with three catches to his name to add to the 104 he had earlier scored – no doubting who was man of the match.

Hayes (30) and Ashworth (25) boosted the Greenfield total, but otherwise wickets went cheaply.

Both Chris Gill and James Muirhead charged Nick Fairchild and were stumped by Gowers, the other wickets to fall being shared by Simon North and Martin Smith who, with three for 45, had his best return of the season to date.

Greenfield

A Bychkov c Malik b Smith 104
C Gill st Gowers b Fairchild 10
J Muirhead st Gowers b Fairchild 5
A Hayes b North 30
J Shaw lbw Smith 0
A Robinson lbw North 1
J Hepworth c Tattersall b North 6
M Ashworth st Gowers b Smith 25
M Jones not out 0
Extras 12
Total (for 8 wickets) 193
Bowling; Hartley 8-0-28-0; Malik 15-4-30-0; Fairchild 6-0-42-2; North 11-1-42-3; Smith 10-0-45-3.

Norden

M Price b Hayes 45
R Udwadia c Bychkov b Robinson 5
S North c Bychkov b Robinson 0
A Gowers b Hayes 8
S Pimm c Bychkov b Hayes 0
G Tattersall lbw Muirhead 0
M Smith lbw Muirhead 0
D Bebb not out 5
H Malik c Ashworth b Muirhead 1
N Fairchild lbw Hayes 4
C Hartley b Hayes 0
Extras 19
Total 87
Bowling: Robinson 6-1-17-2; Jones 5-1-14-0; Hayes 10-1-30-5; Muirhead 9-2-16-3.