Norden felt a tad hurt following their defeat by Ormskirk

Norden felt a tad hurt following their defeat by Ormskirk in the Lancashire Cricket Board knockout final played at St Anne's CC on Sunday.

With the Liverpool Competition champions on 137 for five, chasing a winning target of 188, Norden were well in the hunt, but Liam Hurt then took the bowling apart with a master blaster display which brought him 47 runs and the man of the match award.

Hurt smashed six fours and three sixes in his 22-ball knock, and one of those sixes was huge, the ball disappearing in the direction of Blackpool Tower.

With Jonny Glayzer doing his bit at the other end Ormskirk got home with only those five wickets down and a remarkable season for Norden had ended on the wrong note.

There were some questions posed about the Norden performance. Should they have done more in the middle part of the innings? Should they have scored more than they did in the last 10 overs of their innings? Should Martin Smith have started his second spell sooner than he did?

In hindsight the answer was probably yes to all three, but hindsight can be a wonderful thing when it is too late to do anything practically, and overall Norden couldn’t have done much more than they did.

They were up against a class team intent on giving nothing away when in the field, and obviously a team which bats right down the order.

Ormskirk’s bowling was impressive, with that man Hurt starting his run up only a couple of yards from the sightscreen, and Lancashire seconds’ player Nicky Caunce being miserly at the other end.

But Daniel Salpietro and Simon Harman looked unfazed and put on 65 before Harman was bowled by change man Dane Currency for 26.

Salpietro was out 14 runs later, caught behind after snicking a delivery from Jamie Barnes, and Nick Brierley went soon after, the victim of what looked a horrible leg before decision.

The innings had to be rebuilt, and skipper Simon North led the recovery with the help of Ollie Makin, who had 13 to his name when he charged Martyn Farrell, missed the delivery and was stumped.

North moved on to 56, a knock which included a six, but he then got a top edge, skied the ball, and saw bowler Hurt run down the wicket to take the catch on the drop.

It was 159 for five, and a cluster of wickets then fell to make it 167 for eight.

Harvey Fitton was caught for 16, Matthew Williams was caught for three, and Hashum Malik was bowled for nought.

Twenty more runs came before the end of the innings due to some good running between the wickets by Steve Pimm and Dan Buckley, who lost his wicket last ball of the 45 overs when run out going for a second which never looked on.

Had Norden enough runs? Opinion was divided at the break apart from in one corner of the ground where some rather arrogant Ormskirk supporters expressed the opinion that they had only needed to turn up to win the trophy.

Matt Glayzer and Michael Jones gave the reply a good start, with 50 on the board before Jones was caught behind for nine.

Top bat Ian Robinson went the same way four runs later.

Glayzer compiled a good 51 before he was clean bowled by Hashum Malik, and Armstrong was run out for 16 due to a direct hit from Salpietro.

When Knight was caught behind for 26 it was 137 for five and Norden were well in it. But that was when Hurt took over with his powerful batting which made a mess of some bowlers’ analysis.

Norden
S Harman b Currency 26
D Salpietro c Knight b Barnes 38
S North c and b Hurt 56
N Brierley lbw Farrell 2
O Makin st Knight b Farrell 13
H Fitton c J Glayzer b Currency 16
S Pimm not out 13
M Williams c Robinson b Hurt 3
H Malik b Caunce 0
D Buckley run out 5
Extras 15

Total (for 9 wkts) 187

Bowling: Caunce 9-1-27-1; Hurt 9-0-47-2; Barnes 9-0-31-1; Currency 9-1-33-2; Farrell 9-1-41-2.

Ormskirk
M Glayzer b Malik 51
M Jones c Williams b Smith 9
I Robinson c Williams b Malik 6
J Armstrong run out 16
G Knight c Williams b Makin 26
J Glayzer not out 17
L Hurt not out 47
Extras 16

Total (for 5 wkts) 188

Bowling: Smith 7-1-17-1; North 7-0-42-0; Makin 9-1-55-1; Malik 9-1-44-2; Salpietro 5-1-25-0.