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By the Barest of Margins! Somerset Over 50’s Win Thriller
Somerset Cricket Foundation’s Over 50s First Eleven hosted their counterparts from Durham in the Quarter-Finals of the ECB County Championship at Midsomer Norton Cricket Club last Sunday (10th August).
In sweltering conditions, Durham captain, Calvin Stephenson, won the toss and elected to give his formidable batting line-up (which boasted four former First Class cricketers) first use of a dry but good looking surface.
Two of those ex-pros, Andrew Pratt and Shaun Birbeck, set proceedings off in confident fashion before Somerset’s Gary Bennett (Minehead CC) produced an unplayable delivery that sent Birbeck’s off-stump cartwheeling behind him. Soon after that, Bennett made no mistake in holding on to a steepling return catch offered up by Pratt, leaving both openers back in the pavilion with the visitors’ 50 not yet on the board.
Then, just at the point when Matthew Dench (24) and Quentin Hughes (25) were consolidating the Durham innings, both men fell in quick succession to Brian Stone (Trull CC) and Neil Hendy (Wellington CC) respectively.
Thereafter, thanks to the efforts of Stone, Hendy, Jon Dalwood (Chard CC) and Martin Cox (Midsomer Norton CC), the home side picked-up wickets at regular intervals. With his first ball, Cox had Alan Unsworth smartly stumped by Jon Kerslake (Taunton CC), before the same pair combined again to remove the dangerous Ash Thorpe for a well-made 40 from 55 balls.
Durham’s lower order struggled to find any real momentum, and when the returning Jason Squire (Taunton Deane CC) nicked-off Jeff Tudor (14), the visitors had been dismissed in the 43rd over for what appeared to be a below par 176.
Somerset’s bowlers had all shown commendable discipline and also received some excellent support in the field. Cox finished with superb figures of 3 for 15 from his 6 overs, with Stone and Bennet bagging 2 wickets a-piece.
The job was only half done, though, and similarly tight bowling from Durham’s opening pair of Unsworth and Hughes meant that chasing down the 177 runs for victory was never likely to be a straightforward task.
Alarm bells started ringing when the prolific Mark Sage (Timsbury CC) and Cox were both bowled by Unsworth, and that sound only got louder when Matt Kearsey (Lympsham & Belvedere CC) poked a catch back to Hughes, leaving Somerset 42 for 3 after 14 overs.
Nevertheless, the home side’s skipper Kevin Parsons (Taunton St Andrews CC) was on 18 and looking in fine touch. But when he found himself on the wrong end of a tight leg before decision and Rob Moysey (Wellington CC) was run out immediately afterwards by Pratt, the home side had slipped to 56 for 5.
Worse was to follow, as Dalwood, Stone and the Talismanic Bennett all fell in quick succession, which left the Somerset reply in complete disarray at 74 for 8 after 29 overs. What followed will live long in the memory of the players and the large contingent of supporters alike.
When all hope seemed lost, the 9th Wicket pair of Hendy and Squire embarked on an astonishing counterattack – with Squire initially the chief aggressor and Hendy content to play sensibly at the other end.
A partnership of 61 had taken the score to 135 in the 40th over when Squire (21) was out to a tremendous tumbling catch by Birbeck off the bowling of Thorpe. With a solitary wicket remaining, the target still 42 runs away and time running out, surely that was game over? No, not a bit of it!
The moment had arrived for Kerslake to play his part with the bat, as he joined Hendy in the middle for one last throw of the dice. By now, Hendy was completely “in the zone,” and anything slightly off-line was being dispatched. He reached his half century with a towering six off Thorpe into the trees guarding the mid-wicket boundary, and repeated the dose with an even bigger blow in the following over.
Suddenly, 25 runs off the last 3 overs had become 4 needed from the final 6 deliveries. A scampered single and a hard-run two to the long-off “pocket” meant the scores were level with 3 balls remaining.
A quick discussion with the umpires brought confirmation that, if things remained the same, Somerset would emerge victorious by virtue of having lost one fewer wicket than their opponents.
Hendy duly saw out the rest of the over and left the field to a hero’s ovation, finishing unbeaten on 65 from 78 balls ( 7 x 4s & 2 x 6s) – a truly magnificent, match-winning knock.
Meanwhile, the Durham team were left in utter disbelief at what had just happened to them. Impressive bowling figures for Unsworth (3-24), Thorpe (2-26) and left-arm spinner, John Sample (2 for 28) were of little consolation.
So, by the barest of margins, Somerset’s Over 50s had lived to fight another day! They now face Yorkshire (a longtime powerhouse of “Seniors” cricket) in the Semi-Final, which is due to be played at North Perrott CC on Sunday, 24th August, where any supporters are very welcome to attend.
