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Sun 28 Apr 2013
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187/8
Victory for Westhoughton in Final Ball Thriller
Seb Miller28 Apr 2013 - 22:25
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He's not a keeper anymore.....
Northern vs Westhoughton in the National Knock Out is a game players and spectators will remember for years to come as the game came down to one final ball to decide who would advance to the next round.
Prior to all this drama, Westhoughton captain Rob Houghton had once again won the toss and elected to bat, but with the away side 17-2 with Rob and Dan Naylor out, this decision looked questionable. Kieran Paisley lead a mini counter attack (19 in 16) before being caught. This left Atiq Uz-Zaman and Rob Brown (both 58) to rebuild and share a partnership of 88, over the course of over four hours (due to a 2 hour and 20 minute rain break) taking the score from 40 to 128. Wickets continued to fall for the rest of the innings as Westhoughton reached 187-8 from their 36 overs.
In response, Northern got off to a flying start reaching 40-0 inside 6 overs. The first wicket fell on 58 when Martin Woods (2-33 from 7 overs) bowled Walling. Another wicket fell just four runs later thanks to a sharp piece of fielding from Atiq. Woody then took his second wicket with Northern on 80-3, but after only 16 overs they had plenty of time to continue on their way. This is what happened as Lucas (74) and J.Cole (31) shared a partnership of 56 for the 4th wicket and looked to be guiding Northern home to victory. The vital breakthrough came from Matt Fanning (3-39 from 7) and soon Northern were losing regular wickets as the run rate began to rise. Thanks to tight bowling from Nathan Blair (0-31 from 8) and Atiq (1-26 from 7), Northern went into the final over needing 7 to win. Atiq bowled the first five balls, only conceding two runs.
What followed can only be described as ''you had to be their to believe it''. The number 8 batter hit the ball towards the boundary for a 6, before Matt Trow palmed the ball back into play. The final result? 1 run being scored and Westhoughton winning by 3 runs and securing their place in the next round of the NKO. This is a game that will live long in the memory as a youthful Westhoughton side overcame the odds to secure a dramatic victory.
Time and date for the next fixture at TBC at this stage.
Prior to all this drama, Westhoughton captain Rob Houghton had once again won the toss and elected to bat, but with the away side 17-2 with Rob and Dan Naylor out, this decision looked questionable. Kieran Paisley lead a mini counter attack (19 in 16) before being caught. This left Atiq Uz-Zaman and Rob Brown (both 58) to rebuild and share a partnership of 88, over the course of over four hours (due to a 2 hour and 20 minute rain break) taking the score from 40 to 128. Wickets continued to fall for the rest of the innings as Westhoughton reached 187-8 from their 36 overs.
In response, Northern got off to a flying start reaching 40-0 inside 6 overs. The first wicket fell on 58 when Martin Woods (2-33 from 7 overs) bowled Walling. Another wicket fell just four runs later thanks to a sharp piece of fielding from Atiq. Woody then took his second wicket with Northern on 80-3, but after only 16 overs they had plenty of time to continue on their way. This is what happened as Lucas (74) and J.Cole (31) shared a partnership of 56 for the 4th wicket and looked to be guiding Northern home to victory. The vital breakthrough came from Matt Fanning (3-39 from 7) and soon Northern were losing regular wickets as the run rate began to rise. Thanks to tight bowling from Nathan Blair (0-31 from 8) and Atiq (1-26 from 7), Northern went into the final over needing 7 to win. Atiq bowled the first five balls, only conceding two runs.
What followed can only be described as ''you had to be their to believe it''. The number 8 batter hit the ball towards the boundary for a 6, before Matt Trow palmed the ball back into play. The final result? 1 run being scored and Westhoughton winning by 3 runs and securing their place in the next round of the NKO. This is a game that will live long in the memory as a youthful Westhoughton side overcame the odds to secure a dramatic victory.
Time and date for the next fixture at TBC at this stage.
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