Final Over Drama

Having tried, and failed, to complete the NKO game between Westhoughton and Tonge on Sunday, the two clubs met again on a Tuesday night at St George's Oval to try and force a result before a bowl out, or even worse the toss of a coin, would decide the victor. Both captains agreed to a 16 over game to give a better chance of producing a result when rain was forecast. What followed came close to rivaling the previous NKO game at Northern in terms of drama.
Having won the toss, Westhoughton captain Rob Houghton chose to bat first, and the decision looked a good one as Atiq Uz-Zaman (48) and Paul Hart (18) put on 54 for the first wicket before Harty was bowled. However, having been 54-0, Westhoughton were soon 56-3 as Dan Naylor (0) and Rob Houghton (1) were both soon back in the pavillion. Atiq soon built a partnership with Charlie Honour (26), before Atiq was dismissed with 95 runs scored after 11 overs. Westhoughton finished on a decent total of 112-8 from their 20 overs, but were disappointed to have scored only 17 runs in their final 5 overs.
In response, Tonge got off to a flying start reaching 50 inside 5 overs, but they did lose two wickets in the process. They continued at a steady pace, but were slowly dropping the run rate as the boundaries dried up thanks to tight bowling from Paul Hart (0-25 from 3, having gone for 18 from his first over), Rob Houghton (1-18 from 3), Kieran Edwards (0-17 from 3) and Matt Fanning (1-9 from 2), alongside the 2-36 from 4 overs Nathan Blair took to.
Tonge were still relatively comfortable when they were 97-4 with three overs remaining, requiring less than 1 an over. However, two overs of 4 and 5 from Kieran and Matt turned the pressure up and left Rob with a tough choice to make. Would he bowl the final over hero from the Northern game, Atiq, and see if history could repeat itself, or introduce Martin Woods into the attack for just one over? Rob went with Woody, and after the first ball went for a wide, it appeared all hope was lost. Another couple of singles followed, and Tonge needed 4 to win from 4 balls. What followed was an incredible moment for Woody who took a hat trick to turn the game on its head and leave Westhoughton on the verge of victory. A rather controversial wide was called, when it may have been called a dead ball on another day, to set up the final ball leaving Tonge 3 to win, but even a 2 would have seen them tie the game. After smashing the ball to long on, Dan Naylor produced a one bounce throw straight over the stumps for Rob Houghton to take the bails off and secure the victory for Westhoughton by 1 run!
The date for the next NKO game is still TBC. Westhoughton 1st XI face Eagley and Horwich, both at home, in the league this weekend.