2nd XI - Morpeth Take Derby Honours

Saturday brought enough respite from the downpours and showers for Morpeth Seconds to travel up the A1 to meet the old foe, Alnwick. Despite the heavy rain and thunder on Friday evening, the pitch looked firm and hard, and Morpeth welcomed back Paul Jackson, Steven Quince and Michael Elliott to the starting line up. Maxted won the toss and decided to make first use of the wicket and bat.

Wailes and Cowell began the innings for Morpeth with steadfast defence and caution as Straker, the Alnwick opening bowler recently recruited from Shilbottle following their demise, bowled a tight line with some prodigious swing movement. The runs could have been scored against the other opening bowler, Guy, unfortunately most of these deliveries were so far down leg side the proverbial barge pole would have been needed to connect with them.

So Morpeth progressed steadily to 23 with out loss after 10 overs, when disaster struck. Wailes was bowled by one that jagged back from Straker and this started a mini collapse. In just the next over McDonald, who had replaced Guy, had Poxton trapped LBW which was harsh on the in form second team batsmen, as the ball pitched well outside of leg, and the number 3 proceeded to blast the cover off the ball in deflecting it on to his pads. Nevertheless Morpeth were 25 for 2.

Cowell then proceeded to make a rare error in judgement and left one that jagged back from Straker, the ball just clipping the top off of stump. The decision to bat first did not look so wise with the scoreboard reading 26 for 3. However, the wily Elliott and Loz “the wall” Brown then came together in an effective partnership. Keeping the good balls out and putting the bad balls away for boundaries or 3’s, on what was proving to be a rather slow outfield. Elliott in particular played some delightful shots through mid on and to the mid-wicket region.

Just when Morpeth looked to be establishing themselves for a decent total, Brown also succumbed to an error as he shuffled to far down the track and missed a straight one, being bowled by Woods for 19. Much to the bowler’s delight, who promptly gave Brown a send off in a rather childish manner becoming of the Tom Daley look a like.

Bede Craigs didn’t trouble the scorers much as he chipped a catch to Eeles at mid-wicket and was gone for 4. Morpeth were reeling at 65 for 5 after 25 overs and posting a decent total looked well beyond the team, unless the lower order which had been much under utilised recently could come to the party. Quince had joined Elliott and they began to forge a useful partnership with Elliott accumulating runs and Quince getting off the mark with a delightful back foot cover drive. Quince continued to look for the boundary when the opportunity was presented and these two batsmen pushed Morpeth up towards 100.

Then with Elliott looking set for his first fifty of the season he unleashed an agricultural heave across the line and missed everything, being bowled by McDonald. Fortunately this didn’t prompt another flurry of wickets as Jackson strode confidently to the crease and the match changing partnership was started. Both batsmen were able to accelerate the scoring rate and Quince hit a couple of sixes to the leg side as the fifty partnership was quickly brought up. Morpeth had brought up their 150 and looked good to push on in the last few overs, but then a mix up between the batsmen led to Quince being run out for 29.

Tom Wright tried to work the quick singles and give as much strike to Jackson as possible, which worked for a while before he was bowled by Straker. Nick Rose provided little resistance and was bowled for none, leaving Jackson to finish the innings unbeaten on 46 and the Morpeth total on 174 for 9. Maxted was happy with the total as he sent the team to a well deserved tea with the message that if they bowled in good areas they would be winning another game.

Wright and Jackson had obviously listened to their captains words and began the Alnwick reply with exemplary control of line and length. Wright struck first removing Straker who decided to leave one that jagged back, and then Jackson had the woeful Woods caught by Wailes behind the stumps after attempting to flick the Morpeth seamer to the leg side. Alnwick were struggling on 11 for 2 after 12 overs. There was no let up from Wright and he snaffled his second wicket as the Alnwick keeper flashed outside off and could only nick one through to Cowell, who despite a juggle clung on to the catch. Woods senior and Guy then settled in for a test innings, attempting to block everything and the scoreboard stagnating. Morpeth were happy to sit tight and bowl good areas. Which eventually paid dividends as Jackson had Guy trapped LBW as he looked to manoeuvre a good ball on off stump to the legside.

Maxted then gave his opening bowlers a rest and brought on Rose and Craigs. Rose grabbing an early wicket as Alnwick skipper, Eeles, could only make contact with the splice to a short pitched delivery and the bowler gleefully grabbed the chance. Craigs bowled with good discipline and beat the outside of the bat regularly, but was probably too good for the Alnwick players. With the game again drifting to sleep as Alnwick showed no inclination to chase the total they had been set, Woods senior suddenly remembered that he was a number 3 and unfurled a couple of aggressive shots off Rose. However, in trying to repeat the trick the Morpeth quick got his revenge and knocked over the batsmen’s middle stump. Alnwick were 62 for 6.

A useful partnership between Penny and the Abercrombie provided some resistance to Morpeth’s march towards 20 points. But the introduction of Elliott to bowl his flighted deliveries soon reaped rewards as Penny was excellently caught by Quince running in from the deep square leg boundary. Roxburgh and Abercrombie weren’t about to throw away their wickets and played well with more aggression and skill than had been demonstrated by the upper order.

The two batsmen saw Alnwick over the 100 mark and collected a batting bonus point. As the overs ticked away Alnwick couldn’t win the game, with 65 required off the last 8 overs, but they could deny Morpeth full points unless Maxted could find a way of picking up the last 3 wickets. He turned to his premium strike bowlers in Wright and Jackson, and with Wright’s first ball the captain took a skied catch running round from point as Abercrombie attempted to hit over the cover region. Wright was fired up and two balls later clattered in to the stumps of the number 10 batsmen, to leave Morpeth needing a solitary wicket.

The penultimate over of the innings brought the wicket and twenty points, as Roxburgh pushed Jackson towards mid off. Maxted reacted quickly to collect the ball and throw to Wailes who did the necessary at the strikers end to remove the bails and run out McDonald with out scoring. Morpeth won by 48 runs and secured the maximum 20 points.

Man of the match: Paul Jackson for an excellent 46 not out and bowling figures of 2-21.
 

Match Report: Chris Maxted
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