At Norton Hill, table-topping Stanton Drew chose to bat first against a depleted Methodist side and were quickly pummelling the boundary rope.
Rob Bailey and Matthew Morris spent the first hour repeatedly beating the hosts’ nine men, and had added a thumping 180 runs by the time the Methodists’ final two players arrived to bolster the fielding effort after twenty overs.
The visitors’ openers kept up the onslaught though and had added a massive 280 by the time the first wicket finally fell in the 29th over – Morris, expertly caught by the sprightly John Baker for a well-made 96.
Bailey, by now well past the hundred-mark, continued to heap up runs, despite wickets now falling at the other end. Finally, with just a few balls to go, he picked out the safe hands of Alex Nash, just one run short of his double-century, giving Stuart Green, (3–57), his much-prized wicket. The mammoth final total of 356–5 saw an away win virtually sealed, even before tea had been taken.
After the break, the Methodists set out to see if they could survive for the full forty overs of their innings. Initially things didn’t look good, with three wickets going down to Martin Mohan for just seventeen runs in the first nine overs, but a solid seventy-run partnership between Wayne Higgins (52) and Stuart Green (27), ensured that the home side did not collapse in a heap.
With the opposition now bowling spin from both ends, James Green (23) saw the hosts into three figures and, although he was dismissed with a short while to go, the Methodists were able to reach the end of their overs with three wickets left, having posted a reasonable 141 – Stanton Drew just sneaking home by 215 runs!
Daniel Shearn