Napton CC v Offchurch CC

This being the last match in the fixture list before the tour it was good that the weather was very pleasant as it brought out many spectators, including a few past-players and old friends of the club.

Despite the challenges thrown up by the recent weather, Graham and his pitch-prep team provided a decent pitch with not too many surprises in the bounce.

Offchurch won the toss and surprisingly put Napton into bat first. This would perhaps have been Mike’s choice if the coin had fallen his way.
Following the truncated sessions of recent weeks, it was back to 40 overs for each innings.

Mike E & Mike N opened for Napton and put on a half-century partnership before Mike E popped up a simple catch in the 10th over.
Mike N played some solid shots in his inimitable style to move the score along but lost partner Stuart, who had to ‘retire hurt’ with a strained thigh muscle, followed by two more wickets falling quickly and cheaply.
110-3 (plus one retired) after 24 overs.
In the next over Mike N went for a very risky single and was a county-mile out of his ground when the bails hit the ground.
Two more wickets fell quickly and Napton were in a very precarious position of:
121-6 (plus one retired) after 28 overs.
Sam and JP then ‘steadied the ship’ scoring steadily.
When Sam departed George took on the mantle of supporting JP.
George was caught on the very last ball of the innings.
In these latter stages of the innings, JP, Sam and George had managed to help Napton return reasonably respectable figures of:
182-8 (plus one retired) after 40 overs.
Mike Nyren 49 runs 9 boundaries.
Mike Eadon 24 runs 5 boundaries.
John P Eadon 22 runs Not Out 3 boundaries
Sam Sensecall 14 runs 2 boundaries
George Pelter 13 runs 3 boundaries
37 extras.

For many of the away-matches this season it has been required that players take their own teas. This has obviously been carried on from the Covid restrictions of the 2020 & 2021 seasons. It must surely be hoped that all teams will get back to normal next season.
The traditional cricket tea is the bedrock of Sunday Village Cricket.
However, there were no such problems at Napton for this match. The visitors were treated to a veritable feast, courtesy of Kim and Ed.
The table was straining under the weight of the perfectly-cut triangular sandwiches, savoury pastries and sumptuous home-made cakes.

Leaving Offchurch with just a tad over 4.5 runs-per-over for victory, Napton would have their work cut out to keep the score in check.
Extreme frugality by the bowlers would be required.

Captain Mike started the attack with Stuart and Max. He bowled them both straight through their 8 overs each. This turned out to be an inspired decision.

Due to the injury his was carrying, Stuart bowled off just a few paces, but was nonetheless as frugal as usual.
Max’s 2nd over was a wicket-maiden, clean bowling an opener and a catch by Mike E gave him a second wicket.
After Stuart and Max’s combined 16 overs, Offchurch has just 41 runs on the board and had lost 2 wickets. So, just over 2.5 runs per over, well below the required rate.
Max will remember this session for a long time. I suspect in his dotage he will look at his figures of 2-15, perhaps cogitating that if not for the four over-throws they would have looked even better.

In his opening over, James clean-bowled his man in a four-over session that only produced 4 runs for the visitors.

At the half-way stage of their innings Offchurch were 59-3. They had increased their rate slightly to nearly 3 per over but the required rate had increased to over 6 per over.

A fantastic catch by Max on the boundary and another by George gave Mike E wickets 4 & 5.
Wicket 6 fell to a run-out.
Mike took wicket 7 during a 3-over session that returned a wicket in each.
A C&B by George had Offchurch at 94-8 in the 34th over.
In the following over a well-taken catch by James gave Liam a wicket.
A couple of balls later Liam rattled the sticks to end the visitor’s innings.
103-10 after 34.4 overs. Napton win by 79 runs.
Wicket takers:-
Mike Eadon 3 overs 1 Wicket Maiden 3-2
Max Nyren 8 overs 2 Maidens 2-15
Liam Southwick 2.4 overs 2-9
James Pelter 4 overs 2 maidens 1-4
George Pelter 1 over 1-3
1 Run-out

A satisfying win to round off the season.
All catches taken, total commitment around the field and, looking at the list above, some remarkable bowling figures. Stuart, Sam and JP, although not taking wickets, were very economical with their overs.
All in all, just the performance that was required from Napton CC.