The Rs fall short yet again!

 

Rowington made the short trip to Norton Lindsey on Saturday and promptly lost the toss and were inserted to bat even though the Norton captain had flouted the rules by not declaring a man short.

 

Rowington struggled in the overcast conditions and only put on 24 before opener Alex Smith (9) was bowled by Webber. Tom Jefferson was then joined by Simon Cross and together they pushed onto 84 despite Mather's short pitched bowling constantly going over their heads, making it unplayable. The veteran Andy Dewer then came to bowl and soon despatched Cross (19). Skipper Scott Rogers (2) dismal run of form continued as he lasted only 5 balls, Dewer bowling him, and the Rs were 85 - 3. Then Jefferson joined Rogers, getting caught on 46 off the Aussie McInnes with the total still on 85. Tommy Williams added a brisk single before man of the moment Dewer took a diving catch at gully - 90 for 5. Matt Page and Dale Glover added 22 before Page got snapped up again off Dewer. Billy Sly joined the young Glover and moved the score to 121 before the heavens opened.

After nearly 2 hours the pitch was deemed playable despite the square being soaking wet!

Sly went almost straight away for 5, Anthony Collins didn't last long for 5, Glover was joined by Andy Shaw and they moved the score to 159 before Glover went on 30 to Culverwell. In came the statuesque Steve Jay with just a couple of overs left of the innings and, with old foe Shaw, they added 28 in the two overs with Jay hammering the inexperienced and wild Mather for 17 off the final over. Shaw ended  25 no and Jay 18 no in 7 balls! Rowington 189 - 9.

Dewer 4 - 46, McInnes 2 - 12, Culverwell 2 - 28, Webber 1 - 16, the Norton bowlers.

 

In reply a fired up Jay and Rogers took up the challenge and, with Jay being his economical self, the Norton openers were getting frustrated - Rogers saw Ashley sky one up in front of him and snapped up the catch. In Rogers' next over Reading lobbed one over Billy Sly at gully but Sly's agility belied his age and he dived behind him to take a good catch. A couple of balls later and Berry edged one to Jay at slip who doesn't miss many and Norton were  11 - 3. Morgan came in and, with Melly, put on 54 before the streaky Melly (22) eventually went to Andy Shaw in his first over. Billy Sly then came on to replace Jay who had given his all for no reward and soon had a disgruntled Morgan back in the hutch LBW for 37 - Norton 69 - 5.

In came the Aussie McInnes who had edged his way to 67 in the previous meeting and proved the Rowington boys right as he did the same shots again to move Norton towards their reduced total of 106. With 2 overs left they needed 17 runs and Scott Rogers was to bowl the penultimate over. McInnes and Walters added 9 to the total and needed 8 off Billy Sly's last over. A couple of singles off the first three balls saw McInnes (20 no) on strike and history was made as he hit one off the middle of the bat and in front of him to get a six and win the game for Norton.

 

Jay 0 - 27 off 9 tight overs, Rogers 3 - 23 off 7, Sly 2 - 22 off 4, Shaw 1 - 18 off 2 and Glover 0 - 8 off 3 the Rowington bowlers.

 

A terrific effort by all the Rowington players who were always at a disadvantage to the toss (which shouldn't have happened) being lost and, with every team who batted second winning in division one, it seems that the conditions favoured those who won the toss. Rowington are still 20 points from the drop zone but need a win soon.

Steve Jay