Unlucky Break for Rowington

Rowington visited Norton Lindsey and it was no surprise that, on winning the toss, Norton decided to bat on an immaculately prepared strip and a quick outfield. Rowington, without the aged Jay who was out buying pyjamas, opened with Gilbert and a fired up Scott (get off my ball) Rogers. Although not overly troubled the bowling was accurate and with good fielding the scoring rate was slow. The high standard of bowling was continued by Danny Chinn and Leon Clarke, apart from his first two balls. It took the Norton openers 28 overs to reach 100. There was then a freak accident in the field where, whilst diving to try to stop a four, Matty Page’s leg ended up at an un-natural angle and was clearly broken resulting in an ambulance being required. Our thoughts are with Matt for a speedy recovery.

Norton clearly had to up the scoring rate but opener Pozzi (68) failed to clear Alex Smith on the boundary off the wily Billy Sly. Along with Steve Berry (51) the openers had put on 112 but in 31 overs. D. Currall (11) entered the fray and attempted to up the rate but only sliced the ball to Billy Sly off Scott Rogers' bowling. Billy Sly continued his good spell (8.2-42-4) and good catching from Tommy Jefferson, Clive Haywood and an unusually animated Simon Cross left Norton at 158 for 5 off 39 overs.

At 41 overs the rain arrived with Norton on 175-5, which was looking below par considering the wicket, but the rain continued during an excellent tea and, with the ground previously very dry, the water sat on the surface and had also seeped under the covers at one end due to the slope of the ground. Even though this year no towels to dry the field were in evidence, the general opinion was that we would have to wait until Wednesday for the track to be ready so the honours were shared with the Rs taking a moral victory.

Clive Haywood