Monday, 6th February 2012

Drayton IIs secure vital victory

Market Drayton IIs visited Wellington in a Shropshire Cricket League Division 5 match last Saturday.

Drayton lost the toss and were put in on what seemed a good batting track.

However, they started poorly by losing their opener off the second ball of the game to a fine catch in the slips.

This brought Neil Coxall to the crease with Nigel Green but Coxall was also caught in the slips.

With Drayton having lost two wickets for 16 runs, things were looking less than promising as skipper Charles Harrison joined Green at the crease.

This was when Drayton’s luck seemed to change for the better as Harrison was dropped off his second ball in the slips and then went onto make Wellington pay for this mistake.

The pair soon put on a partnership of 50 before Green was caught for a fine 39.

Bruce Harris came to the crease and as usual there was some big hitting as another 50 partnership developed between Harris and Harrison.

Harris was then trapped lbw for 35 while Harrison stayed at the crease as Drayton lost a quick few wickets before Darren Kent came in to bat.

Harrison was eventually caught in the deep for 60 after a fine batting display.

Drayton needed a further 16 runs to reach the 200 mark and gain an extra batting point which was reached, thanks to the aggressive batting style of Kent (24 not out).

Chris Edwards was the first to grab a wicket for Drayton in his fifth over and picked up another one in his seventh over after a brilliant catch by youngster Mathew Fish, taking it high over his head while running towards the boundary.

Edwards finished with 2-19 while Piers Bond took 1-25 off 11 overs.

Darren Kent topped off a fine batting display with equally good bowling, taking four wickets for 28 runs, with Charles Harrison also taking a wicket.

Wellington were bowled out in 29.5 overs for 105 runs.

Man of the match was shared between Darren Kent for his batting and bowling and Charles Harrison for his batting performance.

Drayton host Quayside tomorrow at 2pm.