Netherfield 233-7, Darwen 120-9
By Gerry Wolstenholme
It was a gripping finish at Parkside Road on Saturday as Netherfield fielders crowded Darwen's last pair in an effort to force a victory. But, even with a severely damaged finger, Darwen's Gary Jackson bravely came back at the fall of the ninth wicket to survive 10 balls and with Andrew Cook keeping the Netherfield attack out at the other end, Darwen were able to hold on at 120-9 for a draw, chasing the home side's 233-7.
Darwen won the toss and put Netherfield in to bat, a decision that looked a good one as opening bowlers Andrew Mercer and Keith Semple produced one of the best opening spells by a pair for a long time Grahame Clarke rolled back the years in the opening spot but, having been dropped on nought in the gully by Gareth Cordingley, he did not last long as he skied Mercer to square leg where Criag Chatterton took the catch and he had gone for five at 15-1.
Pierre de Bruyn and Gareth White were also given lives, the former being dropped by Jeff Hacking at slip when on seven and the latter from a low return catch to Semple before he had scored. White did not profit long for, on 13, he was beaten by a superb ball from Neil Cordingley in his first over and Semple took the flashing catch at slip and Netherfield had lost their second wicket for 40.
Chris Parry joined de Bruyn and with some powerful hitting they added 62 runs for the third wicket, including two finely struck fours by Parry immediately before his dismissal that came about when he dragged a slow full toss from Neil Cordingley onto his stumps. He had gone for 37 made from 63 balls and Netherfield were 102-3. Rishi Girdhari made only five before attempting to pull Gareth Cordingley he skied the ball to mid-wicket where the bowler ran round and took the catch to make Netherfield 115-4.
Meanwhile de Bruyn was building his confidence with some nice shots and reached a deserved half-century and with skipper Tommy Prime batting supremely well, the scoreboard rattled along. Mercer returned to end Prime's merry jaunt that brought him a run-a-ball 33 with six fours and that was 202-5. With the aid of 17 runs from one Cook over, including two quite different sixes, one a huge towering shot over mid-wicket and the other a low skimming pull, de Bruyn reached his century, the last 50 of which came from just 26 balls. But when he had made 109 from 130 balls with four sixes and six fours he chopped a ball from Semple onto his stumps and Netherfield had lost their sixth wicket at 218. Semple struck again with his next ball when he had Stephen Jones leg before wicket but Nick White, 14 not out, and Scott Clement, six not out, took Netherfield to a closing 233-7 from their 52 overs.
Ironically, after their superb initial spells, both finished with the same figures, 13-2-60-2 while Neil Cordingley had 2-34 and Gareth Cordingley had 1-15.
The Netherfield opening attack also looked good with Clement in particular looking very impressive and it was he that struck first when Gareth White took an edge from an expansive drive from John Cordingley when he had made 13 and that was 22-1. Clement then had a vehement appeal for leg before wicket against Semple turned down and then he rapped Jackson a vicious blow on the hand that eventually led to Jackson's retirement.
Gareth Cordingley replaced Jackson but he failed to score as he flashed at a ball from the rampaging Clement and Parry at slip took the catch to leave Darwen at 27-2. Semple meanwhile was looking in good form and rattled off five boundaries before Nick White, who had suffered at his hands, had him leg before wicket with a ball that kept very low. He had gone for 25 and Darwen were 63-3. Only 10 runs had been added when Stuart Nixon turned Neil Cordingley inside out so much so that the batsman could only sky a catch to Prime at extra cover and Darwen had lost their skipper for five. In the following over Nick White struck again when Hacking, who had not scored, stretched to a wide ball, got the bottom edge of the bat to it and Gareth White took another fine catch at 73-5.
While Chris Lowe was looking solid at one end, wickets continued to fall at the other and Mercer, who hung about some time for his four, was the next to go when Gareth White took a stunning catch off Nixon at 82-6. Lowe had an escape when a diving Girdhari failed to take a difficult chance at square leg and the following ball Prime made a valiant attempt at a catch at mid-wicket but just failed to reach the ball.
Chatterton struck two beautiful straight drives for four and he scored 10 of the 16 runs added for the seventh wicket, which fell when Gareth White took a superb flying overhead catch to dismiss Chatterton off Nixon at 98-7. Lowe found a valuable ally in Cook, who although not trying to score runs was intent on keeping his wicket intact and indeed, with just four overs remaining it was Lowe who was dismissed. Gareth White excelled his earlier efforts with a tremendous one-handed diving catch to send Lowe back to the pavilion for a valuable and hard-fought 27, which left Darwen down and almost out at 119-8.
And Netherfield must have thought that they had the game won when Nixon induced an edge from Greg Lawrenson before he had scored to leave Darwen tottering on the brink at 119-9 with Jackson apparently incapacitated. But it was not so as the gallant Jackson returned to the crease to see out the final overs with Cook, six not out, to earn Darwen a draw that saw them take three points to Netherfield's 10. Nixon had figures of 5-35 while Clement had 2-25 and Nick White 2-27 but they were not quite good enough to earn Netherfield the victory they so desperately sought.
