Aaron's men pile on 330 in crucial Normandy win

It was good to be at home for this vital game against bottom of the table Normandy, at the Red Lion. Aaron won the toss and showing confidence in his team decided to bat first. The Red Lion wicket is improving and with a baked outfield, a good score was possible.

Brijesh Patel and Sam Gregson opened the batting for Priory. 16-year-old Matthew Cook bowled first for Normandy and he impressed with his good action, which generated pace. Cook bowled Brijesh for 6 and quickly followed this by accounting for Aaron who was caught without scoring. Priory were 32 for 2. Michael Ramsden joined Sam out in the middle. The two put together an important partnership of 50 before Sam was out LBW having scored an excellent 50.

The balance of the game had now changed and the Priory batsmen realised that there were runs to be had, against an average bowling attack, once Cook had finished his spell. Matt van Staden and Michael played with controlled aggression and built an exciting partnership of 117 from just 13 overs (9 an over!!). Eventually Michael was stumped for an impressive 58, with the score on 199 for 3. Unfortunately, Hamish Massey went for just 2, bowled, and Tyrone Weir was also bowled for 5. Priory were now 225 for 5. The ‘on fire’ Matt van Staden was then caught and bowled for an excellent 62.

On 226 for 7, Simon Morris joined Abihijit Lohokare at the crease. The two built the third significant partnership of the innings scoring 70 from just 8 overs (8.75 runs per over). Abi scored a rapid 47, including 4 huge 6’s, before being caught. Lawrence Picking was bowled for 1 and Mike Coxon strolled to the wicket with the score on 299 and 4 overs remaining. Mike smashed an unbeaten 24 and Simon was not out for 27 as the innings closed at 330 for 9.

YES!! - Priory 5th team ‘all stars’ had scored an amazing 330 for 9 from their 47 overs (7 runs an over). The challenge after tea was to get Normandy out within the remaining 43 overs.

Priory were full of energy and confidence, knowing exactly what was required to win the game. Lawrence and Tyrone opened the bowling for Priory. The Normandy opening batsmen gave encouragement to the bowlers and in the 7th over, Sam took a good catch, in short, from the bowling of Lawrence. In the 14th over, Aaron changed the bowling with spinner Abi and Mike coming into the attack. Normandy were 58 when Mike took the second wicket, again caught by Sam. In his 4th over, Abi took his first wicket, lbw, and he followed this with a wicket in each of his next two overs. The last of the three was described by Aaron as the ‘ball of the century’, as the ball pitched outside leg and came back to hit middle stump. Normandy were now 73 for 5 from 24 overs. The Normandy opening bat Jones was still at the crease and, understandably, playing for the draw. The Normandy pair batted for the next 9 overs putting on just 13 runs.

In the 31st over, Simon replaced Mike, whilst Abi continued bowling at the other end. In his second over Simon took the 6th wicket, with the batsmen playing on. This was shortly followed by Simon getting the 7th wicket, bowled, in the 35th over. Priory needed 3 wickets with 8 overs left and the opening bat still digging in. In the 37th over Priory got the break through when Simon trapped the opening bat lbw. Jones had batted for 37 overs for his 31 runs and had done a really good job for his team.

Brijesh replaced Abi and mopped up the final 2 wickets, needing just 5 balls. Normandy were all out for 112 in the 39th over.

It was a fine bowling display - Abi took 3 for 20; Simon took 3 for 14; Brijesh 2 for 0; Mike 1 for 14 and Lawrence 1 for 27. In addition to Sam’s 2 catches, Abi took a fine catch in the slips.

Priory won by 218 runs. A great team effort and very well led by Aaron.

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