Dogged Performance By Tim Fordon Rescues Beverley

Sam Welburn praised his side for sticking to the task after his side turned the match following a poor start at the Norwood Recreation Ground.

Welburn was disappointed to lose the toss and be asked to bat and at 29 for 4 after only 11 over’s his concern was justified with only opener Rob Fish (19) showing any aggression before being caught at midwicket to a poor shot.

Once again, just as last week, it was left to vice-captain Tim Fordon to put in a dogged performance to rescue a poor start. Fordon’s partnership of 51 with Rich Riley, who hit three big 6’s in his 36, steadied the innings and a further partnership of 56 with Alex Nightingale gave the Beavers a respectable position on a wet track.

Commenting on Fordon’s performance the skipper said;

“For the second week in a row Tim has come in and really steadied the ship, this week after another rocky start that really allowed us to push on and get a decent total.”

Beverley had reached 136 for 6 before Fordon was finally out for a top score of 41. Nightingale, after a poor run of form, then held the innings together and a quick fire partnership of 45 with big hitting James Emery (32) saw him finish unbeaten on 33 from 58 balls leaving Beverley on a respectable 191 for 8 in difficult conditions.

After tea Kirkella found the conditions equally challenging and struggled to 27 for 2 off 17 over’s with a wicket each to Brad Dobson and Kieran O’Brian. However some dogged resistance from Steel (25) and McCann (19) took them to 71 for 5 before Russell (50) and A Bailey (36) then took the fight to Beverley. With the score at 152 for 5 at the end of 40 of 45 over’s a draw was on the cards before a smart stumping by keeper Fish off Kieran O’Brian saw the end of Russell for his 50 runs.

With the unexpected break through the skipper turned back to James Emery, whose first 6 over’s saw him take 2 for 32 and, bowling in tandem with opener O’Brian (3 for 20) he took three wickets in the 44th over to finish with 5 for 51 leaving Kirkella on 161 all out and a home win by 30 runs.

When asked if Welburn felt his side had made life hard for themselves, he said;

“I don’t think we made it too hard for ourselves this week, they had a couple of batsmen that got themselves settled but we had eleven players out there that really stuck to the task, we knew we’d get chances if we kept working hard for each other.”

“We’ve got a fight and belief in the team that we can go on and win any game and that showed on Saturday by the way we played right up until the end.”

The win means they are now third in the league thanks three consecutive victories.

Beverley Town Cricket Club 3rd XI 191 for 8 beat Kirkella 1st XI 161 all out by 30 runs