Harberton v Old Suttonians played on June 6^th 2010

· Played at Harberton

· Toss won by Old Suttonians

· Harberton 181 for 8 wickets in 40 overs.

· Old Suttonians 85 for 10 wickets in 30.5 overs.

· Harberton won by 96 runs.

The game of cricket, although very much a team game often depends on one or two individuals producing exceptional performances to turn a game in their favour. This is particularly true at Harberton where yet again the team was facing collapse only to be rescued by a key stand by mid order batsmen, in this case Ben Pike and Glyn Oakey.

Put in by Old Suttonians on a difficult wicket, Harberton were soon in trouble when their first four batsmen were back in the pavilion after 15 overs for only 42 runs. Sellers (1 for 16) and Sariya (2 for 32) did the damage, while Alexander was run out going for a suicidal run called by Buckner. With a long tail to follow it was vital that Pike and Oakey arrested the slide. The two batsmen complement each other. Pike, oozing class, batted steadily while Oakey attacked the bowling with relish. The tactic worked well as the pair took the score on to 127 before Oakey was trapped lbw by the lively Sariya for 37. Pike followed soon after, bowled by Taylor for a superb 61. The scoreboard then became becalmed as batsmen struggled to read the accurate bowling of Jones, Sellers and Taylor.

Wickets fell regularly and with the score at 160 with just 2 overs to go, Hawtin and Goldsmith, with a combined age of 130+ came to the wicket. With hard hitting and rapid running that belied their years the pair scored 21 to take the total up to a respectable181 at the close. Old Suttonians were obviously disappointed that Harberton had reached such a high score after their excellent start and hard work in the field.

In Oakey and Lagden, Harberton have two fast bowlers who are maturing into dangerous strike bowlers – something they have lacked in recent years. They opened the bowling and soon had the Old Suttonian batsmen ducking and weaving. Unfortunately they did not get the support of their fielders who dropped several catches. Wicketkeeper Pike took catches off each bowler to dismiss Taylor and Blank cheaply. Jones (21) and Sariya (11) looked comfortable until that third veteran Shephard came on to bowl. With his first ball he trapped Sariya lbw and he then ripped out the heart of the Old Sutts batting, taking 4 wickets for 13 runs in a 7 over spell.

With the score at 64 for 7 wickets, Alexander, playing against his old team, entered the attack. He was unplayable as he struck twice and with young McCready (1 for 18) taking his first wicket for the seniors, Old Suttonians were dismissed for just 85. BUT…what if…. what if Pike or Lagden had fallen cheaply in Harberton’s innings. The result could have been very different!