Success brewing for Harberton cricketers in Tea Cup!

Malborough v Harberton CC at Malborough 20 May 2012

Harberton, 159 for 7, beat Malborough, 136 for 9, by 23 runs

This was another excellent result for Harberton, this time on its first outing in the Wisden National Village Cup competition, writes Barry Goldsmith.

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Malborough Moonrakers, close to Salcombe, were the hosts and based on recent matches between the two clubs this was always going to be a closely contested match.

This was the first time the hosts had used their grass pitch, and the uncertainty over how it might behave preyed on the minds of both captains (A Burke for Malborough and Harvey for Harberton).

Malborough won the toss and put Harberton in to bat.

By the end of the first over this looked to be a very good decision. Harvey was back in the pavilion, falling victim to the fast bowling of G Morgan (1 for 24 from his 9 overs). This immediately put Harberton on the defensive. But with the steady batting of both Alexander and Ray, a slow recovery was established. After 10 overs, 24 runs had been scored. By the half-way point, Harberton were at 51 for two, having lost Ray (17) on 33. This had brought Owers to the crease and, following the drinks break the run rate accelerated appreciably, with Owers hitting two huge 6s in his innings of 46. But his innings came to a disappointing end when he played a ball onto his stumps, Baldwin claiming his second wicket. It was crucial now that Harberton maintained the higher scoring rate established by Owers and Alexander (16). This was achieved, with the score reaching 159 by the end of the innings with a mature innings from Gornall (22), along with contributions from all of the remaining batsmen including Tobias, Tregelles, Scott and Seager. Tobias was unlucky to be caught out by a stunning effort from G Morgan at slip. The final partnership of Tregelles and Seager put on a valuable 16 runs, with 14 of them scored off the last over.

159 looked to be a good total, but after the early overs Malborough looked to have the advantage with the hard hitting Morgan hitting two boundaries in the first over. Despite Hopkins getting the early wicket of A Burke, Malborough maintained a higher early run rate, getting to 36 for 1 after ten overs. However, Harberton’s accurate bowling began to take its toll. The pace of Tobias and Hopkins was replaced with the spin and guile of Waller and Owers. The first ball of Waller’s first over claimed the dangerous G Morgan (25), confused by his flight and spin. Waller and Owers bowled straight through their 9 over allocation with Waller taking 3 wickets for 34 runs, and Owers conceding only 18 runs. By the time they had finished their stints, Harberton were in control, restricting the Malborough run rate whilst continuing to take wickets. Malborough’s No 3 batsman Lidstone (28) had offered some hope of a recovery but he was then accounted for by the bowling of Seager (2 for 38) who kept up the pressure with more accurate bowling. The bowling of Tregelles produced the champagne moment of the match with some lightning glove-work from Ray to stump Rosewarne.

With wickets continuing to fall, Malborough ran out of steam and, by the last over, needed more than thirty runs to win. Two early boundaries from Stewart were not enough and Harberton claimed a well-earned place in the next round of the competition. This was a superb all-round team effort, the highlights being the bowling of Tobias, Waller and Owers, the batting of Owers and Gornall, and the keeping of Ray. Man of the match was Bob Owers.