Points have to be shared as the rain has final say

Steve Pell aims to put runs on the board during the clash at Staveley on Saturday. Photo by Eric Gregory - NDET staveley 12-05-14(8)

A break in the weather allowed the match to begin on time, with Kevin Leatherday losing his first toss as Matlock were put in to bat.

Sam Hardwick took the new ball for the hosts and managed to get one through Ed Lowe’s defences as he was bowled again, despite strong advice from the home support.

A tactical change in the order bought Steve Pell to the crease who carried out his task and steadied the innings before the rain began and play was put on hold.

This delay was enough to force a timed game. With the shaky start and knowledge of the home side’s fire power with the bat, the captain’s thoughts were that Matlock should try and bat the 50 overs and then control the tempo of the game in the second innings.

Leatherday’s (40) players backed him up well with Vasili Orros scoring a powerful 46 and Andrew Roberts again fighting hard with a well earned 20 not out as he further secured his newly-found number seven position.

Matlock ended with 187, giving the bowlers some runs to play with in conditions that suited their attack.

Ed Lander opened up and immediately found the pitch to be lively, with rising deliveries causing the batsmen plenty of trouble. Joe Bullimore was the first victim of this movement as he was caught behind off the bowling of Lander (2-50).

Chris Pemberton bowled well at the other end beating the edge numerous times but with no luck as his spell ended with just 19 runs taken from his eight overs.

Chris Bullimore decided that, given the situation, the best plan was to chase down the target set by Matlock as quickly as possible, amd he scored 48 off 47 deliveries. Much to the relief of the visitors he was finally dismissed and his brother Tom only managed 11 runs before Rob Lowe demonstrated how to catch to the rest of his team mates.

This left Staveley’s middle order to survive the rest of the overs in the allocated time, which they did despite the fine bowling of Drew Mullaney (3-28). Both sides walked away with 12 points to their name. to 6th place.

This weekend sees Matlock host Ilkeston and also the re-arranged fixture away at Sandiacre in the cup.