Egerton Park: Firsts held to draw; Bates hits maiden century for Seconds

Greg Tyler found his form with a half-century for the Seconds at Barrow EMN-160517-094924002

Park lost the toss and, having been put in to bat first, made steady progress as the visitors initially bowled well in difficult batting conditions.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as the home side strived to post a competitive total.

This was made possible courtesy of 62 extras and an unbroken 61-run partnership between captain Nick Watchorn (19 not out) and vice-captain Tom Glover (65 not out) whose 98-ball knock included one six and five fours.

Park vice-captain Tom Glover top scored for the First XI against Narborough EMN-160517-094937002

The runs were added in the last seven overs of the innings as Park posted 206-6 from their 45 overs.

In reply some good tight bowling by Park’s opening pair went unrewarded as a couple of dropped catches went down early on.

The suspect visitors built a good foundation to the innings and had reached 99-1 in the 27th over when the second wicket went down.

Some excellent bowling by Glover (3 for 29) and Hussain (4 for 53), well-supported by the promising Joe Barnard, wrestled back control for the home side.

Park pushed for victory, but couldn’t force the favourable result despite a couple of overs at Narborough’s number nine and 11 batsmen.

Egerton Park: R. Bailey 3, S. Rose 9, Z. Hussain 22, T. Glover 65*, R. Haffenden 18, C. Madden 2, T. Glover 6, N. Watchorn 19*, Extras 62. Total: 206-6.

Narborough and Littlethorpe: 172-9.

Bowling: K. Panchal 10-4-31-0; N. Watchorn 10-1-37-1; T. Glover 10-2-29-3; Z. Hussain 12-1-53-4; J. Barnard 3-0-16-1.

* Egerton Park’s Second XI travelled to Barrow Town on Saturday and despite a solid all-round performance came way with only six points.

Asked to bat first, Eddie Cham and Bates set up a good base, reaching 52 without loss at drinks, and when Cham fell for 17, skipper Greg Tyler and Jacob Bates set about the Barrow attack.

Boundaries and sixes flowed as the pair put on a massive stand of 158 off only 21 overs which saw 17-year-old Bates reach his first-ever 100 off only 121 balls.

He eventually finished on 116 not out with Tyler finding his form to end the innings unbeaten on 63.

Park posted 220-1 which looked a defendable total at tea and even more so when the evergreen Simons bowled opener Seymour with a big in-swinging yorker for 0.

But another impressive stand of 121 by Simmons and Blagg saw the hosts close in on their target before Roberts finished the job off with nine balls and eight wickets to spare.

Park: Cham 17, Bates 116*, Tyler 63*, Extras 24. Total: 220-1.

Barrow: 222-2.

Bowling: Barber 8-2-32-0; B. Simons 11.4-1-53-1; Harris 10-3-36-1; J. Simons 3-0-22-0; C. Jeary 3-1-24-0; D. Burdett 8-0-49-0.