Bedfordshire v Hertfordshire - Sunday 18 May ....
Unicorns Trophy
Sunday 18 May 2014, Cople Cricket Club
Bedfordshire 325-5
Hertfordshire 326-9
Hertfordshire win by one wicket
Herts go into the last game of the pool stage of the Unicorns Trophy one-day competition needing a handsome win against Norfolk at Harpenden on Sunday to qualify for the quarter-finals after a thrilling last-over win against Bedfordshire at Cople Cricket Club on Sunday.
Captain Nesan Jeyaratnam of North Mymms led the way in pursuit of Bedfordshire’s imposing total of 325 for five in 50 overs with a wonderfully fluent 91 of 93 balls, with 11 fours, but the real drama come in a nerve-shredding final two overs.
When Simon White, of Harpenden, was bowled off his pads Herts needed nine off eight balls. Nick Lamb, also of Harpenden, came in and stroked his first ball effortlessly through the covers for four. The next ball he struck down the ground to long-on, from where a direct hit ran him out as he was turning for a second run.
That left last man Simon Greenall, the Welwyn Garden City wicketkeeper , to face Bedfordshire’s nasty fasty needing to score three runs off the last over. The first ball was a wide. A jumping block kept out the second, and a hug swing and miss off the third prompted a few words of tactical advice from non-striker and club colleague Jamie Southgate. Next ball Greenall played a classical back-foot drive past point and the celebrations began.
There was little hint of the drama that was to come when Jeyaratnam won the toss and gave Bedfordshire’s batsmen first use of a perfect batting strip with short straight boundaries on which a par score was 300.
Hertfordshire’s approach in the field is all about hustling the opposition, and with Greenall chivvying them along they got through their 50 overs in rapid time. Had they been right on their fielding game they might have restricted Beds to about 285, but led by James Kettleborough’s 114 off 122 balls and a whirlwind 81 of 53 balls from captain Andrew Reynoldson, they posted a bigger target than they should have done.
Jeyaratnam and his opening partner, Eddie Ballard of Bishops Stortford, got the chase off to the perfect start, running brilliantly and putting on 112 before Ballard fell for 50. Lloyd Paternott, of Oxford MCCU, and Radlett’s Kabir Toor got in but fell as Herts tried to push on and improve their run-rate.
They gambled by asking Harpenden big hitters Ben Frazer and Will Jones to go up the order and accelerate the rate, but when that did not pay off, Southgate, 54 not out, and Harpenden’s James Latham, 34 put on 74 to set up the nerve-racking finale.
It left Herts regretting their disappointing defeat by Suffolk in the first game and the abandonment of their second against Cambridgeshire at a damp Radlett which have left their quarter-final hopes hanging by a thread on Sunday.
They need to beat Norfolk and improve their run-rate dramatically to have a chance. In their favour is that they have an excellent record at Harpenden. The game starts at 11am and all are welcome.
Hugh Bateson