Minor Counties Championship

Jul 22 2008 The Journal

NORTHUMBERLAND staged a late fightback to put themselves back into contention for their first Minor Counties Championship victory over the season against league leaders Suffolk at Jesmond.

Three late wickets by Phil Nicholson’s side saw the visitors slip to 265-7 by the close an overall lead of 306 runs with three wickets in hand.

Earlier, Northumberland had resumed on 111-3 in their first innings with Bradley Parker the first wicket to fall in the morning session for 23. The home side suffered a further blow when Ian Pattison was run out of to leave the home side in trouble on 151-5.

Ben France then captured the wickets of Marc Symington for 10 and Graeme Bridge who skied to mid-wicket for 11 as Suffolk seized the initiative. Nicholson’s stubborn innings of 25 came to an end before David Rutherford (27) and Jonny Wightman (18 not out) revived the innings in a ninth wicket stand of 47.

Northumberland were eventually dismissed for 234 conceding a first-innings lead of 41 and Suffolk openers Tom Huggins and France quickly added to that total in the good batting conditions.

Their partnership had yielded 111 runs when France was caught behind by Nicholson off Rutherford for 45 just before tea. Martyn Cull fell to Rutherford for five while Hassan Adnan gave Nicholson his third catch behind the stumps off Symington without scoring.

The impressive Huggins was the fourth man out when he departed for 93 off 133 balls which included 17 boundaries. However, Northumberland hit back strongly to claim three wickets for only 16 runs in seven overs just before the close of play.

Wightman got rid of Nick Lee (24) and Phil Caley (3) while Bridge trapped the dangerous Chris Warn leg before for a useful 63.

SCOREBOARD

Overnight: Northumberland 111-3, 31 overs

Northumberland First Innings continued: B Parker c Caley b McGarry 23, P J Nicholson lbw Bishop 25, I Pattison run out 0, M J Symington c Caley b France 10, G Bridge c Cull b France 11, D J Rutherford c Warn b Bishop 27, J Wightman not out 18, G Stewart b Bishop 4. Extras 31.

Total (69.5 overs) 234.

Fall: 4-151, 5-151, 6-164, 7-176, 8-183, 9-230, 10-234.

Bowling: Smith 16-1-62-0, Bishop 17.5-4-72-4, McGarry 12-3-44-1, France 15-5-28-3, Swallow 9-0-18-1.

Suffolk Second Innings: P B Huggins c Nicholson b Muchall 93, B J France c Nicholson b Rutherford 45, M G Cull lbw Rutherford 5, H Adnan c Nicholson b Symington 0, C J Warn lbw Bridge 63, N T Lee c Parker b Wightman 24, P J Caley b Wightman 3, CA A Swallow not out 10, J E Bishop not out 0. Extras 21.

Total: (7kts, 56 overs): 265

Fall: 1-117, 2-133, 3-134, 4-173, 5-246, 6-250, 7-262.

Bowling: Wightman 14-0-96-2, Stewart 7-0-31-0, Rutherford 17-7-42-2, Symington 12-45-34-1, Muchall 5-0-36-1, Bridge 11-4-12-1, Pattison 2-0-2-0.

Bonus points: Northumberland 6, Suffolk 7.