Monday vs Northamptonshire Women – Keep on ‘Shumiling’!
After the success of the Sunday, it was day 2 of the trip to Costa Del Corby as Graces facedthe wonderful ladies of Northamptonshire CCC. A strong looking Graces side, but adetermined Northants side awaited. Both Annabelle and Damon switched allegiance fromSunday, with Annabelle making her county senior debut at just 12 years old! Damon also getting the proud dad moment as his daughter, Lilly would also make her county senior debut too!
Winning the toss, skipper Matt opened the batting for a second day running with Henry, hoping for more success today. The Northants attack opened with some slower paced bowling, making it tricky to get a big shot to, forcing both batters to have to run hard to get the score going, with Annabelle getting the new ball on debut.
After finding little gaps and sprinting hard, Graces had made it to 46 before Matt swept South African spinner Lague straight into the hands of the Northants coach Mahony, filling in as a late replacement, at square leg to depart for 21. Soon later Henry was back as well with a chip shot more familiar on a golf course bunker to mid-wicket for 28 and sixty for two.
Graces would not be Graces without some kamikaze running and it was no different here as a hopeful attempt for a quick two saw Damon run out on his home ground for 3. Adam joined Shumail at the crease and runs seemed to be hard to find. Shumail chanced his luck early on with a few lofted aggressive shots plugging dangerously close to various fielders. 76/3 at
the halfway stage.
However, there would seem to be a theme to the innings as a quick attempted single by Adam saw him join Shumail at the non-strikers end, with the striker’s end bails easily removed. Tim joined Shumail, who was beginning to get his eye in as the ball travelled much more convincingly around the field. A flurry of boundaries and some brilliant manipulation of the legside field saw Shumail reach a great fifty. This only spurred him on more to become more expansive, even despite awarding Northants with five penalty runs for running down
the middle of the wicket.
With fine leg moved to protect the square boundaries, Shumail even paddle swept and ramped twice in an over through the vacant fine leg region to continue his rapidly climbing strike rate. Yet, like London buses, the run outs kept going as Tim was the latest batter to magnetise themselves towards Shumail at the non-striker’s end as he was also be run out to end a good 52-run partnership. Ten overs left, cue Stuart to join Shumail at the perfect opportunity to push up the run rate. Boundaries would fly at regular intervals, combined with Stuart’s brand of sprinting as the innings was quickly slipping away from Northants.
A series of more Shumail slashes saw him into the nineties and to become the second Graces centurion of 2024. The next partnership saw Graces turning back the clock as Manish joined Stuart. Manish knew his job would be to get quick singles to get Stuart back on strike but didn’t last long as he became Annabelle’s debut wicket. Mark was next in, but with Stuart looking in touch and only four overs remaining, it was all down to Stuart to finish the innings. It was duly obliged by Stuart as in the final over, he reached his fifty, finishing not out with 55 from 30 balls as Graces finished on 239/6 from their forty overs. Shumail the top scorer with his unbeaten 101 from only 68 balls!
After tea, with the wonderful smell of Sri Lankan cuisine coming from the Great Oakley patios, Graces began their defence with Dan and ‘Skippy’ Chris opening up. It was less than two overs before the breakthrough as Billington had one sneak through her defences to give Chris the first wicket. It was a while before Graces saw another as Austin provided a staunch defence to the pace of Dan and Chris, while keeper Turner provided more fluency to keep
the runs coming, particularly some impressive flicks off Dan. It was only the introduction of the other Bromyard superstar, Manish, that a wicket would
come.
Turner, who had looked very controlled, provided a faint nick to Adam behind the stumps to depart for a well-earned 33. Northants captain Hankins also faced the slow walk back after being the fourth run out batter of the game, desperately trying to get off the mark, only for Henry to provide a smart direct hit. Manish soon had another with some sharp turn to take the stumps of Wakeford. With number three Austin batting more defensively than her partners, the run rate was quickly turning in Graces favour, allowing Matt to bring both himself and Mark into the attack.
Matt would force an error from Austin with a chip to Stuart, who had fielded the ball what seemed like a million times throughout the innings, at short cover. Northants now had Ascott and Bendon at the crease who proved very competent with the bat, taking a couple of legside boundaries and proving rather difficult to get out. A partnership of 32 made it look difficult for Graces to be able to take all 10 wickets.
Eventually, Bendon would go for one shot too many, glancing Matt to Henry at mid-wicket. Matt was able to build some pressure on Ascott, limiting her scoring options, forcing her to look to take Mark on. It would not work however, as Mark managed to spin one past the bat, lighting up the glowing stumps to see her depart for 30 and the last realistic hope for Northants.
With overs running out, Graces turned to some other bowling options, allowing Henry and the ever smiling Shumail to get a couple of overs each. Henry was able to get a caught and bowled, dismissing Damon’s daughter Lilly. The final bowling change Damon, doing his best Paul Striling lookalike impression in the field, went wicketless, including Annabelle smashing her first ball through the covers for four, causing the loudest noise from the crowd of all day!
Northants finished 132/8 from their 40 overs. Wickets shared between five bowlers, with five bowlers going for just 1 or 2 per over! A thoroughly enjoyable day and all eyes look even further north to Leeds for the Leeds Kites fixture doubling up with a game against old friends Winchmore Hill!