Hertfordshire Cricket

Unicorns Knockout Trophy
Sunday 19 April 2015
Norfolk CCC v Hertfordshire CCC
Manor Park, Horsford

Norfolk 247/8 ( 50 overs)
Hertfordshire 248/5 (46.1 overs)

An excellent victory at Horsford Park for Hertfordshire as they started their Trophy campaign determined to make up for last year's failure at the group stage.
This was a win based on two superb batting partnerships when chasing.

Norfolk had set a competitive score rather than an imposing one and truthfully they were allowed 30 easy runs at the end of their innings by poor thinking.

They had stuttered to 166-5 in the 37th over and then 197-7 in the 43rd.

The best of the bowlers was left arm spinner Syed Al Kazmi - or Sid as he is known to the team. He worked out a superb pace to bowl on the early season wicket and all the batsman struggled to attack him.

He finished with figures of 10-0-33-0 which are exceptional.

The run chase was started superbly by captain Nesan Jeyaratnam and Eddie Ballard. They sprinted hard between the wickets, attacked aggressively and set a tone to the innings that immediately put the Norfolk bowlers and fielders under pressure. However, Ballard was caught and bowled for 37 and both George Scott and Tanveer Sikander struggled.

There was a spell where five wickets fell for 58 runs and at 158-5 it looked a close match. Daniel Blacktopp, returning to the county after a sojourn at Bedfordshire, and Ben Frazer however batted with calmness, picking off the easy singles and building a score that gradually stole the momentum back towards Herts and at the end as the fielder had to come in by necessity the boundaries flowed and the match finished in a rush.

Iain Fletcher
Hertfordshire CCC Manager

Full Scorecard