Netherfield second after nine-wicket win in Kendal derby (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Netherfield second after nine-wicket win in Kendal derby

3:30pm Tuesday 5th June 2012 in Sport By Scott Kirk, Reporter

NETHERFIELD moved up to second in the Northern Premier League with an easy nine-wicket success over local rivals Kendal in the traditional Bank Holiday Monday fixture.

Kendal won the toss and decided to bat first at Shap Road, and they started well to move onto 19-0 after six overs.

But five succesive maidens from the impressive Stuart Nixon and Chris Williams slowed the run rate dramatically, Jamie Heywood (four) was caught by wicketkeeper John Huck during that period to leave Kendal on 19-1.

New Zealander and pro Jamie How came to the crease but he couldn’t up the run rate, and halfway through the innings Kendal were sitting on 53-2, Donny Du Plessis caught by Huck on 24 in the 25th over.

Nixon was bowling solidly, and he claimed six maidens off his 11 overs.

The 29th over signalled an improvement for Kendal, the home side scoring 15 runs off Netherfield pro Cobus Pienaar to boost them to 78-2, How and Terry Hunte combining beautifully once again.

And they were ticking along nicely until How and Hunte succumbed to Netherfield within three overs of each other, How (64) caught by Huck in the 40th over and the evergreen Hunte (37) caught by Chris Williams, both of John Mason’s bowling, to leave Kendal at 142-4.

Kendal were to add another 37 runs in the remaining eight overs to make 179-6, a score that looked a little light against a strong-looking Netherfield batting lineup.

During Netherfield’s innings a bit of needle seemed to creep into the match, Stu Parkin at one point throwing the ball dangerously close to a Netherfield batter when the ball was dead.

Four leg byes were conceded by Kendal in the first over, and Netherfield kept the run rate at a healthy gallop of just over five an over to close out the victory.

Marc Brown was the only casualty for Netherfield, Graeme Baker catching him at cover off Jack White for 19.

Mason decided to move himself up to number two in the batting, and that seemed to be justified as he struck 13 fours and two sixes on his way to 97 not out.

His sixes came in back-to-back balls off Chris Miller in an expensive 29th over for Kendal, sweetly striking the ball to the leg side both times.

Pienaar also continued his impressive batting, playing a key supporting role as he went onto 57 not out, and the pair made a partnership of 151.

The game was finished in the 35th over as Mason struck 18, including four fours, off Parkin to give Netherfield a 12-point win.

Kendal claimed two bonus batting points from the game.