Hucknall Cricket Club tighten grip on fifth place finish with thrilling victory over Plumtree

Hucknall Cricket Club remain on course for a fifth place finish in the Nottinghamshire Premier League after a hard-fought three run victory over Plumtree in a thrilling match last Saturday (16 July).

Going into the game, Plumtree were sixth in the table and looking to avenge their defeat from earlier in the season.

Hucknall began incredibly well after losing the toss and being put into bat first by their hosts, and raced to 156-2. Plumtree managed to take a few late wickets and stemmed the flow of runs as a consequence to mean Hucknall finished on 267-8.

Qundeel Haider (3-49) was the standout performer with the ball. For the visitors, excellent knocks from Mathew Roberts (96) and Ben Martindale (69) were key to helping them post such a competitive score.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News Hucknall captain Sam Johnson said when his side's innings concluded he was pretty satisfied with his team's efforts.

"I looked at the score, I looked at the wicket and I really backed us, I thought we were in a really good position. However, I look at the start we made and actually think we should have got another 20 or 30 so it is a positive outlook with a tinge of disappointment to be honest. Because 20 or 30 I think kills the game there but we gave them a chance if they batted well to get close which obviously they did but on a wicket like that if someone had offered me that at the start of the day I'd take it."

Plumtree's response started well as they raced to 92-1. However, a flurry of quick wickets saw them slip to 109-4. Haider and Fabien Taylor's fifth wicket partnership of 53 soon steadied the ship.

Hucknall then claimed the prize wicket of Haider (66) who had produced as equally accomplished a performance with the bat as had done earlier with the ball.

George Blatherwick (3-35) took the wicket and ended with the best bowling figures for the visitors.

James Plant (40) and Ishraj Jandu (18) formed strong partnerships with Taylor to put the hosts in a position to claim victory.

However, a run out and a Waseem Fazal wicket left Plumtree with their last two batters at the crease.

Taylor was still at the crease and the home side needed 13 runs from the final over to clinch what earlier on had seemed an unlikely victory.

Sam King was the man given the responsibility of bowling the final six deliveries. He got off to the worst possible start when Taylor smashed the first delivery over the ropes for a six, leaving Plumtree needing just seven runs from five balls.

At this point Johnson admits fearing the worst.

"Honestly, I thought how have we lost this?"

However, King showed tremendous character to bowl three dot balls from his next three deliveries and when the penultimate delivery yielded just two runs, Plumtree's only hopes of victory were if Taylor could repeat his efforts from the first ball of the over and hit another six. He couldn't, and with just a single he finished unbeaten on 55 with Plumtree 264-9 and an agonising three runs short.

Of King's final over heroics, Johnson said: "Sam got hit for six first ball and it'd be easy to shy away and throw his toys out the pram but actually he just altered his plan slightly and closed the game out for us and stepped up.

"He's the man for the big occasion he did it for us last year on a few occasions with the ball. He's one of these cricketers that has such talent that he can produce match winning contributions, and they're not always a hundred or a five-for it can be as much as an over with a bat or the ball that changes momentum; he's such a talent I really believe in him."

Reflecting on the match, Johnson added: "There were two good teams that played some good cricket on a decent wicket and a good outfield. There were 520 runs scored in the day, it was decided in the last over and I think that's what club cricket's all about."

Asked if it's possible to appreciate what a good game you're involved in while it's going on, Johnson replied: "I think it completely depends. A lot of the time as a captain in tense situations you're just in the moment.

"You obviously trust your decision making process and you're focused on the next ball or whatever but to be honest there was quite a bit of atmosphere at Plumtree their players were quite loud when they thought they were on top and quite quiet when they weren't.

"There were quite a few fans there who were making a lot of noise cheering them on. I got a bit embroiled in the emotion of it and was thinking this is a really good game and this could go either way but a lot of the time it's not until afterwards when you kind of drink it in but generally you're too focused on what's going on on the pitch.

"But on Saturday at all times really in the last 15 overs I was like this is a good game, this could go either way. With five overs left I had them as favourites, then it see-sawed. With three to go us, two to go them, one to go us and we won."

This weekend Hucknall host Notts & Arnold Amateur CC as they look for a fourth win on the bounce.