- Idlers Cricket Club

Fareham and Crofton II (A) - 29 August 2009

Won by 50 Runs

LAWRENCE AND CLEMENTS DIG DEEP TO SECURE IDLERS PROMOTION.

Idlers beat Fareham and Crofton II by 50 runs.

The final game of the 2009 County 3 season was always going to be a nervy affair for the Idlers. Only a maximum 24 points from the game would automatically secure the Idlers promotion and not leave their fate in the hands of others.

Having won the toss the home team put the Idlers into bat on what was a bright and very breezy day down by the coast. The idlers however didn’t have that holiday feeling as the top 6 yet again failed to deliver scoring only 47 runs between them, the bulk of which can be attributed to A.Harms (29). The beneficiary of another Idlers batting collapse was E.Stubbs who secured a handsome five wicket haul with figures of 10-3-28-5.

With dreams of full batting points vanishing fast attention was turned to merely posting a defendable target. Thankfully an 8th wicket partnership of 64 between M.Clements (47) and N.Lawrence (21 no) rescued the Idlers. Normally so destructive with ball, Clements played one of his most crucial innings, varying his stroke play between quick singles and crushing boundaries. With invaluable assistance from his batting partner Lawrence the Idlers posted 180/9 after their 45 overs.

The Idlers now had to dig deep in the field and bowl Fareham out. However the home side had their own battle to face needing 125 runs to secure enough points for their survival in Division 3. A.King (46) optimised their dogged batting style, which secured their eventual survival.

The Idlers had to fight hard for their wickets especially with the reluctance to the Fareham batsmen to play aggressive shots. In terms of a result the game was effectively over as Fareham never attempted to chase down the Idlers total, but the Idlers needed as many wickets as possible in order to gain bowling points.

R. Beckles 10-4-26-3 bowled a particularly menacing line and a brace from A.Clements and A.Harms helped the Idlers cause as Fareham finished on 138/8. With the Idlers taking only 22 points from the game their fate now rested on other results. This time, thankfully, lady luck shone on them as they secured 3rd place and promotion by 0.03 points.

County Division 2 awaits the Idlers following another successful season.

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