SIMON Norvill cashed in on a couple of early lives to notch another century and set Old Boys on their way to a 99-run win over Bective-East in their Tamworth first grade clash at No.1 Oval on Saturday.
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He had a few cohorts, with Adam Lole also hitting a half-century and then Stewart Morgan and Matt Fulwood snaring four wickets each as Old Boys bowled the Bulls out for 128 in reply to their very competitive 8-227.
“The platform was set by Simon and Adam,” Old Boys skipper Ben Middlebrook said.
They produced another century-plus opening stand, putting on 149 and taking Old Boys through to close to the 30th over unscathed.
“Their intent after drinks was really good,” Middlebrook said.
From his recollection they were about 73 at drinks.
They really upped the ante after drinks, doubling the score in about 12 overs.
Lole was the first to go and batted really well for his 62.
“Adam played perfectly with Simon,” Middlebrook said.
Norvill did live a bit dangerously. He was dropped twice early on and made the Bulls pay, cracking his second half-century in a week at the ground – his Saturday innings following an unbeaten 78 in Sunday’s War Veterans Cup final.
He smacked his way into the 90s, getting to 96 with two sixes in one over off Cal Rowe.
The next over he glided the ball through the slips for three to get to 99 and then cut for a single to bring up his ton.
A boundary later – his fifth for the innings to go wih six sixes – he was caught by James Bellamy on the boundary for 104.
Old Boys’ innings fell away after, with Middlebrook (10) the only batsman after him to reach double figures, but Middlebrook was pretty happy with 227.
It was enough he thought if they were good enough, which they were.
“Stuie (Morgan) was excellent at the start. Picking up four wickets really put them on the backfoot.”
It was only his second game in first grade for them this season.
“Once he found his line he was really hard for the batsmen to get away,” Middlebrook said.
Morgan struck in just his second over, bowling Bulls skipper Nick Pearson with his first ball and then trapping Calum Rowe in front on his last.
He had Dean Hoy (17) caught not long after to have Bective flailing at 3-27.
Despite the efforts of Bellamy (32) and Adam Jones (42), they never recovered.
After Morgan did the damage early, Middlebrook thought Fulwood (4-25) and Jack Richards (2-38) did a good job through the middle.
Not surprisingly, Pearson was lamenting those missed chances off Norvill.
They probably dropped four but it was the two from Norvill that really hurt them.
“He batted really well after his chances,” Pearson said.
That said, take him out of the equation, even if they’d got him for 20 or so, they could have been chasing 150 and it would have been a different game.
“29 overs it took us to get a breakthrough,” Pearson said.
“That set it up for them – 10 wickets in the sheds with 10 overs to go.”
Rowe and Jones did all the damage for the Bulls and bowled well at the end, Jones particularly.
He finished with 5-32 from seven, while Rowe took 3-31 from his four.
