Northants beat Vipers in stunning comeback

Northants were without Ian Goodearl and Simon Ledwith, the latter pulled out four hours before the game as he was stuck in Sussex due to lightning hitting train lines. Vipers were without Ben Armitage and Chris Syrett but included five London Sports players, Chetan Davdra, Andy Whipp, Ali and Naz Safder and Ghow Ratnarajah.

The Vipers captain, Chris Jefferies called the toss wrong and Northants chose to bowl first.

Alan Chamley and Chris Jefferies started solidly for Vipers before Chris was bowled by Charles Ronayne in the 8th over for 0. Alan and Chet then batted through to the 19th over before the next wicket fell, although the scoring rate was kept down by tight Northants bowling. After 10 overs Vipers were on just 36 and just 70 after 15 overs. Alan was run out as a quick return from the keeper allowed Shah Miah to knock the stumps over with the off-strike batsman backing up and still out of his ground. Wickets then fell steadily with Chet scoring rapidly amidst the tumbling wickets. Eventually Chet was out, bowled by Shah Miah for a high class 127 (his third consecutive century this season). Vipers declared soon after on 220/8 after 33.1 overs.

This left Northants just 26 overs to chase the score down. The VIXINS openers, Shah Miah and David Gavrilovic got them off to a flying start including David hitting 12 from an over before being caught at slip by Chirs Jefferies off Ali Safder's bowling without adding to that 12, although the score had already reached 37 in four and a half overs. Runs continued to come freely even though Charles Ronayne fell caught and Bowled by Naz Safder for 8. Half way through the innings at the 13 over point Northants were 113/2 with Shah Miah and Alastair Provan together which left them almost exactly half way to the target. But Shah and Alastair took control after that, scoring runs with ease before Shah finally fell for a magnificent 102, caught by Chet off the bowling of Dan Miles. Mark Provan was bowled for 9 by Andy Whipp soon after but Alastair with 44 not out including five boundaries in the final over guided Northants home with 5 overs to spare.

This leaves Northants in a great position in the BBS league knowing they are now heavy favourites to win the title.

Man of the match: despite a wonderful 127 and a fantastic catch from Chet, his runs scored against more players and a better sighted field, Man of the Match has to be Shah Miah who as well as his lightning fast 102 he also took 2 wickets, 2 run outs and a catch.

Northants team: S Miah, D Gavrilovic, C Ronayne, A Provan, M Provan, N Killen, D Keeling, N Killen, E Stonhill, T Willis, M Simons, M Khatri

Man of the match: S Miah

Scorecard

back to results