Colne v Lowerhouse (Twenty20 Group Match)

Lowerhouse qualified for the semi finals in spectacular on a whirlwind Friday evening at Colne.

After an afternoon downpour delayed the start by 30 minutes, it became a 16 over contest with the home side batting first. They started relatively slow with the bowlers restricting them to 5 runs an over. The two openers were dismissed close together as Adam Holt (17) was run out and Khurrum Nazir (27) was bowled out by Ben Heap. From this point onwards, though, the fireworks really began to take off. Professional Shadley Van Schalkwyk and Alex White upped the scoring rate over by over with some thunderous blows. White reached 50 first before Fergus Bailey finally sent him on his way in the penultimate over for 56. Van Schalkwyk wasn’t finished yet as he went to 50 by hitting 23 runs off Cobus Pienaar’s final over. He finished on 59*and Colne completed their 16 overs on 166/3, a very imposing total.

This meant that Lowerhouse needed to reach that target in less than 11 overs and were aggressive from the very first ball. Pienaar did most of the damage in the opening 3 overs with some excellent pure hitting as he raced to 50 off only 14 balls. Jonny Whitehead, who had been a mere spectator for the majority of those 3 overs, was also clearing the boundary with consistent regularity as the visitors reached 100 in just the 6th over. Pienaar, however, succumbed to Nazir a few balls later and was gone for 60 (7 fours and 4 sixes) but it was a superb knock from the South African. Whitehead kept the run rate high as he went to 50 in just 25 balls and there seemed to be no way of stopping the ball going for 6 as Lowerhouse charged to 150 after 9 overs. Matt Walker was playing a nice cameo at the other end as he quickly progressed to 17. Whitehead didn’t quite see it through as he tried to end the match with another boundary but couldn’t clear Colne’s Matthew Walker and was out for a tremendous 72 (4 fours and 7 sixes). The visitors now required 4 runs from 5 balls to go through but got them in 2 balls when Joe Hawke and Walker ran a two then Van Schalkwyk bowled 4 byes as Lowerhouse finished on 169/2 after just 10.2 overs, an absolutely astonishing night of cricket.

MOM was Jonny Whitehead for his 72.

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