Minor Counties cricket: Staffordshire captain Harvey defends decision

by Allan Smith

STAFFORDSHIRE captain Richard Harvey insisted he made the right decision to bowl first, despite seeing Bedfordshire pile on the runs on the opening day of their Minor Counties clash at Knypersley.

With both sides still in contention for the Eastern Division title, Bedfordshire recovered from 52-3 to post 356-8 from their allotted 90 overs.

Andrew Trott (70), Marcus Steed (89) and David Willey (67) – son of former England batsman Peter Willey – provided the backbone for Bedfordshire's recovery, before Staffordshire negotiated the final 25 overs of the day to close on 70-0.

Despite seeing the visitors recover from a precarious start, Harvey believes bowling first was the right choice after winning the toss.

“There was some moisture in the wicket and the conditions overhead were conducive to bowling first,” said Harvey.

“I thought it would dry out on the second day and give us the best conditions to bat.

“But I was surprised how quickly it flattened out. At 52-3, if we could have nicked another wicket, then we might have got into them, but that didn't happen. They played well and it was a case of hanging in there.

“The outfield was very quick and there were lots of boundaries. Once it beat the fielder, you couldn't chase it down.

“It was hard work, but I stick by my decision.”

Even before the coin went up, Harvey had been faced with more injury problems which have beset his side's season.

All-rounder Mo Sheikh suffered a hamstring injury playing for Walsall on Saturday, which saw coach Kim Barnett come in for his first appearance of the campaign.

There was, however, better news from the previously injured trio of Chris Howell (arm), Will Purser (side) and Craig Barker (back), who all passed fitness tests.

This meant there was no place in the line-up for Stone off-spinner Russ Ballard.

After Staffs had made an impressive start in the morning session, a fourth-wicket partnership of 116 between Trott and Steed steadied the ship.

Trott departed to a fine catch in the gully by Gareth Morris off Barker for 70.

This brought Willey to the crease, and the 18-year-old left-handed batsman, currently on the Northamptonshire Academy, added impetus to the scoring rate.

His 67 included four sixes and six boundaries before his entertaining innings ended when he was sixth out with the score on 282.

Prior to that, Steed's innings of 89 came to a conclusion when his attempted pull shot flew high to the hands of Morris at gully.

Bedfordshire continued to push for runs and late contributions of 38 from Andy Roberts and 37 from Mark Jackson, enabled them to post 356-8.

The total was the highest ever recorded by a visiting Minor County side for a match at Knypersley, eclipsing the 280-5 set by Cheshire in 1976.

For Staffordshire, Norton's Greg Willott had impressive figures of 3-53 from his 18 overs, while there were two wickets each for Craig Barker and Will Purser, with Gareth Morris's toil bringing him one victim, despite conceding 100 runs.

In the remaining 25 overs, Staffordshire's openers Peter Wilshaw and Brian Sims remained solid, to leave Staffordshire on 70-0.

Wilshaw has moved sweetly on to 39, with Sims unbeaten on 24, despite the visitors using six bowlers in an attempt to dislodge the pair.

“We have a good platform to go about chasing down their score and then see where the game goes from there,” added Harvey.

“We need a decent start in the morning.”