Barrow’s successful Saturday began with a tense finish at Chew Magna where the firsts had an unusual start to their visit to the lovely ground at Chew as no one could find the key to the gate resulting in a traffic jam on the driveway. When the key was located Paul Glazzard promptly lost the toss and Barrow were asked to have a bat.
Roger Finnimore took strike and the first over saw some worrying signs with a couple keeping low and then a couple of other deliveries that ballooned with tennis ball bounce. The latter accounted for Ali Hood the former to some extent for skipper Glazzard who was unluckier that his low edge deflected off the keeper’s knee and looped up to an easy catch at slip which was not good news for Barrow – 2 down within a few overs. Roger and Guy Fisher dug in against some tricky bowling and although the scoring rate was slow they got the team to a point where they had a chance to post a total, Roger was out for 39 close to drinks Barrow were 70 odd for 3. James Riley got a golden duck when he pushed hard at a defensive shot and was caught by the diving bowler. At this point the wheels could very easily have come off but the opposite happened and with Guy increasing in confidence and the newly bespectacled Phil Milton keeping the ball on the deck the score progressed past 3 figures. With 10 overs to go Phil began to open his shoulders and hit some mighty sixes on his way to an excellent 72 as Barrow’s ambitions of posting 180, shifted towards 200 plus. Guy batted very well playing the supporting roll with some sharp running and played some decent shots himself whipping the ball through mid-wicket before he was LBW for 49. So an excellent recovery from a poor start as Barrow left the field for tea feeling pretty good about posting a total of 217-8 but as Geoffrey Boycott says you don’t know what a good score is until both sides have batted!
Chew got off to a slow but solid start before Riley cleaned up one of the openers. Crucially at the other end Matt Owen was bowling a superb line and length giving absolutely nothing away and beating the bat on numerous occasions – he will bowl much worse and take wickets but his effort of 9 overs on the bounce 2 maidens 0-19 was superb and meant that the run rate was creeping up and Chew needed to start chasing the game. Frank Forge again bowled well and with better support from his fielders would have had 2 or 3 wickets. At the other end Luke Glazzard was unleashed for his first bowl of the season for the firsts and perhaps predictably it was a bit of a mixed bag at times but enough good stuff to warrant his 3-32, most noticeably the way hehe knocked over the Chew number 4’s stumps the ball after he had been luckily reprieved on a caught & bowled by a no ball call.
So the scene was set with 8 overs to go and 60 odd needed and Chew had their number 5 starting to find his range and Lee Bryant (former Barrow youth team coach and a Chew 1st team regular until recently) at the crease matched against Barrow’s senior bowlers Riley & Paul Glazzard bowling. Paul didn’t quite get it right in his first couple of overs and when he did they he was too good for both batsmen and keeper so the ball ran away for 4 byes and it seemed that Chew were on top. Riley stepped up and removed the number 5 and brought the game back in the balance. With pressure on him to deliver Paul bowled a beauty to Lee that deceived him in the flight and he was early on his shot sending it straight up, luckily the bowler himself was under the high ball and duly pouched the chance – not quite home and dry but Barrow were now firm favourites. Another excellent tight over and a 3rd wicket for Riley (3-21) sealed the deal and Barrow were victorious by 5 runs – a very well deserved victory to boot with excellent contributions throughout the team.