Words by Paul Smith – www.Stumped4Words.com
Five wickets from paceman Dan Wright plus a fine unbeaten half-century from Tom Payne took Harborne to an emphatic seven wicket away win at Kenilworth Wardens.
In the process the visitors completed a seasonal double over their Warwickshire rivals whose promotion to Midlands’ cricket’s top flight was later confirmed by Himley’s defeat at Bromsgrove.
Fielding a side weakened by unavailability, Harborne finished the season on a high note to clinch eighth place in densely-packed table which saw five clubs end their campaigns with seven wins.
There was no hint of what was to follow when Wardens were recovering from 31 for two to 130 for three in a relatively untroubled manner.
Powerful opener Nick Seager continued his strong end to the season by smashing five sixes in a 54-ball 44 before useful contributions from Henry Cullen (39) and Ali Zaryab (37) looked to have set Wardens on their way to a big score.
But the introduction to the Harborne attack of Alex Kirkpatrick quickly brought about the downfall of both well-set batters and set in motion a collapse which saw the home side lose their last seven wickets for the addition of only 41 runs.
These were shared between the off-spin of Indan pro Swapnil Gugale (3-40) and left-arm seamer Wright who mopped up the tail after earlier claiming the scalps of opener Harry Butler and the home side’s Warwickshire 2nd XI batter Harry Johnson.
This left Wright with the outstanding figures of 5-47 and Harborne to chase 172 – a target which they reduced by 35 for the loss of openers Jack Holloway and Abhinash Nirantharakumar.
However, that was as close as Wardens got to sniffing victory as Payne’s excellent unbeaten half-century then provided the backbone to two match-clinching partnerships.
Inevitably the consistently high-scoring Gugale – who finished the 2021 campaign with 624 runs – shared the first of these, stroking seven boundaries in a 33-ball 40 which helped his third wicket partner add 62.
And when the Maharashtra star fell to Jabez Weale, Karan Bharaj (42no) joined Payne in a breezy 79-run alliance which saw Harborne race to the finish line in the 34thover.
Payne closed with an unbeaten 66 made from 107 balls with 12 boundaries while Bharaj found the rope five times and cleared it twice in his 34-ball knock.
