Words by Paul Smith / stumped4words.com
Led by a superbly measured Jamie Harris hundred Harborne claimed a winning draw from the Birmingham Premier League Division Two visit of Walsall.
The experienced opener stroked 121 from 163 balls as the home side ended their 55-over allocation with 279 for nine.
There were four wickets apiece for Walsall opening bowlers Jordan Bulpitt and Ravan Chahal, but the struggling visitors were then unable to capitalise on their work with the bat.
With spinners Oliver Davidson and Swapnil Gugale sharing five economical wickets, Walsall were grateful for the loss of five overs to rain as their ninth-wicket pair battled to a losing draw at 158 for eight.
The ensuing 17 points leaves Harborne in the second promotion spot – where they trail pace-setting Wolverhampton by 28 points with seven rounds of action remaining.
“With the extra five overs we may have been able to force the win,” captain Tom Arnold said.
“Jamie played a brilliant knock; it was tough early on against the new ball on a pitch that did a bit on a dark and dingy day which suited the bowlers.
“He got through that spell then took us all the way to the end of the 55 overs and we were very pleased with 270 in those conditions.
“We then bowled well with the new ball but without much luck and also dropped a couple of catches.
“Our spinners were outstanding – they are two quality operators – but we just couldn’t quite force the win.”
After the early dismissals of Gugale (20) and Karan Bharaj, Harris and third-wicket partner Tom Payne took Harborne to 62 before Chahal dismissed the all-rounder and Tejas Wagle in quick succession.
This left the hosts in need of a good partnership – and they got it – as skipper Tom Arnold joined Harris in a fifth-wicket alliance worth 85.
Arnold’s breezy 42 contained two sixes and five boundaries, and after he fell to Bulpitt’s left-arm swing Jimmy Clifford increased the tempo still further by clearing the boundary on three occasions on his way to a 25-ball 38.
Enough time remained for Oliver Davidson to contribute a quick-fire 17, but it was Harris’ superbly-constructed effort which dominated the closing stages of the home innings.
When the opener was last out in the 55th over he had found the boundary on 16 occasions and cleared it on a further four in his outstanding knock.
This left the visitors chasing 279 and after wicket-keeper Raja Ateeq (15) became the first of five catches for his opposite number Matt James, second-wicket pair Harjivan Dhinsay (25) and Hashim Iqbal (25) took the score patiently to 67 before both falling to Davidson.
With their spinners bowling accurately in tandem, Harborne applied plenty of run-rate pressure to the Walsall chase which subsided to 123 for six when top-scorer Om Bhosale fell to Payne for a 49-ball 45.
At this stage a home win seemed a distinct possibility, however seventh-wicket pair Bulpitt and Vissal Shinwari had other ideas as they built an obdurate partnership.
And although Walsall’s skipper eventually fell to Payne for a 50-ball 15 and Chahal soon followed for a duck, the loss of five overs to a passing shower helped Shinawri battle his way to the close in the company of Wahab Shahid and in the process secure his club eight points in their battle to avoid the drop.
Davidson took 2-48 from 13 overs while Indian ace Gugale’s ten-over spell of off-spin returned 3-18 and seamer Payne captured 2-11.
“Next week against Barnards Green is a very big game,” Arnold added.
“After that we go back into white-ball cricket where we started the season with four wins and a tie from five games – hopefully we can continue that form.”
