Words by Paul Smith / stumped4words.com
With five rounds of Birmingham Premier League Division Two action remaining Harborne are very much part of the promotion picture after Swapnil Gugale’s brilliant 169 steered them to a 43-run home win over Bromsgrove.
With support from Jimmy Clifford (61), the Indian ace’s outstanding knock took his team to an imposing 353 for eight at the end of their 50-over allocation.
The final six rounds of action are played in the white-ball, win-lose format which meant Bromsgrove had no draw option available to them.
However, while wicket-keeper Alex Milton was making a superb 132 and Connor Smith was smashing a violent 73 this seemed an irrelevance.
But the home side’s six-strong bowling attack held its collective nerve and when Milton was eighth out at 291 the hosts were finally able to breathe a little easier before eventually bowling Bromsgrove out for 310 in the 48th over.
This leaves Harborne locked alongside Barnards Green in the second promotion spot with fourth-placed Lichfield nine points further back. Wolverhampton are 44 points clear at the head of the table.
“It was a very good win on an extremely flat pitch,” skipper Tom Arnold said.
“It was good to put a big score on the board – Swapnil batted very sensibly for a long time then really went wild in the closing stages.
“Jimmy Clifford also played very well; it is good to see him finding his feet at first XI level.
“We lost to Bromsgrove last season after posting a similarly huge total and Alex Milton got a big hundred that day so while he was going well we knew they had a chance.
“But it was a lot of runs and we knew we had to stay calm and take the chance when it came.
“Although the figures don’t necessarily show it we bowled well and shared the responsibility across our attack.”
After opting to bat first, Gugale and partner Jamie Harris added 88 before the former Halesowen opener was dismissed by Freddie Fallows for 35.
Adam Carter then fell for 24 before Clifford – who made 61 from just 50 balls – joined forces with Gugale in a high-tempo third-wicket stand worth 105.
After completing a fine hundred, Gugale was joined in two useful partnerships which pushed the home side well beyond 300.
Wicket-keeper Matt James featured in the first of these, contributing a breezy 13-ball 28 containing two sixes to a 51-run fifth-wicket stand.
Remarkably, Gugale then added 50 with Karan Bharaj in just 16 balls – of which the newly-arrived Bharaj contributed two from two balls.
When the Indian pro was eventually seventh out for 169 he had faced 124 balls of which 18 were hit to the boundary and seven soared over it.
Fallows finished with 3-71 for Bromsgrove while Alex Wilkinson and James Bayliss claimed two wickets apiece.
This left the Boars chasing 353 and they soon lost openers Jayden Levitt (1) and Fallows who smashed 31 from just 18 balls.
Smith then joined Milton at the crease and while the former Worcestershire gloveman built his way into an innings which eventually delivered an excellent hundred, Smith continued where Fallows had left off and went for broke.
His aggressive approach saw him strike 13 fours and two sixes before eventually being third out to Gugale’s off-spin in the 24th over for a 49-ball 73.
When Lucas Ingram and Lewis Cordes quickly followed it seemed that Bromsgrove’s storm had blown itself out.
However, Milton then added 58 with sixth-wicket partner Ryan Pedley (26) before going on to complete his hundred in the company of Deon Patel.
But when Milton was eventually eighth out to the returning Mike Bevan for an outstanding 122-ball 132 containing 18 fours and a six Bromsgrove’s hopes were finally scuppered.
Jasper Davidson cleaned up the tail to finish with 3-41 while Bevan and Gugale claimed two wickets apiece as the visitors reached 310 all out from 48 overs.