HIMBLETON showed their strength in depth on Saturday as they won a nervy encounter against Claverley in the Worcestershire County League.
Chasing 175 to win, the Division Three leaders looked well placed on 158-6 before losing their last recognised batsman, Sean Jenkins, which set up a tense finale.
But George Clifton and Anthony Kent rose to the challenge before Sammy Jenkins scored the winning runs to secure Himbleton victory by two wickets.
Jenkins also set the rhythm for the visitors after his captain, Jon Critchlow, put Claverley into bat first on a damp wicket. He found the right lengths as he swung the ball back between bat and pad to clean up the top three before having the danger man Stephen Haden trapped LBW.
Clifton also claimed the luck his seasons efforts deserved as he picked up two wickets to put Himbleton in complete control on 78-6 from 30 overs.
However, the Shropshire side played to the conditions as their tail adopted a risk-free approach. This combined with some poor bowling by Critchlow who went at over ten runs an over enabled the home side to post a competitive score of 175-8. Claverley main contributor was their captain Tom Grainger finishing on 51 not-out while Jenkins was the villagers’ personage with figures of 4-30 from ten overs.
Himbleton, meanwhile, made a terrible start to their innings as they found themselves in immediate trouble at 37–4 after Critchlow (4) and Rick Pretty(0) were adjudged caught behind, while Dickenson (14) was given LBW and Jamie Alford bowled first ball of the impressive Aroon Iqbal.
Despite the early blows, Himbleton rebuilt brilliantly as Ali Pretty batted through the pain barrier with a broken finger. Mike Rogers also fought fire with fire as they put on a century stand for the fifth wicket to give the away side ascendancy on 137-4.
With the game cruising to a comfortable finish, Claverley struck again with Freddie Harris eventually removing Pretty for 54, before also removing Mike Rogers who was caught at deep off for 50.
Himbleton needed just 17 runs to win, but the hosts refused to give as Jenkins was undone by Harris.
In a nail biting finish, Kent scored a vital seven before he was cleaned up. George Clifton also showed a calm head in a stormy situation as he protected his wicket with real guts to leave Jenkins to execute the days best cover drive to drag his side home.
Meanwhile, Himbleton’s game against Bartestree on Bank Holiday Monday was called off due to the weather.
