1sts end first NCL campaign with loss at East Haddon

Division 6
East Haddon II v Willoughby

East Haddon 242 for 8
Willoughby 168 all out

East Haddon won by 74 runs

Willoughby’s Saturday Firsts brought their first season to a close with defeat at East Haddon seconds.

With mid-table safety already secured, the visitors may have had an end-of-season aura to the game but the focus and onus was on the home side who needed to win with bonus points to lift themselves off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone to complete their self-styled ‘Great Escape’.

That they achieved by first setting Willoughby a total of 242 for 8 to chase. Duncan Kennedy and Ben Kennedy with 74 and 49 respectively were the main contributors to get East Haddon past the first target of batting points. Callum Hanks returned figures of 5 for 54 for the visitors.

In reply, Chaitanya Kurusala made 32 and Ashley Rayner 35 – in doing so passing 1000 runs for the season – as Willoughby started positively, but accurate economical bowling from the hosts curtailed the run chase and saw them take the wickets necessary to ensure their survival. Jon Clough returned figures of 4 for 42, Neil Ruppelt 3 for 31 and Gibson 2 for 24 as the hosts escaped the drop at the death.