Frazer cracks 52-ball century in Harpenden victory
Ben Frazer looks to play a sweep shot - Credit: Archant
Ben Frazer walloped a century off just 52 balls as Harpenden successfully chased down Sawbridgeworth’s first innings score in an eight-wicket victory in the Saracens Herts Premier Division.
Frazer stroked the ball the boundary 13 times and cleared it a further five times in an unbeaten 103.
It was his highest score of the league season, beating his previous best of 44 against Potters Bar, and came in a game where Harpenden were red-hot at the crease.
Gregg Cooper (65) and Nick Lamb (31) gave Harpenden a fantastic start in their chase of Sawbridgeworth’s 277-5, putting 51 runs on the board for the first wicket in just half an hour.
Lamb offered a catch to George Clayden off Andrew McGarry(1-38) and was back in the pavilion in the ninth over.
Will Jones, promoted up the order to three, picked up where Lamb left off, providing a hard-hitting partner for Cooper. In 18 overs, they frustrated the bowlers, finding the gaps in a 93-run partnership to put Harpenden over halfway towards the target.
Cooper departed LBW to Clayden (1-37) having scored his second half-century of the season. That brought Frazer and Jones together and in a one-sided pairing they won the game. Frazer cracked a century while Jones contributed 27 in a 138-run showing to win the game.
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While Frazer was Harpenden’s top scorer, he was not the highest scorer of the day. That honour belonged to Sawbridgeworth’s Gary Brown, who scored 146. He was also a major part of the game’s biggest partnership, scoring 71 of 152 with Harry Jerome (82).
Lamb (2-58) found the edge of Brown’s bat and rearranged Jerome’s stumps to take the most important wickets of the innings.
Jones (1-57), Richard Darwin (1-72) and Dan Wightman (1-44) were part of an attack that surrendered a lot of runs – they gave up an average of 5.54 runs an over for 50 overs – but Harpenden’s batsmen went crazy, scoring at over seven runs an over, to win their fifth game in a row.