Frazer cracks 52-ball century in Harpenden victory

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.

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.