AN ENTERTAINING affair at Binley Road saw Coventry & North Warwickshire and Attock play out a draw in the Warwickshire League Premier Division.
With the hosts registering a 261-7 score after choosing to bat first, the visitors ensured a share of the spoils with four runs from the final over – including a bye with the final ball bowled – to deny C&NW at the death.
Coventry made a shaky start to kick off the innings, losing Mathew Nobes (0) with the third delivery of the game, while William Iles (14), skipper Vikram Sodhi (18) and Marco Higgins (33) all departed despite showing early promise.
But with the arrival of Harry Horsley (121, no) at number six, the home side resurrected their challenge and began to pile on the runs.
In tow with Ibrahim Afzal (30), the pair smashed 93 runs to build Coventry’s run count considerably, before Karthik Burla (18) helped the hosts’ talisman add a stand of 52 runs thereafter to reach 219-6.
Ending strongly, C&NW would have felt confident of seeing the job through when turning their attentions to bowling.
A second-wicket partnership of 111 runs between Daniyal Khan (96) and Imaad Mahmood (51) soon changed that outlook however, taking the visitors to 144-2.
Even with Sameer Vohra (3-52) and Nobes (2-57) on form, Attock continued to strike fear into their opponents – as Daniyal Khan continued his hot streak of form with Mohin Khan (67) to add another sizeable stand of 91 runs.
With both men, in addition to Qasim Shah (7), lost towards the end of the innings, a thrilling finale ended in a stalemate when Asim Khan (14, no) provided the runs needed to match C&NW’s 261 tally.
Third in the table, Coventry visit fourth-placed Moseley Ashfield to end the campaign.
