S-Club heaven for Jones as young stars make their captain's day
By Andrew Ormiston on Thursday, 31st May 2001.
TEENAGE tail-enders Adam Smith and Ben Salter made absent skipper Steve Jones reach up for the stars as Haverhill won a thriller at East Bergholt.
Jones was forced to sit out his first game for nearly three seasons because he took his daughters to see pop sensations S-Club 7 at the Docklands Arena.
But as Haverhill edged towards their two-wicket win in Division Four, the tension became to much for Jones and he rushed into the foyer to listen to a running commentary on his mobile phone.
"I'd been able to keep in touch with the game because they were leaving text messages on the phone," said Jones, "but when it got to the last over I couldn't stand it - I rang up and they gave me a running commentary."
Eighteen-year-old Smith and Salter, 19, made Jones' dreams come true, coming together at the fall of the seventh wicket when Haverhill wanted 47 runs off eight overs chasing East Bergholt's 175 for 7.
The run chase looked light years away as Scott Webb and Bill Moran, with 57, took them to 125 for 4 with 15 overs left. But a middle-order collapse left the teenagers with a major rebuilding job.
They picked off the runs in singles and needed three runs when Smith, who finished on 20, dabbed the penultimate delivery down to his toes and sprinted for a single.
The home wicketkeeper got to the ball quickly, but amazingly missed the stumps with a wild throw from six yards. Smith and Salter ran the overthrow, and as the field closed in to prevent the single, Smith thrashed the ball through the field for the winning runs.
"They did us proud," said Jones. "I was jumping up and down in the foyer when we won - they must have thought I was absolutely loony."
Jones was forced to sit out his first game for nearly three seasons because he took his daughters to see pop sensations S-Club 7 at the Docklands Arena.
But as Haverhill edged towards their two-wicket win in Division Four, the tension became to much for Jones and he rushed into the foyer to listen to a running commentary on his mobile phone.
"I'd been able to keep in touch with the game because they were leaving text messages on the phone," said Jones, "but when it got to the last over I couldn't stand it - I rang up and they gave me a running commentary."
Eighteen-year-old Smith and Salter, 19, made Jones' dreams come true, coming together at the fall of the seventh wicket when Haverhill wanted 47 runs off eight overs chasing East Bergholt's 175 for 7.
The run chase looked light years away as Scott Webb and Bill Moran, with 57, took them to 125 for 4 with 15 overs left. But a middle-order collapse left the teenagers with a major rebuilding job.
They picked off the runs in singles and needed three runs when Smith, who finished on 20, dabbed the penultimate delivery down to his toes and sprinted for a single.
The home wicketkeeper got to the ball quickly, but amazingly missed the stumps with a wild throw from six yards. Smith and Salter ran the overthrow, and as the field closed in to prevent the single, Smith thrashed the ball through the field for the winning runs.
"They did us proud," said Jones. "I was jumping up and down in the foyer when we won - they must have thought I was absolutely loony."
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