Barnsley bounced back from a harrowing first day defeat to Treeton on Saturday with a comfortable Sunday win at Chesterfield in the ECB National Club Championship.
The Shaw Laners were 103 for nine chasing 217 – well behind on the Duckworth Lewis Method – when bad light stopped play at home to Treeton, who are one of the recently-promoted teams in the newly-formed league. Captain Jon Trower had predicted his side would compete for first place before this game and still believes it is possible.
The Shaw Lane skipper said: "It was a really poor first result. We never got started and Treeton outplayed us in terms of bowling, batting and fielding. I still believe that we can be one of the top teams in the league but we will have to lick our wounds very quickly and put the hard yards in this week in our nets. We have to take it on the chin and learn our lessons. It was good to bounce back with the cup win on Sunday."
Treeton's openers scored 81 off 19 overs before Oliver Jackson took the first of five consecutive wickets on an excellent debut for the spinner. His figures of five for 38 off 12 overs slowed the visitors' runrate as they were 150 for five in the 41st over. But Treeton picked up the pace again and scored 67 off the last ten overs to finish on 217 for seven with Zohaib Ahmad claiming the last two wickets.
Barnsley's innings was stopped for rain after seven overs but they had already lost Trower and Harvey Wootton for ducks. Matt Wilson was the next to go for a painstaking nine off 60 balls. Ahmad (35) and Jason Booth (10) pushed the score on to 79 for three but it was soon 80 for seven as that pair were dismissed as were Beck Frostick and Ali Jahangir who both failed to score. Dan Waldron and Jackson followed for single figure scores and Barnsley were 103 for nine when bad light ended the match after 31 overs.
On Sunday, Barnsley's bowling attack ripped through Chesterfield despite the absence of Pakistani star Ahmad who cannot play in the National Club Championship. The hosts struggled to 30 for three then the fourth pair added 47 before a collapse saw them lose six wickets for 38 runs. The last pair added 18 but the home side were all out for 133. Jahangir took three wickets with two going to Frostick and the others shared between Waldron, Jackson, Andrew Clayton and Jake Hepworth, who also claimed a run-out.
In reply, Barnsley lost Stevie Walters (11), Wootton (8) and James Brown (3) but Trower smashed a run-a-ball 77 including 12 fours and a six. Frostick supported with 23 not out as the Shaw Laners reached 135 for three in 25 overs. Barnsley will host Wickersley in the next round on May 8.
