What followed, however, was a display of patience fromEdgworth by Williams-Denton (65) and late acceleration came from Taylor(41), Broughton (34), and Kelly (17* off 8), swinging momentum Edgworth’sway in the final 10 overs.
Clifton debutant Praharsh Parikh made an instant impact,claiming 4 wickets, including Smith-Butler, in an impressive debutant spell ,finishing with figures of 4-75. Despite this, Edgworth’s late hitting poweredthem to an imposing 276 from their 50 overs.
In reply, Clifton started steadily. Zach Flaxman (23) and JackStanley put together a composed opening stand, with Stanley going on totop-score with 49 in trying conditions. However, just as partnerships began toform, wickets began to fall.
The defining feature of Edgworth’s bowling innings was thecontrol and maturity shown by their young spinners, Taylor (3-29), and Kellywho stole the show, ripping through Clifton’s middle order to claim animpressive 5-65.
Clifton battled valiantly, with Ethan Pietkiewicz (24) and BenHamilton (13) offering resistance, but the required rate, the heat, and theguile of Edgworth’s slow bowling proved too much in the end.
Despite the result, there were real positives for Clifton,not least the exciting debut of Parikh and the opening fire from Sleight. Onanother day, with a slightly tighter finish to the first innings, the chasemight have looked very different.
Clifton head into next week determined to bounce back, withplenty of fight left in the tank.