First Week Results
The first matches of the season went ahead in glorious sunshine (mostly) yesterday, with the first team playing Copmanthorpe at the Retreat, and the seconds playing at home against Tadcaster Magnet.
Knights slay Copmanthorpe Dragon
The first team chased down a challenging target of 215 to beat Copmanthorpe by 6 wickets, thanks to the wonderful batting of father and son combo Will and David Knight. David hit a brilliant 108 no (including three big sixes at the end to finish the match), whilst Will (who officially retired from playing two years ago) hit a classy 55 in support.
Copmanthorpe had hit a commendable 215 off their 40 overs, with a number of their batsmen getting in on a good wicket. Pete Wood bowled two aggressive and accurate spells to keep the total down, but with little luck in terms of wickets. On the other hand, fortune shone on Albert Hall, who took four wickets with some deftly chucked pies.
In spite of a slow start to the batting, David hung around and was joined at the crease by his father at three wickets down, with over 150 runs still to get. The two batted sublimely and chased down the total with an over to spare.
A special mention also goes to Mis Slezak, who cycled to Copmanthorpe before the match as an extra warm-up.
Powerful Magnet edge past Seconds
The second team had a day of mixed fortunes. They bowled extremely well, reducing Tadcaster to 75-8 at one point, with debutant Mike Clark taking 5 wickets and Terry Kiernan taking a hattrick with some seam-up specials. Mike Hodgkinson also bowled a sound spell, going for only 21 runs off 10 overs. Tadcaster did, however, recover to set a target of 136.
Paul “Scooby” Thornton and Tom O’Donovan made good progress opening the batting, until Tom lost his wicket. This lead to a middle order collapse, with 3 ducks, until Colin Garnett joined Scooby to rebuild the chase. The partnership between the two contributed the bulk of the runs, until Scooby was out after scoring a fine 62 runs. Askham eventually fell short in the run chase, ending up 110 all out.
A fantasy league update will follow shortly!
Go to the York Press report for further reading on the first week.