Askham II vs Copmanthorpe
ASKHAM BRYAN 2 v COPMANTHORPE
by Mike Bains
The day was warm. The ground looked good. But your heroes stumbled into contest with a weakened line-up and WITHOUT Afshin’s cap. Morale was as ever high, the facilities were prepared and the Bains/Mason entente led an extended pre-match warm up.
Bains won the toss and despite the sunny conditions invited the visitors to have first dig. Scooby probed like a veteran Proctologist on piece-work and Sameer presented hostility with a broad smile at the ‘slope-down-to-the-rockery’ end. Cop had at least five people on bus passes so the greenish ABCC squad were buoyant. Early exchanges slightly favoured the visitors but then Sameer blasted out the number two (sounds like something for the Proctologist to investigate!!) and Afshin came into the attack.
Flight, guile and bounce saw your capless left arm round hero take 5 for 24 in an unchanged 12 over stint costing only 24. Has the lbw law filtered through to York’s outlying villages, he would have had 8 with the target being double figures, rather than the 143 we eventually allowed the visitors to post.
Tea
Steve Horne opted for bread carving over child care on this particular Saturday. Again, a splendidly presented array of snadwiches, neatly bedecked with cherry-red tomatoes and foliage, was accompanied by a heart-warming collection of meat/pastry combos and an arterial supply of Battenburg and other sugary treats. Jackie had in earlier efforts provided a range of Bentine-esque flaggery to indicate contents and these were notable in their absence, despite the obvious quality of the fillings.
The Reply
144 to win. 3.5 per over. Surely your heroes would bat through and snaffle the points? Bains sent Mason out to bludgeon a swift 30 and he achieved a good 25% of his mission. Scooby looked serene at the other end. Bains joined him and the pair moved maturely past 50 as drinks approached. Bains was moving into the fourth week of knee injury number 76 and many a single was spurned. Yet the pair picked a 4 ball most overs and this was duly despatched. All good.
Jayant ignored the 117 lbws that Cop turned down and gave Scooby out. Hawkeye would have stared aghast. The Veteran Yorkshireman’s output was somewhat less delicate. And so to the collapse – Bains leaning on his crutch / bat as the ash fell at the other end. Scooby made 26, Bains 37 and Sameer, 20. I shall draw a veil over the rest. We lost by 31. Good fun though!
Now, the veil is twitching to be moved. Afshin, capless, made 0. Jayant too. As the death knell sounded, the pair were insistent that ‘a straight one will be the end of it’ as Sandeep made his first ever appearance on a cricket field. Ah, the joy on their team-mates’ faces as Sandeep and Brad scrambled a single.
Cup next week!