Askham Bryan Cricket Club

Askham Bryan I 139 lost to Melbourne 140-4 View Photos

Another fine afternoon greeted the Askham crew, assembled under skipper Dale at the College. The pitch was quite green considering the recent dry spell, and a little soft underneath, suggesting a decent if not particularly bouncy wicket.

Captain Dale won the toss and, in the great traditions of WG Grace, elected to bat. He opened the batting himself with Parag. The two began slowly but surely, seeing off the first few overs of accurate bowling from the Melbournians. After 6 or 7 overs they began to open up, with Parag hitting the first boundary of the innings, followed by a splendid drive over the top from Rob, in the aggressive form he usually saves for murdering spinners in the nets. As both got settled, Rob was unfortunately bowled by a ball he expected to bounce more, and was replaced by Ujwal.

Ujwal was in a very positive mood, hooking an early ball for four and hitting another two, before he hit a solid shot straight at a fielder and was caught. The Grewer came to the crease to support Parag, as Melbourne turned to spin after 15 overs. The two batted steadily against tidy bowling, with The Grewer striking a beauty straight back over the head of one of the seam bowlers. Unfortunately he perished, being bowled, paving the way for Peter Sharpe. Sharpie looked in good form, playing some good scoring shots, whilst supporting Parag. Meanwhile, Parag continued to accumulate with some beautiful drives and wristy shots off the quicker bowlers. Peter got to 18 until he perished, and Zee joined Parag at the crease. Zee looked in good form until he was also caught (for 7), followed shortly after by Nick Janulewicz for 0. Parag then perished for a fine 40, being caught off the Melbourne spinner.

With the score at 112 with 7 overs remaining, Ian and Jim knew more runs were needed. After taking a couple of balls to play themselves in, it was clear Jim was in the mood for big hitting, so Ian shuffled the strike to him and let him loose. Jim duly obliged, with his innings of 15 including a six off the spinner that had tied down most of the batsmen with his tight bowling. He was bowled by one of the seam bowlers, with Phil “The Obold” Theobold joining Ian at the crease with 9 balls remaining. The two put on a few runs, before Phil was ran out backing up, and Ian (10) was stumped with two balls remaining, going for a big hit. Still, the sting in the tail had taken Askham to 139, which was defensible, if perhaps 20/30 runs short.

Tea

Rob had prepared another fine treat for the players. This included both pork pies and sausage rolls, onion bhajis and – the piece de resistance – a full fruit salad, for five-a-day goodness. He also continued to support the cheese sandwich diversity campaign, offering versions both with and without onion.

Bowling

Zeeshan and Jim opened the bowling, with Zee finding his line and good pace straight off. Jim bowled a good first over, but then struggled for line and was taken off after 3 overs, with the Melbourne total progressing. Parag replaced him and bowled with good zip, also getting the ball to move in the air. Zee and Parag bowled well in partnership and made runs hard to come by, but wickets were also difficult to find. Eventually Parag made the breakthrough, clean bowling the batsman with the score on 51. Zeeshan was rewarded himself shortly after, bowling the Melbourne number 3 for 12. Would the comeback now be on?

Unfortunately not – Melbourne regrouped and put further runs on the board. However, Parag and Zee made them work for their runs. Having bowled 10 overs straight, Zeeshan was replaced by The Grewer, who served up a nice variety and was rewarded with a wicket with a Grewsra! By this point Melbourne were less than 20 from their target, on 123-3.

As a last gasp, Albert was brought on and served up some pies, but gathered the wicket of the remaining Melbourne opener for 61, with Captain Dale taking a deft catch off the glove behind the stumps.

Alas it was too little too late, and two overs later Melbourne finished the match with a drive through the covers.

Notable other performances

A few other mighty performances should be noted:

• Phil Theobold – still the best throwing arm in the team
• Ujwal – who must’ve saved about 40 runs, jumping in like a panther from square leg
• John McCullogh – In spite of a bad back, the Mainshow put in a fine effort in the field, using his feet in a way not seen since Will Knight was in the team.
• Nick J – Who was wearing a pair of whites with an almost explicitly large hole in the crotch, prompting skipper Dale to question if they’d been from the Ann Summers collection

Overall, the match was a bit like a sell-out cheese tasting event – there wasn’t quite enough on the board, but those there enjoyed it nonetheless.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Match Report, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.