Askham II vs Heworth
Batting View Photos
An overcast day greeted the seconds in their cup semi-final tie against Heworth. Heworth won the toss and elected to bowl, with Scooby and Prateek opening the batting.
The two batted steadily and got to just over 40 in the 15th over, when Prateek was caught out for 19. Skipper Bains joined Thornton at the crease, and the two continued to accumulate runs, in spite of a slow pitch. Mr Bains made his way to 18 before he was caught for 18, bringing Peter Sharpe to the crease at 85-2 off 30.
Sharpie batted positively as ever, until he was bowled for 7, followed shortly after by Scooby for an impressive 40. This left Sameer and Steve Mason with 5 overs left to push the score up. And this they did – both batsmen connecting well with the ball, and pushing the score over 130, before Steve was bowled for 14. Brad Wood joined Sameer to finish off the innings, scoring 1 not out, with the team finishing on 142, Sameer getting a well-deserved 22 not out.
Bowling
The bowling began very well – the Heworth openers barely got the bat on Scooby’s bowling, with his first 7 overs going for only 12 runs. Sameer supported him well, bowling with some fiery pace, and going for only 33 runs off his allotted 10.
However, wickets weren’t forthcoming and Heworth began to step-up the pace, with Prateek replacing Scooby at the Pavilion end. Afshin replaced Sameer after his spell and, after finding his length, bowled a lovely spell, pushing the ball up nicely and extracting some turn from the pitch. At the other end, Jayant replaced Prateek and made a breakthrough in his second over. The two bowled well in tandem and – though Heworth were edging closer to their total, wickets began to fall, as Afshin took 1-32 off his 8 overs, and Jayant took a marvellous 5-30, with a run out from a Sameer throw accounting for the other wicket.
Heworth were left with a number of younger players in their tail, with 4 an over needed off the last 6 overs, with only 3 wickets remaining. It was going to be a close finish, as Askham continued to bowl well…However, the Heworth batsmen stuck to their task and played to their strengths. In a close run finale, they made it to their target with just 8 balls to spare.
Overall, it was a disappointment for the team to lose, but the match was played in good spirits, and it was a close fight. A moral victory for the team.