Askham Bryan Cricket Club

Askham I 127-4 beat Ovington I 122 all out by six wickets. View Ian’s photos View Ujwal’s marvellous photos

“Hall the Octopus predicts some erratic captaincy in the next game”
Albert Hall, on the website, following the victory over Fulfordgate

The Bowling

A strong Askham I side assembled at the College, boosted by the return of Dan Wheeler to the line-up, though missing their skipper, keeper and mentor Rob Dale. Albert stepped in for his first match as captain, with Phil Allen donning the gloves.

True to the Octopus’s predictions, the captaincy started erratically. Hall unexpectedly won the toss and, having come to no conclusion about what would be best, hastily ran back to consult his colleagues. He then elected to bowl, and learnt his first lesson of captaincy – if in doubt, ask somebody who knows a lot more than you do. Hall was informed by the Ovington skipper that they’d only failed to score over 200 once in the season…

Woody and Zeeshan opened the bowling and started off as well as – if not better than – previous weeks. The bounce was low on a fairly damp wicket, but both bowlers got the ball to swing and move off the seam. The two struck early, clean bowling the Ovington openers with a couple of Jaffas. They continued well but without further success, with McCullogh replacing Woody at the “not the shed end”.

After a “loosener” (we’re all allowed one of those), Jim bowled three beautiful overs which only went for one run. With the pressure on, Zeeshan went in for the kill and got a second, much-deserved wicket, with a ball that nipped back in and took the top of leg stump. Zeeshan finished shortly afterwards, with a splendid 2-25 off his 8 overs. The Grewer was his replacement.

A period of consolidation followed for Ovington, with them pushing on at a steady rate. At drinks they’d passed 70 for 3 wickets, and the game looked in the balance. However, cometh the hour, cometh The Grewer. He then produced some special deliveries that accounted for the two highest scoring Ovington batsmen – one bowled, one LBW. Jim then followed up with a beautiful pitched up delivery that earnt him his first wicket, leaving Ovington 96-6.

Another lull followed as Ovington counter-attacked, passing the hundred mark and making their way to 120. Siders came off, having taken 1-44 off his 8 (though he bowled better than the figures suggest). Hall gambled and bought Woody back on, knowing that he didn’t have enough overs to bowl to the end. His concerns were unfounded, as Woody got a wicket with his first ball back, a beautiful clean bowled. He then took a spectacular catch at first slip off The Grewer to give Mark a much-deserved third wicket, and polished off the rest of the tail, to end on 4-23 off his 9. The Grewer went for a miserly 15 runs off his 8 overs, taking 3 wickets in the process.

Special mention should go to Phil “Key” Allen, who kept wicket tidily, particularly considering he had some very quick bowling to snaffle. Fair play to him.

The Tea

A special guest appearance from Pete and Natalie Wood on the tea front was a spectacle in itself. Roast chicken sandwiches, chicken legs, award-winning pork pie. Home-made onion chutney…Pasta with green pesto. All marvellous. This was topped off with the piece de resistance – a summer fruits pavlova, with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. The skipper gladly placed himself at the tail end of the order, and dutifully helped himself to seconds. And thirds. And fourths. Teatastic.

The Chase

Parag and Phil opened the batting, taking their customary roles, with Parag going on the attack and Phil holding firm at the other end. Indeed, Parag set the tone for some positive Askham batting, coming down the wicket early and cracking some beautiful drives over the top. In response, the Ovington bowlers were obviously frustrated – at one point Parag found himself a fair way down the track as a quick full toss came in at his waist…which he duly dispatched over square leg and over the rope on the longest boundary for four. It was a pleasure to watch, as he and Phil put on 32 for the first wicket.

Phil was then caught for 4, and a mini-collapse followed, with Dan unfortunately trapped LBW and Parag then holing out at point. The Grewer and The Wood began to rebuild, though some tight Ovington swing bowling made this difficult, and Mark perished for 5.

Zeeshan joined Woody with Askham now 51-4, with a lot of work to do. The two decided to play their natural game, and this worked wonders. Though both gave the odd chance, they didn’t let this change their tactics, as they went for the bad balls, with Zeeshan crashing some splendid drives through mid off. Mr Wood was in devastating mood (was it the quick-burn sugars of the pavlova?) and hit three sixes, including a massive towering hit that scared some light aircraft in its parabola.

It was clear that run-rate would not be an issue if the two stayed in. Ovington mixed up their bowling, but to no avail, with the two batsmen working the ball around well. With eight runs needed to win, Zeeshan hit a six off the last ball of one over, with Woody hitting the following ball for six to finish the match. Zeeshan ended 37no, with Woody 47no – super cricket.

Plaudits also should go to Ovington, who played competively but fairly, with a good spirit all round.

The aftermath

After catching Afshin hitting the winning run against Ovington II (more on this in a separate report), the team headed out to celebrate its brace of victories in town.

There was a great turnout, with The Copeland leading the troops to The Olde Starre Inn and Kennedy’s. Notable performances on the dancefloor came from The Copeland himself, challenged for his dancing crown by the energetic Zeeshan. Words cannot describe their bold moves, though this video gives some insight into Copeland’s trademark style.

The final thought – an editorial from Albert “Jerry Springer” Hall

What a day – I’m still beaming that both teams won important games.

My job as skipper (for the first time in a league match) was made somewhat easier by some outstanding player performances. However, I’d also like to say a thank you to everybody on the team for their help – as I arrived at the ground and began worrying (“Where’s Rob when I need him!”), suddenly tables, chairs, flags and sight screens appeared in their correct positions, arranged by an army of helpers who needed no prompting. On the field, I was helped by some excellent advice when I needed it, but was also left to make my own decisions. A marvellous tea was served up, money and flags were collected, and everything was tidied away with minimum fuss.

So, thanks to the whole team for a great performance both on and off the field. I look forward to the winning streak continuing under Squadron Leader Dale next week.

The Octopus expects…

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Blog, 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.