Arthington 1st XI – 102/0 11.3 overs	100 all out – Colton Institute 1st XI 28.4 overs
Harsh Patel: 52* Hari Krishan: 47*	Naveed Piran: 8-4-15-4 Usama Shahid: 5.4-0-27-3

Arthington were looking to take another step forward in their challenging quest to secure another title when they faced their second clash against title rivals in as many weeks, following their defeat of league leaders Beckwithshaw seven days prior. This time, they travelled to Colton, hoping to avenge a loss in the reverse fixture in a rain-affected match in June.

Captain Naveed Andrabi won the toss and elected to bowl first, as has been his preference in recent weeks and his decision was immediately vindicated by a wicket in the very first over when Naveed Piran pierced the opening batsman’s defences and crashed a ball into the stumps. Further success followed in the next over, but this time courtesy of a bizarre run out. The remaining opener played the ball down the ground and called for a single. However, it was not until he had reached the other end that the new batsman even set off, as if part of a relay race, by which time a slightly wayward throw from Jahanzaib Rahim behind the bowler was gathered by wicketkeeper Himanshu Satyawan who removed the bails.

Five overs of slight respite followed but an in-form Naveed Piran is never far from a wicket these days and picked up two in two deliveries, first by clattering into the stumps for a second time before an LBW with the very next ball left the score 26/4 after seven overs. After a lull of a few more overs, Piran struck for a fourth time in the match, this time via a catch behind by Satyawan following a thin outside edge.

The highest partnership of the home side’s innings of 28 runs came after a change in the bowling as the ruthless Piran was replaced by the spin of Sourav Chandolia and captain Andrabi brought himself on then off again without a wicket to make way for Rahul Khode. It was Khode that then made the next breakthrough, a key moment, as the remaining opener after battling hard for his 38 played a uncharacteristically tame shot straight back to the bowler who gratefully took the catch.

With the removal of the Colton top six, the writing was on the wall for their innings and though the next two partnerships did reach double figures they were then soon snuffed out, first via a terrific, spinning delivery from Chandolia that went through the gate to unseat the bails before the returning Usama Shahid speared a fearsome yorker in at the base of the stumps that was too good for the home side’s tailender. With the hosts on exactly 100 runs, two more Shahid yorkers ended the innings in consecutive deliveries. The batsman for the first can consider himself slightly unlucky after he had seemingly taken nearly all of the pace off the delivery with the toe of his bat, but what little remained was enough to squirm under and kiss the base of the stumps to gently knock off the bails. There was no such misfortune about the second and final dismissal of the sequence, which would have seen the end of many a talented batsman when it lasered into the base of the stumps. Colton Institute all out for 100.

With Arthington in the driving seat in the contest, opening batsmen Hari Krishan and Harsh Patel looked to dominate the hosts further with a quick-scoring opening partnership. After taking a few balls to assess conditions and the home side’s bowling, they got into their work, both scoring comfortably over a run-a-ball to make the chase a relatively simple one. Krishan used the pace of the bowling expertly, scoring predominantly square or behind the wicket on both sides whereas Patel took a more agricultural approach, targeting down the ground and cow corner but often ending up slicing the ball over a despondent slips cordon for boundaries through third man.

It took just eleven overs and three balls for the Arthington openers to reach the target. Both batsmen had been keeping up with one another in an apparent race to an unbeaten half-century, but after Patel ended the innings with consecutive boundaries, it was he who ended up on 52 not out, including a six and 11 fours, with just two runs coming from non-boundaries. A splendid ratio. Krishan’s innings was different but no less important and he, too, finished unbeaten, on 47, including 9 fours.

The emphatic victory sees Arthington draw level with Colton Institute as the two teams now share identical records of fifteen wins and four defeats. Studley Royal and Beckwithshaw both sit ahead of the chasing pair but crucially must play each other in two weeks’ time which will mean one team dropping points. Arthington may still be reliant on another team doing them a favour in the final three matches of the season and must also target three victories from their own final fixtures, which would extend an already impressive winning streak from six matches to nine, if they are to stand any chance of finishing first.

Next week they host mid-table Oulton at the ACG.

2nd XI summary – Home against South Kilvington

Arthington 2nd XI – 197 all out 38.4 overs	201/3 – South Kilvington 1st XI 40 overs
Luke Seaborne: 59 Zaid Anwar: 54	Luke Seaborne: 8-0-35-2 Zaid Anwar: 5-1-33-1

Arthington 2nd XI’s latest fixture, following their first defeat in eight matches, came at home against South Kilvington where they hoped to bounce straight back to winning ways. Luke Seaborne won the toss and after some deliberation opted to bowl first to dispel any lingering doubts in their ability to chase after being unsuccessful in doing so a week earlier.

 

Neither Joe Seaborne or Nirav Patel were able to make an early breakthrough, but they kept the scoring to a minimum. The change to Zaid Anwar brought immediate reward though, as he bowled out the South Kilvington opener in his first over. This brought to the crease the away side’s number three, Rakesh Alva, however, who would go on to play a pivotal role in proceedings. He began aggressively plundering boundaries from some poor bowling taking 16 runs from captain Luke Seaborne’s first over and hitting some loose Zaid Anwar deliveries to opposite sides of the ground. At the other end, runs seemed a lot harder to come by so after an initial barrage from Alva, the tactic of keeping the remaining opener on strike instead seemed a sensible one.

 

Shortly after drinks, the second wicket fell when the opening batsman’s drive down the ground was intercepted by Luke Seaborne in his follow-through and instinctively and painfully caught next to his left-ear. At the start of the 27th over, the set South Kilvington batsman, who had already reached 79 from just 39 deliveries played a length ball straight to a well-positioned Alex O’Neil at long-on for a certain catch. Inexplicably, the ball was dropped and to make matters worse, dribbled over the boundary for four runs. However, fuelled perhaps by the frustration of missing out on a key wicket, Seaborne sent down a full ball at the stumps that was struck aerially on the other side of the pitch where, thankfully, the catch was taken by Joe Seaborne at cover. The 83-run innings from 40 balls included 10 fours and 4 sixes.

 

With the score 134/3, Arthington still had a chance to keep their second innings target manageable with some tight bowling and smart fielding, but instead they were their own worst enemies as numerous catching opportunities were spurned. Muhammad Ali was most severely impacted by the mishaps, seeing three opportunities dropped from his bowling, two of which were very straightforward.  So, despite the bowling being mostly good, South Kilvington entered the final stages of their innings with only three wickets lost, denying the hosts potentially crucial bowling points. To add insult to injury, a final Nirav Patel over was struck for fifteen runs, when the Arthington all-rounder had only conceded 16 runs from his previous six overs. South Kilvington ended their innings on 201/3.

 

With the exception of the defeat to Rainton, Arthington’s recent batting displays would suggest that this target was very achievable, so they were confident of chasing it down. An early set-back came about in unusual circumstances though, when Umer Khan appeared to hit his own bails off, likely with the bat though it was never entirely clear. Things were not improved soon after, either, as Aditya Khatua on his return to the side middled a pull shot straight to mid-wicket for a catch before the usually free-scoring Nirav Patel was given out LBW for a seven-ball duck. Once Alex O’Neil had struck a six down the ground and been subsequently bowled out, the score was 28/4 with the demolition of the home side’s top order nearly complete, but for the stubborn Ahmer Sadiq who had watched the carnage unfold from the non-striker’s end.

 

He and Zaid Anwar provided some encouragement for Arthington’s growing throng of supporters following the hasty return of their 1st XI as they combined for a fifty-run partnership. Sadiq scored the bulk of the runs, including 8 fours, but was eventually given out LBW when his leg-glance failed to connect with anything and the ball struck his pads in front of the stumps. This brought Arthington captain Luke Seaborne to the crease and despite an early scare when his first scoring shot ballooned into a gap between mid-wicket and mid-on he soon took to the South Kilvington bowling and scored several early boundaries. Anwar was more watchful as the pair kept the score moving at above the required rate into three figures and towards 150. Seaborne reached his fifty with the third of three successive boundaries in the 26th over, two belted into the off-side before a sweep cleared the head of square leg and raced to the leg-side fence.

 

It was now Arthington’s game to lose and two more profitable ten-run overs followed including a no-ball beamer that Seaborne struck for a six to the shorter leg-side boundary before Anwar welcomed back the returning opening bowler with a six over the longer leg-side boundary and a four along the floor in a similar direction. Unfortunately, Seaborne’s aggressive approach was his downfall, and he was bowled by a yorker that beat his extravagant heave to the leg-side. He made 59 from 39 balls including 9 fours and 2 sixes.

 

Rather than wag enthusiastically as it has in recent matches, as if it were the postman’s day-off, the Arthington tail flopped rather limply and provided little support to Anwar who was still battling out in the middle, with Arthington 43 runs short of victory following the skipper’s dismissal and a run-rate of fewer than four runs per over required. The run-rate climbed, however, as Muhammed Ali failed to beat the South Kilvington inner ring from his 15 deliveries and eventually served up a catch to mid-off having scored just one run. Joe Seaborne had a more positive approach and hustled between the stumps, giving life to a tiring Anwar as the pair scampered several singles. A Seaborne boundary carved behind point was immediately followed by another unusual dismissal though as the Arthington opening bowler missed a ball outside off-stump and not realising that he had left his ground until it was too late. The quick-thinking wicketkeeper had already thrown down the stumps with Seaborne still short of his ground and in the process of turning around.

 

It was up to Anwar to command the rest of the chase. 15 runs were still required for the win and only two wickets remained. Javed Akakhail was given the strike early in the 37th over but failed to connect meaningfully with any deliveries. After striking a boundary in the 38th over, Anwar sensibly struck the penultimate ball of the six for a single, incidentally bringing up his half-century. Less sensibly, Akakhail swung wildly past the final ball, left his ground and was also stumped, with South Kilvington having already turned to part-time bowlers with their four main options all used up. A valuable learning experience in playing a situation, no doubt, for the youngster.

 

An injured Dave Howard was next and last to bat and joined Anwar with a runner due to a suspected broken toe. The rules dictate that a runner be of similar build and capability but in the absence of that, Joe Seaborne was chosen for the role by virtue of still having his pads on to which South Kilvington agreed, to their great credit.

 

The penultimate over began in the best possible fashion as Anwar struck a four through mid-wicket, leaving the hosts four short of a tie and five from a win. Despite spending 28 overs at the crease, however, Anwar still was not striking the ball cleanly, playing and missing and then edging the next two deliveries. The fourth ball of the over and final ball of the match caught Anwar’s outside edge and was taken by the wicketkeeper, diving to his right, for his fourth dismissal of the contest. Arthington all out for 197, losing by four runs.

 

It was a painful blow for Arthington to have recovered so well from a disastrous start only to fall agonisingly short. The performance was far from their best and yet to only lose by four runs shows that had only one or two things gone their way earlier on they could still have come away with a win. Instead, they will need to lick their wounds and prepare for a visit to top of the table Walton Park, against whom a win will now be essential if they are to keep their dwindling promotion chances alive.