Arthington 1st XI – 246/9 50 overs	197 all out – South Milford 1st XI 47.3 overs
Sourav Chandolia: 54 Hari Krishan: 49	Sourav Chandolia: 11.3-2-29-3 Umar Farooq: 9-1-25-2

After two straight defeats to kerb their fast start to the league season, Arthington’s 1st XI were intent on taking the first step to recovery when they travelled to a potentially tricky fixture at South Milford. Naveed Andrabi won the toss and opted to stick with what his side do best and bat first.

 

The Arthington skipper turned a few heads when he opted to open the batting himself alongside regular opening batsman Sajid Hussain, moving Hari Krishan to three. The experiment ultimately failed, however, as Andrabi was the first man to be dismissed in the ninth over for just fifteen runs. Krishan’s stay at the crease was more fruitful though he was involved in Sajid Hussain’s second run out in as many weeks for the second wicket.

 

After a bountiful few games, Ridham Satyawan was playing his final league match of the season for Arthington before embarking on a different venture and scored a brisk 23 runs until he was caught in the outfield to make the score 97/3. Krishan was going along nicely at this stage and in the next partnership added to his eventual tally of 5 fours and 3 sixes with a few lusty blows. With one run remaining before his half-century, however, he became the next victim of the South Milford attack.

 

Arthington then saw signs of an all-too familiar collapse developing, which has seen them fail to use all fifty overs in several encounters already this season. After Krishan’s dismissal, Harsh Patel soon followed and Umar Farooq, who had played himself in at this stage, played back to the bowler for a caught and bowled. The three middle-order wickets fell in the space of just eleven runs.

 

But Arthington are no strangers to filling in holes that they have dug for themselves, both on and off the field, and the rescue act on this occasion involved Sourav Chandolia and Ahmer Sadiq, neither of whom succumbed to any pressure and instead built a good partnership to push the Arthington innings on. The pair took the first innings into the 48th over before Sadiq was bowled for 25. Meanwhile, Chandolia had passed fifty but did eventually fall, nine balls shy of the close of the innings in an effort to set the highest possible total for his team. His 54 runs included 7 fours and a six.

 

The unfortunate Rahul Khode still had time to become the second Arthington victim of a run out before Javaid Hussain and Usama Shahid managed six runs between them from the final three deliveries to end the Arthington innings on 246/9. An excellent recovery given what had happened earlier.

 

At the start of their reply, the hosts might have wished that the tea interval had lasted a bit longer, because they soon found themselves on 11/3 after three early strikes by Arthington’s bowlers. Usama Shahid burst through the batsman’s defence with a bowled and an LBW to be the slices of bread in a wicket sandwich with the filling provided at the other end by Umar Farooq following a catch behind by Harsh Patel.

 

South Milford did recover from their disastrous start and added 56 runs for the next wicket. It took the introduction of spin to break this partnership when Rahul Khode benefitted from a farewell catch by Ridham Satyawan. Seven low-scoring overs later, Arthington’s other spinner Sourav Chandolia got his first wicket, clean bowled, and his team’s fifth to complete the removal of the home side’s top order.

 

In his very next over, Chandolia claimed another scalp, that of the South Milford captain, this time assisted by a catch by Usama Shahid. However, instead of wilting, and in a similar fashion to the Arthington lower order, the home side also rallied in the middle overs and put on 48 runs for their next wicket. The returning Umar Farooq clattered into the stumps eventually to end the South Milford number eight’s 36-ball vigil and the victory soon seemed out of sight for the hosts when two more wickets fell soon after, Farooq with a run out and Ridham Satyawan with a rare scalp after being given the opportunity to bowl in his final appearance. The catch was taken by Sourav Chandolia, who was all over the scorecard in this match.

 

The final wicket stand frustrated Arthington’s players slightly, but they were still in charge of the contest and though the 48-run partnership took South Milford to just shy of 200, they were way behind the required run-rate. Roles were reversed for the final wicket when Satyawan took a catch from Chandolia’s bowling, with the spinner finishing with his team’s best bowling figures, highest score with the bat and a catch to his name. A great performance. Arthington won by 49 runs.

 

Though Chandolia was the stand-out, there were significant contributions from all eleven Arthington players in this return to winning ways. Though further wins are still required to boost their promotion aspirations, the 1st XI will be happy that they have begun to repair the damage to retain fourth spot in the table. Next week they host Bilton in Ainsty at the ACG.

 

2nd XI summary – Home against Newby Hall

Arthington 2nd XI – 117/6 30.4 overs	114 all out – Newby Hall 4th XI 28.4 overs
Umer Khan: 33 Ahmer Sadiq: 29	Harsimran Singh: 4.4-1-12-3 Umer Khan: 5-1-6-2

After a successful weekend away at Harrogate last time out, the Arthington 2nd XI played host to Newby Hall in their latest fixture, hoping to string together back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Captain Luke Seaborne won the toss and elected to bowl first.

 

The match began well for the home side as Joe Seaborne took a brace of early wickets from inducing false shots. The first was a caught and bowled that looped up to him nicely in his follow-through and the second went a little further but was caught instead by Riaz Piran at mid-on. Newby Hall’s captain then staged a minor recovery but the change bowling of Inam Piran and Umer Khan was introduced with devastating effect as the score went from 40/2 to 43/6 in the space of just a few overs.

 

Piran made the key breakthrough when an in-swinging yorker beat everything but middle-stump before Khan, who, since his reintroduction to the Arthington bowling line-up has consistently delivered imperious performances, delivered again by taking the next three wickets. The first dismissal followed two LBW appeals that were turned down, likely for height, but a third shout from a fuller ball was judged to be stumps-bound. Khan needed no assistance from the umpire for the next two wickets as both were bowled with fantastic bail-trimming deliveries.

 

Once Zaid Anwar and Harsimran Singh had also taken a wicket apiece via an LBW and a good running catch by Joe Seaborne to leave the visitors 67/8, one could have been forgiven for assuming that the innings was coming to a close. It was alarming for Arthington, therefore, that the Newby Hall score was doubled before the final two wickets fell, with 69 runs being added for the ninth wicket.

 

The returning Inam Piran made the two breakthroughs via an LBW and a clean bowled to give him his second and third wickets of the innings. Newby Hall were bowled out for 141. In reply, Arthington made a good start to their chase and quickly got to 35, with Umer Khan doing the bulk of the scoring. The home side had welcomed back Aditya Khatua for this match but the opening batsman was the first wicket to fall via a thin edge through to the wicketkeeper.

 

Steve Potter steered a catch to point and after setting a great platform and dispatching 5 fours and a six to the boundary, Umer Khan then gave catching practice to the mid-wicket fielder. Ritankar Chakraborty failed to trouble the scorers on his return to the side after injury and captain Luke Seaborne guided a ball through third man for four but a rash moment just a few deliveries later led to him being bowled.

 

With the score 67/5, Newby Hall must have thought that they were in for a real chance at victory, but Nirav Patel and Zaid Anwar combined wonderfully well under the pressure and managed to get all of the remaining runs that the hosts required for victory, reaching 144/5 in just the 23rd over. Patel finished on 39 from just 31 balls including 7 fours and a six and Anwar was unbeaten on a run-a-ball 33 including 5 fours and a maximum. Though both did offer up a chance to the Newby Hall fielders there were undeterred and handed Arthington their fourth victory of the season in convincing fashion after earlier good work from the bowlers and fielders.

 

Though content with the victory, Arthington will need to find their killer instinct in future games to avoid potentially difficult chases. To have the opposition eight wickets down but allow them to double their score could have ended in a much worse manner for them. Next week they travel north both geographically and on the division 4 table to face third place Killinghall.

 

1st XI summary – Hundred cup match against Colton Institute

Arthington 1st XI – 143/9 90 balls	140 all out – Colton Institute 1st XI 99 balls
Naveed Andrabi: 63 Sajid Hussain: 26	Umar Farooq: 19-32-3 Rahul Khode: 15-16-1

Following a defeat to the same opposition in the league a week prior, Arthington’s 1st XI were keen to come out on the right side of the result in the next round of the Hundred Cup. The previous defeat must have left them extremely motivated, because they delivered on of the best all-round performances to see off their opponents and make it through to the next round.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi won the toss and opted to field first in the shorter format and the Colton innings, though progressing at a swift enough rate, was beset by regular set-backs caused by the Arthington bowlers and fielders alike. Naveed Piran bowled a very impressive few sets and kept the scoring to a minimum and was rewarded with a catch by Ahmer Sadiq for the first wicket. A key moment then followed soon after when the Colton number three who managed a fifty-ball hundred in the league fixture gave a catching chance to Himanshu Satyawan from Umar Farooq’s bowling which was taken.

 

Two sharp run-outs followed, either side of Naveed Andrabi dismissing the remaining opener via an Umar Farooq catch. Farooq then fired a throw to Harsh Patel for his run out after Naveed Piran had done the same a few balls earlier. Colton were 73/5 at this point but their number six batsman Kian England powered his way to fifty in rapid time to get his side towards a good total, preferring to clear the boundary as opposed to crossing it, he struck a single four and 6 sixes for his 62 off 33 deliveries. At the other end, however, Arthington continued to take wickets to restrict their eventual target and Rahul Khode got his name in the wickets column thanks to another catch by Himanshu Satyawan. Khode then twice turned provider for Umar Farooq in his next stint of deliveries with catches in the outfield and to give Farooq impressive figures of 3 for 32 as the innings drew to a close.

 

There was still time for a late flurry by England to give his team a boost but in trying to get as many runs as possible risks were taken and the final two dismissals came as a result of two further run outs, the first by Himanshu Satyawan who had a fine day in the field and the second courtesy of Javaid Hussain. Colton all out for 140 from 99 of their hundred balls.

 

In reply, Arthington built their innings around their captain Naveed Andrabi. Harsh Patel managed a quick burst of twelve runs from just six balls before Andrabi, in combination with Sajid Hussain, consolidated and made their way swifty towards the target. The pair added 76 runs for the second wicket together until Andrabi’s quickfire innings was brought to a close when he was caught. His 63-run knock came from just 31 balls and featured 7 fours and 3 sixes.

 

Himanshu Satyawan could not get his innings going as he was also caught in the outfield and Hussain was given out LBW for 26 including 3 fours to end his stay at the crease, but with the score 126/4 and with sufficient balls to spare, Arthington felt in charge of the chase. Umar Farooq added 14 runs from just seven balls and though Sourav Chandolia fell in the latter stages, Farooq and Ahmer Sadiq brought up the winning runs between them with ten balls to spare. Arthington won by 5 wickets.

 

This was a very positive performance from Arthington and will go some way to avenging the defeat against Colton in the league. Focus returns to the league for now until the next round of the competition, the quarter-final, where Arthington will face either Goole Town or Drax.