Arthington 1st XI – 454/9 50 overs	168 all out –South Milford 1st XI 23 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 218 Abdul Saboor: 83	Jahanzaib Rahim: 6-0-56-4 Naveed Piran: 8.5-3-61-3

After a disappointing defeat in their previous league encounter, Arthington’s 1st XI were looking to bounce back to winning ways at the ACG against South Milford and did so in record-breaking fashion after another sensational batting display.

 

Once again, Naveed Andrabi opted to bat first upon winning the toss but memories of their spectacular batting collapse a week prior must surely have come flooding back when the hosts quickly found themselves 12/3 after only a few overs once Sajid Hussain had been caught behind, Hari Krishan caught at point and a promoted Rahul Khode caught in the infield.

 

Andrabi and Abdul Saboor steadied the ship and got the innings heading in the right direction until the skipper belted a leg-side shot straight to mid-wicket for a catch when the boundary beckoned. He made 37 including six fours and a six. His dismissal allowed the league’s top-scorer Himanshu Satyawan to the crease fresh off four centuries from his last five innings with his only failure being seven days earlier.

 

He began in steady fashion and reached his fifty in the 29th over from his 44th ball via a cut shot through point but reaching that milestone seemed to immediately change his internal gears as he bludgeoned the next ball for six over long-off and never really looked back. Saboor brought up the same milestone two overs later having decided to play more of an anchor role, donating nearly all of the strike to Satyawan. So much so, in fact, that when the partnership reached the 100-run mark, Saboor had faced just 16 deliveries to Satyawan’s 52.

 

With Satyawan already in full flow, Saboor also picked up the pace and another sixty runs were added at a substantial rate. The 34th and 35th overs brought about a flurry of activity with Saboor taking full toll and depositing several sixes into the leg-side before a more sedate 35th over saw Satyawan bring up his century with a flick behind square on the leg-side. Four balls later, however, Saboor ballooned the ball skywards via a top-edge and was easily caught by the wicketkeeper with the score 235/5.

 

From this point, it was a case of get as much as you can from the remaining overs for Arthington and Sourav Chandolia epitomised this approach by striking his first three deliveries for four. He was ultimately dismissed having reached 28 from just 17 balls when he chased a wide delivery and got a thin edge through to the wicketkeeper having added 111 runs with Satyawan for the sixth wicket. Needless to say, Satyawan had been firing shots all around the ACG at this point and was nearing his second double century in three matches.

 

He brought up the milestone in the 45th over, having only arrived to the crease in the 20th. Beginning the over on 189 he struck a four through mid-wicket, another through third-man and a third through backward-point for his 200 off just 103 balls. The very next ball was scooped over fine-leg for six highlighting the vast array of shots that the Arthington run-machine has at his disposal.

 

Unfortunately, it could not last and after reverse-sweeping a four and depositing a six over the long-on boundary, Satyawan failed to connect with another reverse-hit and was given out LBW. His innings of 218 came from just 109 deliveries and included 26 fours and 15 sixes. A breathtaking contribution.

 

Arthington were not entirely satisfied, even at this late stage, and managed a further 47 runs from the final four overs, mostly thanks to an explosive 33 from just 16 balls from Harsh Patel who was caught at long-on rom the penultimate ball of the innings. Fittingly, Arthington’s number eleven Jahanzaib Rahim then hit his first and only delivery for six over the bowler’s head. After 15 penalty runs had been added to the end of the innings for a slow over-rate, something that feels incredibly harsh given the amount of ball-retrieval that had taken place, Arthington finished on 454/9, their highest score in their history.

 

Any sliver of hope that South Milford might have had of reaching such a lofty total soon vanished when the home side took wickets in each of the first two overs, firstly via the very first ball of the innings when Naveed Piran blew the stumps apart before Jahanzaid Rahim pouched a straightforward caught and bowled opportunity.

 

The visiting captain certainly went the right way about his innings and managed a rapid fifty but around him wickets continued to fall as Piran and Rahim helped themselves to a further three via catches at long-on by Rahul Khode, behind the stumps by Harsh Patel and at cover from a leading edge under which Hari Krishan had settled himself. The resulting hat-trick ball from Rahim in the next over was hit anti-climactically for four.

 

Jack Hebden made 69 in his 39-ball innings including 11 fours and a six but once the captain had been dismissed, again caught behind off the bowling of Rahim, the writing was on the wall for the visitors. Naveed Piran made one final breakthrough, his third, again unseating the bails and Hari Krishan was given a few overs and managed a wicket himself to effectively end the contest as the away side chose not to use their final two wickets. Arthington won by 286 runs.

 

It was another mesmerising display of batting on this occasion by Arthington that brought about their latest, record-breaking victory. Once again, Himanshu Satyawan was the chief contributor but unlike in their fixture two weeks earlier, which saw him score seventy percent of the runs in their 405-run score, he was ably assisted by many other Arthington batsmen, meaning the total easily surpassed that effort. Margin of victory, however, means little in this league and due to their four earlier defeats, Arthington still find themselves fourth in the Championship West table, two wins off the pace. Next week, they travel to Sessay.

 

2nd XI summary – Away against Newby Hall

Arthington 2nd XI – 278/4 40 overs	135 all out – Newby Hall 1st XI 30.5 overs
Ahmer Sadiq: 121* Nirav Patel: 68	Nirav Patel: 6-1-25-3 Muhammad Ali: 3-0-13-2

 

Arthington’s 2nd XI were also in the runs when they travelled to Newby Hall, looking to do the double over their opponents this season and extend a three-match winning streak. Things did not go according to plan to begin with as Arthington captain Luke Seaborne lost the toss and his team were put in to bat.

 

The returning Alex O’Neil struggled to get going and succumbed to some excellent bowling in the early stages as he failed to defend a vicious in swinging delivery. A mix-up in the running between Ahmer Sadiq and Steve Potter then brought about the latter’s dismissal, though it was the former who was mostly to blame when a mis-field barely left the fielder’s vicinity yet a run was called and Potter found himself well short running to the danger end, effectively sacrificing his wicket.

 

From that point on, the game belonged to the visitors. Sadiq and Nirav Patel saw all Newby Hall’s bowling options try and fail to dismiss them as they combined for 140 runs. Though it appeared that Patel was playing the more aggressive role, Sadiq scored at the faster rate due to a relentless accumulation of runs with barely a dot to be seen on the scorecard. A lofty pull into the leg-side toward the distant mid-wicket boundary finally brought about the next wicket thanks to a superbly taken catch. Patel had done significant damage though to reach 68 from 76 balls including 8 fours and a six.

 

Luke Seaborne joined Sadiq in the middle with the opener approaching a well-compiled century. Seaborne was gifted several boundaries in his first few deliveries and continued to play in daring fashion, using his feet frequently to target his favoured leg-side whenever he could. Sadiq did reach his hundred and would remain unbeaten once the innings reached its conclusion after the forty overs. His 121 came from just 97 deliveries and included 16 fours and a six.

 

Seaborne’s pre-emptive foot movement ultimately proved to be his downfall, though he did reach a second successive fifty from forty balls including 5 fours and 2 sixes before he walked across his stumps to the off-side one time too many and missed a straight delivery. Zaid Anwar and Sadiq scrambled a few more runs in the remaining deliveries to end the innings with the visitors 278/4, their highest total of the season so far.

 

The opening bowling spells of the Arthington bowlers soon made things even more difficult for the hosts than they already were as Joe Seaborne’s overs saw the required run-rate of seven per over climb higher still while Nirav Patel launched an assault on the Newby Hall top order at the other end, taking the first three wickets, twice assisted by catches behind by Dave Howard and once rocking back the stumps. He could have had even more joy had catches behind and at second slip been held.

 

Seaborne’s persistence was eventually rewarded too in an uninterrupted eight-over spell when he trapped the number five batsman in front of his stumps for an LBW. The change bowling brought about new faces but no respite for the home side’s batsmen as Zaid Anwar and new junior recruit Javed Akakhail both had the bails on the floor in their spells.

 

Further changes brought about all of the remaining wickets as Muhammad Ali created a simple chance at mid-wicket for Luke Seaborne before a much more difficult effort by the captain was also taken when he ran in from the boundary to hold on to a steepling catch for Ali’s second dismissal to remove the remaining opening batsman Alex Goldie, who had managed 78 from 79 balls including 11 fours and 2 sixes. Harsimran Singh at the other end then wrapped things up via an LBW and a good catch in the ring by Joe Seaborne who watched the ball carefully into his hands as it came over his shoulder. Newby Hall all out for 135 in the 31st over, giving Arthington a winning margin of 143 runs.

 

Another convincing win for the Arthington 2nd XI brings them right into contention in an unlikely title race, especially as two of the three teams above them suffered defeats. Their next match against second place Killinghall at the ACG may well be pivotal in shaping the remainder of their season.