Arthington 1st XI – 195/8 50 overs	147 all out – Bolton Percy 1st XI 46.3 overs
Ridham Satyawan: 66 Sourav Chandolia: 50*	Rahul Khode: 13-0-30-3 Sourav Chandolia: 10.3-0-39-3

Regular readers of these match reports will have to excuse these two for lacking details as I have a lot less information to go on due to missing information on the scorecards.

 

Just two days on from a convincing victory against Sessay at the ACG, Arthington’s 1st XI took to the field again for an away match against Bolton Percy, who, despite their low position in the league table put up a significant fight and but for some tenacity from the Arthington lower order could well have come away with victory.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Anrabi won the toss and elected to bat but the desired impetus from his top order was absent on this occasion as Harsh Patel, Hari Krishan and the skipper himself were all early victims of the Bolton Percy opening bowlers. Ridham Satyawan, batting at four, was made of sterner stuff though and formed partnerships with Umar Farooq and Ahmer Sadiq to set a platform for the innings.

 

Though Farooq and Sadiq were both dismissed for just nine and twelve runs respectively, they allowed Satyawan to score more freely at the other end and he eventually reached his fifty. His innings was ended, however, by a caught and bowled, which has become one of the 1st XI’s favourite modes of dismissal, having claimed two Arthington wickets two days prior.

 

Sourav Chandolia was new at the crease at this stage but his hopes of replicating the earlier partnerships seemed to be slipping away when two potential side-kicks in Rahul Khode and Javaid Hussain came and went without scoring, the former being clean bowled and the latter given out LBW.

 

Enter Inam Piran, the young pace bowler, not known for huge amounts of discipline or form with the bat. Yet positive signs had appeared in the match 48 hours earlier and they made another appearance on this baking hot bank holiday as he blocked out several dozen deliveries to stifle the frustrated Bolton Percy bowlers, who must have thought with the score in the 130s when Piran came to the crease, that the final two Arthington wickets would be easy to take and they would have a very gettable target to chase.

 

Opposite Piran’s defiance, Chandolia was scoring runs and taking the score to a more competitive one. The overs slipped away and runs proved hard to come by, but the pair eventually put on approximately 60 runs for the eighth wicket and remained unbeaten, keeping the Bolton Percy fielders on the grill for the full 50 overs. Chandolia finished with a flourish, striking the final ball of the innings for six to bring up a fantastic fifty. Arthington ended their fifty-over innings on 195/8.

 

Riaz Piran took his first opportunity in the 1st XI with both hands as he was entrusted with the new ball and promptly took a wicket with his very first delivery. The 2nd XI captain insists he is not for sale, but no doubt a few heads will be turning his way if he can produce key moments such as those on a regular basis.

 

Throughout the rest of the Bolton Percy innings, there were several other significant contributions. Sourav Chandolia, who was having a special game of his own, took the wicket of the remaining opener via a catch by Umar Farooq who himself was unfortunate not to be rewarded with a wicket for a seven-over spell later on, though he conceded just three runs per over. Another key moment was then delivered by Javaid Hussain when his shy at the stumps hit the coconuts to allow him to take home the big prize wicket of the home side’s number three who had been going along nicely.

 

Naveed Andrabi then began a spell and just decided to keep on going on a gruelling and scorching day to be out of the shade. His spell lasted 13 overs and he conceded just 28 runs and helped himself to two wickets to boot. It would not be an Arthington victory these days without a significant contribution from Rahul Khode as well and after two consecutive five-wicket hauls, though he could only manage three wickets this time, his 13-over spell for just 30 runs was a huge factor. A Harsh Patel stumping followed by catches from Naveed Andrabi and Javaid Hussain helped secure his latest scalps.

 

Fittingly, Chandolia then rounded off proceedings with the ball just as he had done with the bat and after batting so expertly with the tail earlier in the match he bowled out the Bolton Percy tail to conclude the match, also finishing on three wickets. The hosts were bowled out for 147 and bringing about a fifth consecutive victory for Arthington, this time by 48 runs.

 

The win takes Arthington to the summit of the Championship West league table, though they share the peak with two other sides both of whom have five victories. On Saturday one of those teams will have to give up their spot, however, as Arthington take on Beckwithshaw in arguably the most important match of the season so far.

1st XI cup summary – Away against Bilton in Ainsty

Arthington 1st XI – 136/4 81 balls	134/6 – Bilton in Ainsty 1st XI 100 balls
Ridham Satyawan: 57* Naveed Andrabi: 29	Naveed Andrabi: 15 B – 11 R – 2 W Naveed Piran: 20 B – 12 R – 1 W

For their third match in just five days, Arthington’s 1st XI had their first ever taste of Hundred cricket when they took on Bilton in Ainsty in the first round of the Hundred Cup. Bilton were the home side and they chose to bat first upon winning the toss.

 

Their innings was a peculiar one, as it was book-ended by the two significant scoring contributions, those of their opener, who batted through the innings and scored 37 in an anchor role and of the number eight batsman who top-scored with 45. In between, only one of the other six batsmen reached double figures.

 

The wickets were spread around with Inam and Naveed Piran taking the first two by rattling the timbers before the Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi stepped up to take the next two via a stumping from Harsh Patel and a catch by Naveed Piran to dismiss the home side’s captain. Andrabi’s 15-ball effort went for just 11 runs as well. Javaid Hussain bowled his full 20-ball allocation and also brought about a wicket with the help of a Ridham Satyawan catch and even Sajid Hussain got to turn his arm over and got the final Bilton dismissal LBW.

 

Things could have been better for Arthington if the wicket-taking had continued but the partnership between the remaining opener and the expansive number eight did eventually get the hosts to a competitive score, going from 70/6 to 134/6 at the end of the hundred balls.

 

In reply, Arthington faltered in the early stages as Sajid Hussain, Hari Krishan and Himanshu Satyawan all lost their wickets cheaply; Krishan continued the apparent curse at the moment to be the latest Arthington batsman to be caught and bowled. Harsh Patel was also dismissed but had at least managed a flurry of boundaries to get the visitors well ahead of the scoring rate. The score had reached 55/4 but the wicketkeeper batsman had bludgeoned 26 from just 11 deliveries before he was bowled.

 

The baton was then passed to the calm heads of Ridham Satyawan and Naveed Andrabi. The latter benefitted from being able to take some time to ease into his innings, with the former showing no such caution, striking two of his first three balls for six to set the tone for his knock. Satyawan ended on an unbeaten fifty, managing 5 sixes and 3 fours in his 57 runs. Andrabi also finished not out on 29. The pair combined for 81 runs and the match was over after 81 balls of the Arthington innings.

 

Another good win for Arthington should help keep spirits soaring as they accumulate their seventh straight win in all competitions with the only blip this season an opening day league defeat against Studley Royal. With a slight break in upcoming cup action, the attention turns back to the league.