Arthington 1st XI – 223/8 45 overs	192 all out – Hensall 1st XI 43.5 overs
Umar Farooq: 94 Brahm Singh: 27	Naveed Andrabi: 8.5-0-44-4 Brahm Singh: 12-2-49-4

Arthington 1st XI had the dependable Umar Farooq and the rest of their lower batting order to thank for digging them out of a hole in their latest match away against Hensall. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the visitors soon found themselves 60/5 in just the 14th over, predominantly at the hands of the Hensall opening bowler, Adam Watson in his first spell, who took four of the first five wickets either side of taking a catch for the fifth. Skipper Naveed Andrabi and the division’s leading run scorer Himanshu Satyawan were among the dismissals.

Not for the first time this season, a rescue act was required and, not for the first time, it was Farooq who provided it at number six. First of all, his partnership with Brahm Singh doubled the Arthington score as it had reached 120 before Singh’s wicket fell to a catch behind. The all-rounder made 27 including 3 fours.

Kamrosh Khan was the next man to accompany Farooq in the rebuild and their partnership of 76 was the highest of the innings. Khan is not necessarily used to playing the holding role but he did on this occasion, facing 50 balls for his 22 runs in an effort to support Farooq, who had begun striking out for regular boundaries.

 

Khan was finally removed via a catch in the outfield in the 41st over with the repair of the away side’s innings nearly complete. Farooq was nearing his century but was also running out of overs. In pursuit of the milestone he too was also caught, in the final over, having reached 94 runs in just 84 balls including 9 fours and 3 sixes. Another superb innings from the all-rounder who is having a great season. Arthington ended their 45 over innings on 223/8.

 

If any lessons can be taken from this fixture, it would be from the Hensall top order, who showed Arthington how to handle the opening overs, reaching 78 before the first wicket fell. They were not tentative in their approach either, with the required run-rate well under control. The first dismissal was far from sparking a collapse, either, as the second wicket then added 55 runs before the remaining opener was dismissed for a well-made 76 by Inam Piran, via a catch by Umar Farooq, who seemingly refused to become a spectator at any point in proceedings.

 

The score had reached 163/3 in the 36th over, which signalled the start of a significant turnaround. The match was still delicately poised with the hosts needing just over a run a ball to win the match with plenty of wickets remaining, but there was instead a huge change in momentum in favour of Arthington, seven wickets fell for just 29 runs. Brahm Singh and skipper Naveed Andrabi were responsible for the carnage, which, after the promising start made by the top three Hensall batsmen resulted in no batsmen from the bottom eight reaching double figures.

 

Himanshu Satyawan was key to three of Singh’s four wickets thanks to three sharp stumpings behind the wicket, after Singh had already removed the bails himself for his first. Before Andrabi could tuck into what remained of the Hensall batting order, however, there was time for a stunning boundary catch by Rahul Khode who plucked a ball out of the sky to give Umar Farooq his first and only wicket of the chase. Andrabi then took the final three wickets in just two overs to give him four for the match assisted by Sajid Hussain and a simpler grab by Khode before the stumps were disturbed to put a seal on the victory. Hensall all out for 192. Arthington won by 31 runs.

 

With victory, Arthington retain their position at the top of the table and remain unbeaten. However, it has certainly not been smooth sailing with several tight margins of victory in some exciting matches so far. Next week, the 1st XI are back at the ACG where they take on bottom side Ledsham, who are yet to register a win.

2nd XI summary – Home against Lofthouse & Middlesmoor

 

Arthington 2nd XI – 158/8 40 overs	159/4 – Lofthouse & Middlesmoor 1st XI 36.4 overs
Geoff Barker: 39 Zaid Anwar: 37	Zaid Anwar: 4-0-12-1 Riaz Piran: 6-0-29-1

 

Arthington’s 2nd XI played host to bottom side Lofthouse & Middlesmoor with both sides having only one win to their name after the first five matches of the season. It was the visitors who came away with the victory in this contest, however, as the home side failed to put on a competitive score in the first innings, which was easily chased down.

 

Having lost the toss, Arthington were put in to bat and the tone of the innings was set early on when only eight runs were scored from the first eight overs. The away side’s opening pair of bowlers starved the batsmen of run-scoring opportunities in the early stages. No wickets had fallen during this period, but opening batsman Jo Nash was forced to retire hurt after an injury sustained the previous week made it hard to bat.

Umer Khan chose the wrong ball to go back to and played all around a full, straight delivery to be bowled for 20, which proved to be the only wicket of the first half of the innings. However, at drinks the score had only reached 52 and an injection of runs was needed. Alex O’Neil was unable to provide such an increase in the run-rate however. Despite a six and a four to his name, he struggled to find any rhythm and ended up offering a simple caught & bowled chance having made just 16.

 

Gareth Meredith looked solid in defence until his innings was brought to a premature close when he then missed a straight ball and was bowled. Arthington captain Luke Seaborne signalled his intentions from the very first ball of his innings when he smeared a six over cow corner and a partnership was brewing between him and the remaining opener Geoff Barker. Unfortunately, the latter’s innings was ended after the wicketkeeper-batsman was bowled for 39, the top score of the innings, albeit from 98 balls. His innings included two fours and a six.

 

Zaid Anwar joined the captain at the crease and the scoring rate increased significantly. Seaborne helped himself to back-to-back boundaries before Anwar began striking some sixes of his own in a 33-run partnership from just four overs. Like some of his teammates, Seaborne eventually missed a straight ball to be bowled, but the pair had added some much-needed impetus in the latter stages.

 

Anwar managed to find the boundary a few more times before he hit one back at the bowler who held the catch in the final over, which allowed Joe Seaborne to take five runs from the final two balls of the innings to leave the hosts on 158/6 at the halfway stage.

 

While they may have chanced their arm on a few occasions and were helped by a few sloppy moments from Arthington fielders, the away side’s approach to the chase was a positive one and they found themselves well ahead of the required rate from the outset. A lightning-fast reaction at slip from Martin Dickinson to give Joe Seaborne a wicket and a beauty that seamed through the batsman’s defences from Riaz Piran did little to stem a constant flow of runs.

 

When a Martin Hings over was struck for 20 runs, the writing was on the wall for the hosts and the innings reached the drinks interval at 135/3, some 80 runs ahead of where Arthington had been at the same stage. The number three batsman had passed fifty and despite the run-rate coming down slightly after the break, largely due to some defensive field placements, the fast start allowed Lofthouse & Middlesmoor to reach the target at a canter. It was thought that the final ball of the innings had resulted in a dismissal via an excellent one-handed catch on the long-on boundary by Alex O’Neil, but in taking the catch he had inadvertently overstepped the boundary line and the six runs were enough to end the contest. 159/4 in the 26th over.

 

It was an improvement, of sorts, from Arthington as their recent batting displays had led to them being bowled out completely but in a limited overs format a balance still needs to be struck between retention of wickets and positive run-scoring, which was mostly lacking in the first part of the innings. An additional 40 or 50 runs added to the target in combination with some improved fielding may have provided a few more wickets and turned the contest in the home side’s favour, but it was not to be as Arthington find themselves slipping into the bottom two in defeat.

 

Next week, the 2nd XI come up against Darley, a fellow promoted side from last season.