Emotional day at the ACG ends with a comfortable Arthington victory

North Stainley were the visitors to the ACG for their first competitive match since the tragic loss of one of their junior players in a car accident. Overs were bowled, runs were scored, wickets were taken and there was a winning and a losing side, but the most significant moment of the day came before play began, when both sides paid tribute to a talented 18-year old cricketer, Aaron Bell, who left this world too soon.

North Stainley’s 2nd XI captain, Ben Bramley, spoke some very touching words to both sides as they flanked the match wicket. He recalled many fond memories of Aaron’s time with their cricket club, how he’d began as a promising junior cricketer before being elevated to the senior team in 2018, a season in which he also managed his first fifty. He went on to have many successful innings and was also an extremely capable fielder, as Bramley noted that anyone who chanced a run to where Aaron was fielding was always at risk of losing their wicket. After some time out of the game over the 2020 and 2021 campaigns where his appearances were less regular, Bramley was delighted to hear that Aaron would be available for more matches in the current season and eagerly got him into the side, this time as a wicketkeeper batsman and he effected several dismissals and made a decent number of runs as well. Following the moving tribute, a minute’s silence was held by both teams, followed by some applause, after which the game got underway.

The visitors fielded a much-changed team to the one that had handed Arthington their first defeat of the season back in June, with only four names from the first fixture appearing on the team sheet for the second and, perhaps with the poor batting display of that day in mind, North Stainley put the hosts in to bat after winning the toss.

A new look opening pairing of Tameem Wani and Shabir Ahmed, following his return to the club, opened the innings and Ahmed faced the majority of the opening bowling. After five overs of little incident, Ahmed struck a pair of fours to move his score into double figures but was then dismissed when he looped a shot straight back at the bowler for a simple catch.

Wani then followed in a similar fashion when he was caught behind only one ball after striking an enormous six over deep mid-wicket, which brought Luke Seaborne to the crease to join Jo Nash. Seaborne signalled his intentions early glancing a ball off his hip for a four to backward square-leg from just the second ball he faced, but was then given time to settle as Nash faced the entirety of the next three overs. The impressive North Stainley opening bowlers were then replaced by slower options and after a brief look, Seaborne soon got stuck into the change of pace while Nash provided support at the other end. The pair reached the 20-over mark and drinks with the score on exactly 100 and, with eight wickets in hand, there was every opportunity to push on and set an intimidating target.

In total, they combined for 107 runs until the partnership was finally broken when Seaborne failed to connect with a straight ball and was bowled. However, significant damage had already been done as his innings of 71 came off just 39 balls and included 7 fours and 5 sixes, favouring the leg-side and straight down the ground for the majority of his scoring. It was the former 1st XI bowler’s first ever fifty for Arthington in his seventh season with the club. Gareth Meredith then survived only a single ball before tamely prodding an uncharacteristic defensive shot straight back to the bowler.

Mohammed Faiyazuddin joined Nash at the crease until the latter’s resistance was ended by the North Stainley captain for his third wicket. Nash made 38 runs including 5 fours. Faiyazuddin was also looking in good touch but an ugly, pre-empted swipe across the line saw him miss the ball completely and hear the inevitable sound of bails being removed behind him as the opening bowlers returned at the back end of the innings.

Andrew Stoddart was joined by Arthington’s captain Martin Hings but the usually aggressive Hings struggled to get going and only managed six runs before he too was bowled, this time from the other end. Martin Finn then provided some lower-order entertainment by bludgeoning his very first ball for four over the bowler’s head. This also ignited something in Stoddart who picked up his scoring rate as the overs ticked away, eventually finishing on an unbeaten 31 including 4 fours. After the 40 overs had been bowled, Arthington ended their innings on 205/7. Though Hings had targeted an ambitious 240 at the halfway stage, this was still a significant improvement on their last match against the visitors where they failed to chase 149 and the hosts looked the more likely victors at tea.

In the second innings, having returned his best ever bowling figures of 7/20 the previous weekend, Joe Seaborne picked up where he left off in that match, taking a wicket in his first over with his now very effective slower ball. The North Stainley opener played the full-length ball straight back to Arthington’s pace man who took an easy catch. Runs appeared hard to come by and the score had only reached eight by the time the next wicket fell, again to a Seaborne slower ball and again via a caught and bowled.

Martin Finn was doing a good job at keeping things tight from the other end as an unusually expensive over from Seaborne went for twelve runs to more than double the away side’s total, though two of the three boundaries were somewhat fortuitous. Normal service was resumed in the tenth over as Seaborne dismantled the stumps with a full, straight ball that beat the batsman all ends up. Having picked up three wickets already and also having several close LBW appeals turned down, Seaborne was removed from the attack.

However, there was no let up from the Arthington bowlers as a wicket fell in each of the next three overs. Finn finally got a deserved reward for his economical efforts when a mistimed drive reached Gareth Meredith at mid-off for a catch. Andrew Stoddart began his bowling spell with a wicket maiden and removed the stubborn North Stainley captain, Bramley, in the process, who had batted well for his side’s top score on the day of 24. His luck finally ran out when he edged a ball behind to wicketkeeper Dave Howard. Tameem Wani then replaced Finn and though it took him four balls to find his range, the first ball that hit a decent length was edged behind to Howard once more to complete the destruction of the away side’s top six, four of whom failed to score.

However, there was then a lull in the wicket-taking as a partnership formed between numbers seven and eight in the North Stainley batting order. They batted out over eleven overs and more than doubled their side’s score in the process. Arthington captain Martin Hings tried several bowling options, including himself, but it was the returning Stoddart that finally made the breakthrough in the 27th over.

Having identified a tendency for both batsmen to walk across their stumps, he threw up an unexpected leg-spinner that pitched outside the line of leg-stump before turning back quite sharply to unseat the bails. A clever piece of bowling. With the door ajar and after a short bowling spell from Gareth Meredith, Hings brought back his main strike bowlers to finish the job, which Seaborne managed with ruthless efficiency.

In his first over back he rattled the stumps behind the away side’s young tailender who had played a few nice shots to reach his four runs and had even had one chalked off when his more experienced batting partner had failed to ground his bat behind the crease after the first of two runs. In the next over, he became Seaborne’s fifth victim when he failed to keep out a full and straight ball on the stumps. The match was ended three balls later when Seaborne, searching for a sixth wicket, took no mercy on the poor number eleven batter and speared a yorker right onto her foot. She was helped off the field, retiring hurt and ending the contest but thankfully the injury did not seem as bad as it first appeared. Another five wickets for Seaborne makes it twelve in the last two matches for the 2nd XI’s fast bowler, after a bit of a mid-season drought.

It was a very clinical performance by Arthington who managed to gain the victory that eluded them in the reverse fixture, though all credit must go to the visitors for fielding a full 2nd XI side for the match. In what must be an impossibly difficult time for their club, they did themselves proud to take back to the field and played their part in an enjoyable match that was conducted in good spirits. A special mention must go to the North Stainley captain Ben Bramley for not only achieving his side’s top score with the bat and taking the most wickets with the ball but also for his moving words before play began.

Arthington’s next match is against Upper Wharfedale at the ACG. After a convincing win in Grassington, the 2nd XI will be hoping for a similar outcome, though next week’s visitors have staged a decent recovery after a mid-season blip and sit just behind Arthington in the division six table.

Many thanks to Elizabeth Nash for providing the teas at Arthington.