Arthington 1st XI – 367/8 45 overs	164 all out – Fairburn 2nd XI 42 overs
Hari Krishan: 91 Brahm Singh: 84	Ahmer Sadiq: 4-1-9-3 Inam Piran: 3-0-16-2

Arthington’s 1st XI rounded off the first half of their season with another impressive victory against Fairburn to ensure they remain unbeaten after having played every team in the division once. The first mistake made by the opponents after winning the toss was opting to allow Arthington to bat first as they capitalised in extreme fashion to all but bury the visitors after the first innings.

 

In a slightly changed side, Hari Krishan opened the batting with Ahmer Sadiq and though the latter was an early wicket, the former began constructing an excellent innings. The usually high run-scorers of Naveed Andrabi and Umar Farooq were both dismissed in the twenties and all three wickets had come via the same Fairburn fielder but three different bowlers.

 

With the score at 124/3, shortly after Krishan had reached his fifty, Brahm Singh came to the crease and the pair combined for 62 runs for the fourth wicket. No sooner had Krishan entered the nineties he lost his wicket, after finding a fielder in the outfield. The Arthington wicketkeeper made 91 including 11 fours and 3 sixes. Singh kept the momentum going and despite now being paired with the usually free-scoring Naveed Piran, the Arthington spinner contributed the bulk of the runs in their 68-run partnership and it was he that was dismissed first via a catch behind having reached 84 including 13 fours and 3 sixes.

This caused a small flurry of wickets, as after Singh’s dismissal, Piran was involved in a run out and Ritankar Chakraborty was bowled without scoring but Arthington’s score was already significant as they began the 39th over on 273/7. With just sever overs left, it is hard to believe that the Arthington tail managed to amass a further 94 runs but that is exactly what happened, thanks largely to Prateek Sangwan who bludgeoned an astonishing 75 runs from barely half of the deliveries including 6 fours and 7 sixes.

Five of the last eight overs went for double figures including 29 runs off the penultimate over when all caution had been abandoned and sixes seemed a priority with Sangwan taking four maximums from that over alone. Rahul Khode also helped himself to five boundaries in an unbeaten innings of 32 and, unfortunately, Sangwan was caught attempting another lusty blow to clear the boundary. Eight runs came off the final over, leaving the home side on 367/8 after their 45 overs and Fairburn would need over eight an over from the outset to win.

 

Arthington did not manage too many early inroads with a solitary wicket going to the opening bowlers: Umar Farooq with the scalp after having knocked over the stumps. The change bowling of Brahm Singh and Inam Piran did have a greater impact, however, with Piran taking two wickets from his short three-over spell via a catch behind and the important wicket of the Fairburn captain: clean bowled. Singh’s wicket came by virtue of a catch by Ahmer Sadiq and with the score 77/4 after 21 overs, victory seemed a very distant prospect for the visitors.

 

Captain Naveed Andrabi opted to give all his bowlers a try and managed to use ten different bowling options by the end of proceedings. Rahul Khode made the next breakthrough thanks to a catch by Inam Piran before Ahmer Sadiq had his say on matters and in his four-over spell, took three wickets, all bowled, for just nine runs to all but seal the away side’s fate. Fittingly after his excellent knock had already put the match out of sight, it was Prateek Sangwan who dealt the final blow with an LBW as Fairburn opted not to send out their number eleven due to an injury. They were bowled out for 164 meaning Arthington won by 203 runs. An impressive display all-round.

 

After half of the matches have been played and every opponent encountered once, Arthington sit top of the pile in the Division 1 Ebor table. Their next few matches do pose some interesting tests, however, as they will face some of the higher-placed sides in the division for the return fixtures. Next week they host Tadcaster Magner at the ACG.

 

2nd XI summary – Away against Spofforth

 

Arthington 2nd XI – 195 all out 37 overs	198/6 – Spofforth 1st XI 33.5 overs
Zaid Anwar: 59 Luke Seaborne: 36	Luke Seaborne: 7-0-25-3 Dougie Jones: 8-0-31-1

 

Arthington’s 2nd XI were involved in an emotional and topsy-turvy match away against Spofforth as the mid-point of the season approaches. Once again, the Arthington captain lost the toss and for the second week running his team were asked to bat first.

 

The away side’s ranks had been boosted by the return of Alex O’Neil and Steve Potter who had been key to securing their last victory and the former, along with Umer Khan, made a positive start reaching 30/0 in quick time. However, the scorecard looked all too familiar a few overs later after three quick wickets had the visitors 39/3. Khan edged to gully, O’Neil to the wicketkeeper and Martin Dickinson was bowled without scoring.

 

A small revival came in the form of Steve Potter and Arthington captain Luke Seaborne as they nearly doubled the away side’s score for the fourth wicket, but the introduction of spin proved to be the immediate undoing of Potter who was bowled by a great first ball by the young Spofforth off-spinner.

 

Seaborne had taken a liking to the left-arm seamer from the other end, but his over-confidence resulted in his downfall when a full ball on his legs was sent with pinpoint accuracy to the deep mid-wicket fielder who barely had to move to take the catch to dismiss the Arthington captain for 36 including 6 fours and a six.

 

Gareth Meredith again reached double figures but was another victim of the spinner when he went after a straight ball but failed to connect and Joe Seaborne’s stay at the crease was ended in similar fashion when he charged down the wicket and was bowled. After a promising start, the Arthington innings had come off the rails a bit and was in need of a revival. Geoff Barker and Zaid Anwar began that task well until Barker was adjudged LBW and Dougie Jones could only manage a four before he too was heading pack to the pavilion with the score 140/9. Enter Riaz Piran, who put on a show in the number 11 position and combined wonderfully well with Anwar for a 55-run last wicket stand.

 

In the early stages together, Anwar was cautious to keep as much of the strike as possible and was also able to strike several shots for boundaries, targeting with regularity the area square of the wicket on the leg-side: an area that was soon heavily and rather amusingly reinforced by several Spofforth fielders. As the partnership progressed, however, Piran was visibly growing in confidence and was soon striking boundaries of his own with some divine strikes down the ground. The running between the wickets was chaotic at best and Anwar was dropped three times on the boundary but the good fortune and powerful ball-striking rewarded him with a terrific fifty. At the end of the 37th over, a catch finally stuck and Anwar was out for 59 from 64 balls including 10 fours and a six.

 

The excellent last-wicket partnership had moved Arthington to 195 all out at the halfway stage, something that seemed a very distant prospect when their wickets were falling all too frequently and the away side were confident that they could defend the total after nearly defending 121 a week prior.

 

The early stages of the second innings did nothing to damage that confidence either. A mix-up between the opening batsmen allowed Joe Seaborne, Riaz Piran and Steve Potter to combine for a run-out and after the new ball had been recently plucked out of a stream following a boundary, Seaborne sent it hurtling past the inside edge of the Spofforth captain to dismiss him. Had there been bails, they would have been dislodged spectacularly, but strong gusts of wind throughout proceedings had long since seen them removed.

 

Riaz Piran was unusually wicketless from his opening spell, though did see a catch dropped at slip from his bowling, but the change bowling of Dougie Jones and Luke Seaborne caused the required run-rate to climb with both going for under four runs per over. In the middle part of the innings. Jones effected the next breakthrough when a loose ball on the pads was clipped to Alex O’Neil at mid-wicket, high above his head but his lofty frame was able to hold the catch: possibly the only Arthington player who could have done so.

 

Seaborne then got in on the act and after Umer Khan held a good catch from a rubbish delivery at cover, he soon delivered two more dismissals which saw stumps adjusted from two full balls and he also had opportunities dropped at mid-on and point. Therefore, after some excellent Arthington overs, from the relative safety of 83/2, Spofforth found themselves on 97/6, only halfway to their target and with 25 of their 40 overs used up.

 

However, the away side had not accounted for the number eight batsman, demoted from his usual spot in the top order due to an injury, he came out to the crease with all guns blazing striking boundaries seemingly every other ball, including an unfortunate Umer Khan over that went for 22 runs. Combined with a more measured run-a-ball knock from the number seven, the pair saw the hosts home in an unbeaten 101-run partnership with more than six overs to spare. Joe Bowman finished on 66 runs from 28 balls including 10 fours and 2 sixes and though he survived another dropped chance, this time from an edge behind, it was still an excellent, match-winning innings.

 

Despite coming out on the losing side, Arthington cannot be too disheartened with their performance, which, for over three quarters of the match had been excellent. They will need to pick themselves up for their next match against Harrogate in their final game before the halfway mark of the season.