Arthington 1st XI – 183/1 21 overs	179/8 – Scarcroft 1st XI 45 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 113* Naveed Andrabi: 46*	Brahm Singh: 11-0-48-5 Inam Piran: 5-2-19-1

Despite a terrible forecast across the county that saw the majority of matches abandoned, Arthington were able to brave worsening conditions and hurry to a comfortable victory at the ACG against middle of the table Scarcroft.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi won the toss and opted to put aside his usual desire to bat first in favour of getting a result and bowling out the visitors early. This did not quite go to plan, however, as the away side offered significant resistance though scoring opportunities were kept to a minimum in the early stages.

 

Umar Farooq got the first breakthrough via a catch behind by Himanshu Satyawan, but it took the change bowling of Rahul Khode, in the 16th over, to bring about the next dismissal when the remaining opener was caught by Inam Piran in the infield. A third wicket soon after, the first of a profitable afternoon for Brahm Singh, following a catch by Prateek Sangwan could have opened the flood gates, but instead Scarcroft dug in and produced 46 and 51-run partnerships for the fourth and fifth wickets, taking the innings beyond 40 overs in the process.

 

Inam Piran and wicketkeeper Satyawan combined for the first of those breakthroughs, before Brahm Singh’s second over of his second spell proved fruitful as he toppled the bails of the away side’s half-centurion, Saikiran Reddy, whose innings ended on 56 including 5 fours and 3 sixes. Singh then brought about an LBW for his third wicket in the following over and completed his five-wicket haul with a brace in the final over of the innings, both bowled, to return exceptional figures of 5 for 48 from his 11 overs. Scarcroft did still have wickets available though, but instead ran out of overs, finishing on 179/8 after 45.

 

In reply, some urgency was required as rain was already falling. Hari Krishan lost his wicket early at the top of the innings, which brought together Arthington skipper Naveed Andrabi and the free scoring Himanshu Satyawan. The second wicket pairing was all the hosts needed to reach the total in a blistering display of hitting. They combined for 165 runs after having come together in just the third over.

 

Andrabi managed 46 including 3 fours and a six but he played second fiddle to Satyawan who struck his way to a rapid and unbeaten 113, including 13 fours and 5 fours. Arthington reached the target with the final ball of the 21st over, which went for 25 runs, with nine wickets and 24 overs to spare.

 

The emphatic victory had added significance, as second place Colton Institute fell to their fourth defeat of the season against Church Fenton, albeit on DLS, and in taking just two points from the fixture now sit ten points behind Arthington with just two matches to go. Only unlikely back-to-back defeats can knock the league leaders off their lofty perch now. Attentions, however, were drawn away from the league and instead to the final of the Edward Readman Trophy, which would take place the following day.

 

In the league, Arthington’s penultimate match of the season is against Thorp Arch & Boston Spa at home.

2nd XI summary – Away against Bishop Thornton

Arthington 2nd XI – 249/3 40 overs	6/0 – Bishop Thornton 1st XI 1 over
Umer Khan: 85* Luke Seaborne: 85	Joe Seaborne: 1-0-6-0

 

The 2nd XI travelled to Bishop Thornton for their latest match, looking to build on their extremely narrow victory over South Kilvington the previous weekend. Their plan to bowl first and skittle the opposition out for not many and then knocking them off before the forecasted rain arrived was scuppered at the first hurdle when captain Luke Seaborne lost the toss again and the visitors were asked to bat.

 

Despite overhead conditions, there was nothing gloomy about the Arthington batting display as they posted their highest total of the season in an unusually excellent effort with bat in hand. Umer Khan opened the innings with Alex O’Neil and the pair combined nicely for 81 runs with the only blemish being a chance at mid-off that was shelled to give O’Neil a life. After being unperturbed by the bowling, it required an error in judgement to bring about the first dismissal, with Khan being the culprit but O’Neil the unfortunate victim as a suicidal ‘Yes’ call was swiftly followed by a ‘No’ when a stray delivery was palmed by the wicketkeeper, but his quick turn and accurate throw at the stumps was enough to dismiss Arthington’s opener who was short of his ground, having made 38 including 5 fours and a six, which landed on the pavilion roof.

 

Contrary to the opening pair, number three batsman Steve Potter looked uneasy at the crease and his three scoring shots, all boundaries, were far from convincing and in his short time at the crease he saw a sitter dropped by the wicketkeeper and another edge split the keeper and first slip expertly and raced away for four runs. Halfway through the 26th over, Potter’s luck ran out when he was trapped infront of the stumps and adjudged LBW.

 

This brought Arthington’s captain Luke Seaborne to the crease and his innings began by escorting Khan to his fifty before muscling several boundaries to the fence to ultimately overtake him as the innings drew to a close. Favouring the leg side, the skipper hit 10 fours and 5 sixes, taking just 51 balls to reach 85 before he played onto his own stumps off the penultimate ball of the innings.

 

In the final few overs, Khan had also put his foot down after a more measured start and middle to his innings and, particularly after reaching fifty, was looking to score boundaries. The Arthington opener carried his bat to finish unbeaten, also on 85 having caught up to the captain in the final over. His fine innings came from 111 deliveries, including 13 fours. The third-wicket partnership was worth 131 runs from just over 14 overs.

 

To top off an already excellent afternoon’s work with the bat, Ritankar Chakraborty hit his only ball of the innings through square leg for a boundary to end the Arthington effort on 249/3 after 40 overs. Sadly, following just one over of the reply, the expected rain began and failed to stop sufficiently, meaning that the match was abandoned and ended as a draw.

 

Having managed five batting bonus points along with the eight awarded for the draw, Arthington can be happy with their performance. More than just net run rate now separates them in tenth place from eleventh placed Middleham, but the relegation rivals face each other next week in an away match for Arthington that could decide the division they play in next season.