Arthington 1st XI – 153/2 21.4 overs	148 all out – Barwick in Elmet 1st XI 41 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 80* Hari Krishan: 46	Brahm Singh: 11-4-16-7 Naveed Piran: 6-3-9-1

 

Arthington continue to fly high at the top of the Dvision 1 Ebor table after another dominant victory against third placed Barwick in Elmet, that saw the league leaders win the match by eight wickets with more than 20 overs to spare.

 

On a baking hot day, the hosts elected to bat upon winning the toss but it was not easy in the middle as they suffered at the hands of a hostile spell of pace bowling from Naveed Piran, who cared little about the excess heat and instead sent down some thunderbolts at the opening batsmen, soon dismissing one by means of displacing the stumps. Piran’s six-over opening spell may only have rewarded him with one wicket but he bowled three maidens, conceded only nine runs and had the opposition flustered about what was to come.

 

What came was the introduction of the delightfully tricky off-spin of Brahm Singh, who soon set about tying the opposition in knots with his array of deliveries. The remaining opener soon went the way of his teammate and, with the stumps very much being the target and with few runs being scored to ease the pressure, Singh took three more wickets via an LBW and two more meetings of stump and leather.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi then chipped in with a wicket thanks to a catch by Inam Piran at square leg, who had begun an eight over spell himself. This left the home side six wickets down having just crept over the hundred mark. Rahul Khode was introduced into the attack but was unable to continue his good wicket-taking form against the Barwick middle order. In the end, it was Singh who made an impactful return, bowling just three more overs, following his earlier eight, and taking a wicket in each to leave the hosts nine down. The key wicket was that of Gary Bettison, Singh’s sixth scalp, who fell, LBW, for 48, including 8 fours. The fifth and seventh victims were both unable to protect their stumps at all as more bails fell to earth.

 

Inam Piran rounded off the first innings with the final ball of the 41st over, once again rearranging the woodwork. Barwick in Elmet all out for 148.

 

In reply, there was an early glimmer of hope for the fielders when Ritankar Chakraborty was bowled without scoring. However, Hari Krishan and Himanshu Satyawan repaired the early damage with an 88-run partnership that was scored at significant pace, taking just 14 more overs to move the score onto 96. Krishan then lost his wicket as he failed to keep out a straight delivery that rattled the stumps from Barwick’s sixth bowling option of the day. The elation was short-lived, however, as Satyawan took the dismissal of Krishan personally and took 26 runs from the next over, in a flurry of boundaries.

 

He was joined at the crease for the remainder of the innings by Arthington’s captain Naveed Andrabi and together they manoeuvred the away side’s ship into the bay with barely a barnacle attached. Satyawan finished his innings unbeaten on 80 from just 63 balls, including 8 fours and 5 sixes and Andrabi added 18 himself, including a couple of fours and a six. Fittingly, it was a six off Satyawan’s bat that ended the contest and handed Arthington the eight-wicket victory.

 

Arthington retain their unbeaten run after this latest emphatic victory but face possibly their biggest test of the season next week when they take on second place Colton in the return fixture. The previous encounter was a thriller that saw Arthington narrow victors by just eight runs in a high-scoring contest. A victory for Arthington could give them a sufficient cushion to get over the line in the title race. Defeat means it would all be to play for.

 

2nd XI summary – Home against Darley

Arthington 2nd XI – 187/2 29.3 overs	184 all out – Darley 2nd XI 30.4 overs
Umer Khan: 100* Luke Seaborne: 40*	Harsimran Singh: 8.4-0-47-6 Joe Seaborne: 5-0-26-2

 

After being soundly beaten by Darley a few weeks prior, Arthington’s 2nd XI put in a terrific performance in the return fixture to secure a much-needed victory at the ACG. In stark contrast to the grey, damp conditions of the away match, the two teams faced one of the hottest days of the year and, in a surprise to very few, Darley chose to bat first having won the toss.

 

The opening pair got off to a fast start, passing fifty runs with no damage, but after Joe Seaborne bowled out one opener, it did not take long for him to see off the other via a catch at gully from Harsimran Singh, who was grateful to have another opportunity so soon after an earlier drop. Short spells were generally the order of the day, so despite his early inroads, Seaborne was replaced by his brother and captain, Luke Seaborne. In his two-over spell, he was able to bowl a fast yorker that crashed into middle stump to remove the Darley number four for a golden duck, however, the rest of the deliveries were scattergun at best and he replaced himself.

 

What had appeared at first to be a preventative measure, turned into a masterstroke as his replacement, Harsimran Singh, proceeded to bowl uninterrupted for the remainder of the innings, taking six Darley wickets in a terrific spell of bowling. Luke Seaborne’s contributions continued with two catches at mid-wicket and mid-off, Alex O’Neil held catch from a powerful shot into the covers for another dismissal, Joe Seaborne grabbed one in the gully and Singh managed two wickets unassisted via an LBW and a bowled.

 

To their credit, as the wickets were tumbling, Darley’s run-rate was still impressive and their innings never lost momentum as it progressed at six runs per over. Riaz Piran was able to take the penultimate wicket in his return spell, once again via a catch by Luke Seaborne, his third of the innings, this time at mid-on before Singh’s sixth scalp ended the innings at 184 after 30.4 overs with Darley possibly rueing 56 unused deliveries.

 

In reply, Umer Khan and Alex O’Neil opened up with a 38-run partnership with O’Neil unusually contributing only three runs to their stand before he popped up a simple catching chance to cover, having looked out of sorts. This brought a confident Steve Potter to the crease and he was soon piling on the runs with Khan with some cleanly hit boundaries, seven in all. With the score just shy of 100, Potter scampered a single and having made his ground, pulled up with what appeared to be a very painful hamstring injury. He attempted to carry on, adopting a stand and deliver approach but was very quickly caught in the outfield for a well-made 36. It is unclear how serious the injury is and whether it may rule out the wicketkeeper batsman for future matches.

 

Arthington captain Luke Seaborne then joined the unbeaten Khan at the crease needing 84 to win. Khan had already passed fifty at this stage and was playing with a maturity beyond his years. Having mostly put away a shot that had caused his downfall in recent innings, he instead peppered the straight and cover boundaries with some terrific ball-striking off front and back foot alike.

 

Seaborne played somewhat of a supporting role to begin with, not getting much of the strike, but the score moved along at pace as the Darley change bowlers continued to have no impact on the wickets column. Unbeknownst to the batting pair, Khan was nearing his century yet found himself at the non-strikers end after hitting a single from the first ball of what turned out to be a significant 29th over as, with 24 runs to win, Seaborne hit a four, either side of a pair of sixes, all into the leg-side. It was at this point he was informed of Khan’s current score of 96 and opted to take a single off the penultimate ball of the over to see if the young Arthington opener could bring up his maiden century for the club.

 

Unfortunately, Khan was only able to defend the final delivery, once more handing Seaborne the strike and, in trying to nudge the ball into the leg-side for a single, he instead middled the ball all the way to the mid-wicket boundary having pierced the in-field. This left things delicately poised as another boundary would seal the win so Seaborne patted the ball into the leg-side once again with no technique whatsoever and took off for what would, in usual circumstances, be considered a ludicrous single. Thankfully, both batsmen made their ground unscathed, and Khan was able to power the ball through cover with a trademark slap all the way to the boundary for a four.

 

Arthington won the match by 8 wickets. Umer Khan finished unbeaten on exactly 100 having struck 17 fours and a six making his first ever century for Arthington. The young all-rounder began life at Arthington as a bowler in the 1st XI in his early teens but has since become a key opening batsman for the 2nd XI and, hopefully, this is the first of several three-figure scores to come. Seaborne was also unbeaten on 40, with 4 fours and 3 sixes to his name.

 

The excellent victory lifts Arthington off the bottom of the division four table, still some way adrift of safety, however. Next week, they will attempt to use their renewed confidence when they take on second placed Goldsborough, away from home.