Arthington 1st XI – 268 all out 45 overs	148 all out – Oulton 1st XI 27 overs
Harsh Patel: 63 Hari Krishan: 45	Sourav Chandolia: 10-1-31-6 Rahul Khode: 3-1-20-3

 

As the season draws to a close, with just three games remaining for the Arthington 1st XI, the task remains as clear as it was when their current unbeaten six match winning streak began. Should they win the remaining three matches, they give themselves the best and only realistic chance of finishing top of the table. Failure to do so and barring significant assistance from other teams, their hopes would be all but dashed. Their latest match saw them host Oulton at the ACG with heavy rain on the radar that they hoped to avoid.

 

Following the usual custom when poorer weather is around the side winning the toss fields first and so, when the visitors did just that, Arthington were asked to bat. After their unbeaten winning partnership a week earlier, Harsh Patel and Hari Krishan were brimming with confidence and picked up where they left off. Patel, in particular, looked in aggressive mood and struck some early boundaries as the hosts raced to thirty from the first three overs. The run-rate only decreased slightly as the innings progressed, and Patel raced to a second successive fifty before the ten-over mark. The partnership was eventually broken in the 11th over with the score on 83 when the wicketkeeper took a good catch up to the stumps to dismiss Patel for 63 from just 41 deliveries including 7 fours and 4 sixes.

 

The wicket brought back some control for the away side as neither Krishan nor new batsman Ahmer Sadiq could replicate Patel’s firepower, but 55 runs were still added for the next wicket. Sadiq’s defence had been flawless, but he was undone by one of his favourite shots when he got under a leg-side delivery and steered a high catch straight to fine-leg having made 20 to bring Abdul Saboor to the crease.

 

At the other end, Krishan was eyeing up a half-century of his own having missed out the week before due to the match being already won but was given out LBW when he got down on one knee to sweep a full delivery into the leg-side and missed it to give the umpire one of the easier decisions he’ll ever have to make. The Arthington opener made 45 including 6 fours.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi joined Saboor in the middle and the pair seemed intent on boosting an already healthy run-rate, striking frequent boundaries with as many sixes being struck as fours. It was unclear what was likely to be a competitive score in the match, but once Saboor was caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 42 from a mistimed pull shot with the score 223/4, the hosts may have felt that they already had enough runs. Andrabi, who had already survived a close LBW appeal a few overs prior then saw his defence breached to be bowled.

 

The remaining Arthington batsmen could not make the significant contributions of the top order with only the not out Javaid Hussain reaching double figures including two towering sixes down the ground. Sourav Chandolia was caught at long-off, Rahul Khode played down the wrong line and was bowled, Naveed Piran ran two thirds of the way down the wicket then another third of the way back before he was run out as Hussain showed no interest in a quick single and the two Arthington tailenders Jahanzaib Rahim and Usama Shahid were both given out LBW without scoring. Arthington finished their innings on 268 using only 45 of their 50 overs.

 

After a prolonged tea break and a rain delay, the covers came back off the wicket and Oulton faced a revised target of 249 from 42 overs. They made an excellent start to the chase as the seam bowling of Naveed Piran and Usama Shahid proved expensive and the openers raced to 58 in the tenth over before the first wicket fell. Sourav Chandolia made the breakthrough when Naveed Piran expertly took a catch at deep mid-wicket from the first ball of the tenth over. The over proved a disastrous one for Oulton as the final ball saw the new batsman’s inside edge divert the ball onto off-stump for the second wicket.

 

After their promising start, the visitors never really recovered from the two quick setbacks and wickets fell at regular intervals. Most crucially, perhaps, was that of the remaining opener and Oulton captain who had batted at a run-a-ball for his 42. Javaid Hussain supplied the catch at cow corner to give Chandolia his third wicket.

 

A 25-run partnership was formed for the fourth wicket but was ended by Rahul Khode in his first over via an LBW and Khode took the next two wickets to fall courtesy of a thin outside edge behind to wicketkeeper Harsh Patel before striking again in the very next over, again LBW. Sourav Chandolia then returned and quickly got back into the wickets to remove the away side’s top scorer Henry Blythe, whose 44 runs had taken just 32 balls and included 7 fours and a six. He edged a Chandolia delivery to first slip where Hari Krishan took a stunning one-handed catch low down to his right.

 

Chandolia then brought up his five-wicket haul thanks to a catch by Abdul Saboor at mid-on but, not satisfied with that, quickly took his sixth wicket two balls later by unseating the bails. Javaid Hussain then took the final wicket after Oulton had held out for three more overs, by clattering a ball into off-stump. Oulton all out for 148, effectively handing Arthington victory following the revised target by exactly 100 runs.

 

The victory was a trial by spin for the visitors as nine of the ten wickets came from the two Arthington spin bowlers. Sourav Chandolia’s six wickets were obviously the standout performance but Rahul Khode only needed three overs for his three scalps as he continued his impressive wicket-taking form. The emphatic win extends Arthington’s winning run to seven matches and, following Studley Royal’s surprise defeat, sees Beckwithshaw lead the way in the Championship West table in front of three teams all level with one another. By virtue of better net run-rate, Arthington have moved to second place. Next week will be a pivotal week in the title race as Beckwithshaw must take on Studley Royal which, with a Studley Royal win, could potentially see four sides level on the same number of points. Arthington’s objective to win their remaining matches remains the same. Next week they take on Bilton in Ainsty away from home.

 

2nd XI summary – Away against Walton Park

Arthington 2nd XI – 167 all out 37.4 overs	152 all out – Walton Park 2nd XI 36.5 overs
Alex O’Neil: 67* Umer Khan: 23	Luke Seaborne: 6-1-11-3 Javed Akakhail: 4-0-24-2

The Arthington 2nd XI were up against it before their match against league leaders Walton Park even began following a last-minute withdrawal meaning they only had ten players. With a dreadful forecast for the area, the decision for the two captains at the toss was largely focused around how their teams could secure as many bonus points as possible before the rains came. The coin landed in favour of the hosts who chose to bowl first.

 

Missing two key batsmen and with conditions far less favourable than in previous weeks which have seen Arthington’s batting line-up post several scores above 250 this season, a more realistic target for the first innings was the 175 runs required for maximum batting points. The wicket proved to have several demons in it with the occasional delivery spitting up off a length but, more frequently, squirting through at ankle height, making it very difficult to predict.

 

No such demons were responsible for the first wicket, however, as Aditya Khatua walked across his stumps but crucially missed the ball with his bat and he was given out LBW. Martin Dickinson also struggled and was soon heading back to the pavilion for a duck owning up honestly to an edge behind that the umpire was not going to give.

 

Alex O’Neil joined the surviving opener Umer Khan at the crease and together they doubled the Arthington score. The introduction of spin to the attack once the Walton Park opening seamers had been withdrawn proved to be Khan’s downfall when he feathered an edge through to the wicketkeeper. The keeper was then the centre of attention again for Zaid Anwar’s dismissal as he overbalanced out of his crease and was stumped without scoring.

 

Gareth Meredith got a couple of early boundaries under his belt and was in danger of overtaking O’Neil who was being very restrained and respecting the conditions at the other end. Meredith raced into double figures but could not keep out a full and straight delivery that hit his stumps. This brought Arthington captain Luke Seaborne to the crease but before any meaningful innings could begin, the rain, which had been falling steadily, got considerably worse and forced the players from the field for about twenty minutes. Upon their return, Seaborne nailed a boundary through mid-wicket to reach double figures himself only to be caught behind with the very next delivery when attempting a cut shot to a delivery outside off stump.

 

O’Neil had picked up his rate of scoring at this point and though spin was getting the better of his various batting partners he remained unbeaten. Muhammad Ali was bowled for just one and though Joe Seaborne looked to have gotten the hang of the bowling and conditions, he then attempted a sweep shot, failed to connect and also saw his stumps knocked back. Amidst the tumbling tailenders, O’Neil brought up his half-century and had begun hitting more frequent boundaries among which were several straight sixes.

 

A final O’Neil flourish took him to 67 not out, including 8 fours and 3 sixes, but he trusted Javed Akakhail with four deliveries of the 38th over and he could only survive one before he failed to protect his stumps and was also bowled. Arthington finished on 167 all out. A decent score in the circumstances and conditions.

 

In their opening spells, Seaborne brothers Joe and Luke benefitted from the same conditions that had seen many of their batsmen struggle as the already difficult swing and seam movement was made even more challenging by the up and down nature of the pitch. Runs came at a premium with as many extras being scored as runs off the bat in the early stages. The pressure eventually told when one opening batsman flashed at a Luke Seaborne delivery outside off stump, which deflected off an outside edge and was well caught by Martin Dickinson behind the stumps, moving to his right in front of first slip. With the very next ball, Seaborne hooped an inswinger towards the new batsman’s toes to which the left-hander had no answer as the ball crashed into the stumps to make the score 14/2 after the sixth over.

 

With the final ball of the tenth over, Luke Seaborne’s fifth, pace was taken off the ball which flummoxed the batsman whose attempted drive skewed to Umer Khan at cover who took a comfortable catch above his head. In the next over, and after already beating the bat on numerous occasions and seeing several of his deliveries scuttle through near the ground to Martin Dickinson who was proving a valuable barrier, Joe Seaborne eventually got a reward for the immense pressure he had built as he bowled out the remaining opener who had only managed a single run from 34 balls faced due to the economical opening spells of Arthington’s bowlers.

 

Joe Seaborne bowled his eight-over allocation through and finished with astonishing figures of one wicket for just six runs. Captain Luke Seaborne opted to hold two of his overs back, finishing on three wickets for eleven runs from his six overs. The bowling changes did allow the hosts back into the match slightly as from 21/4 and in considerable peril, they added 34 runs for the next wicket, largely thanks to their captain who had adopted an effective stand and deliver approach due to a hamstring injury sustained in the first innings, striking 6 fours for his 29. Umer Khan had been swinging the ball huge amounts from his first few overs and eventually he broke through to unseat the bails but, rather than coming in pairs as the previous wickets had done, the visitors were frustrated by another promising Walton Park partnership as their innings moved towards three figures.

 

After spin had proven successful for the home side, Muhammad Ali was hoping to reap similar rewards and despite conceding two boundaries from loose deliveries in the 27th over, he bowled a beauty that beat the bat and ended the batting vigil of the Walton Park number five for just nine runs from 52 balls making the score 87/6.

 

The home side’s quest to pass three figures suffered two further blows before they reached the milestone as one of the poorer deliveries of Zaid Anwar’s eight-over spell, a full-toss outside off stump, was struck straight to Luke Seaborne at mid-off for a simple catch. After Anwar was replaced, his replacement Javed Akakhail struck with just his second delivery when the batsman got a leading edge while targeting the leg-side and played straight back to the back-pedalling bowler.

 

Yet Walton Park were not out of it and their number six was becoming a real thorn in Arthington’s side as a few poor deliveries from Arthington’s bowlers were being sent to the boundary, despite most of the fielders being posted at the boundary edges. Akakhail struck again for the ninth wicket in very similar fashion. Once again, a leading edge went into the air, but this time it went well over the bowler’s head and into the waiting hands of Gareth Meredith at mid-on for another catch, a dismissal that had been mostly lacking in their previous outing.

 

Yet still the hosts were not out of it and the partnership for the final wicket proved to be the highest of the innings. The final batsman looked nothing like a typical number eleven and scored at more than a run-a-ball and it was clear that the pressure was getting to Arthington’s two juniors and the plan to keep the newer batsman on strike was unravelling. Umer Khan was two overs into his second spell as he sized up the batsman in the 37th over with captain Luke Seaborne poised to bowl his remaining two overs at the other end, but with fewer and fewer runs to play with.

 

The number eleven got on strike and managed a two into the off side as he found a gap but with the fifth ball of the over he got an outside edge through to Martin Dickinson who held the catch to end the match. Ten-man Arthington overcame the league leaders by 15 runs. 

 

This was a memorable display by Arthington’s 2nd XI who dealt admirably with several setbacks to come away with victory. At the start of proceedings, it was the hosts who were hoping the bad weather stayed away so that they could make safe their pole position in the table but by the end it was Arthington that benefitted from an inaccurate forecast and moved themselves to third in a now four-club race for the top two positions. Walton Park are still favourites for the title but should Arthington win their final three matches, second place Killinghall will likely need to match them or face being overtaken. Next week, Arthington host Goldsborough at the ACG.