Arthington 1st XI – 337 all out 50 overs	251 all out –Sessay 2nd XI 49.1 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 145 Sourav Chandolia: 62	Jahanzaib Rahim: 5.1-0-35-2 Abdul Saboor: 8-0-35-2

Arthington’s 1st XI were looking to add another match to a new string of victories that would be required if they are to stand any chance of winning the Championship West title when they travelled to Sessay to take on their 2nd XI. On a day that promised excellent batting conditions, captain Naveed Andrabi called correctly at the toss and elected to bat first.

 

Not for the first time this season, the Arthington top order disappeared like dust in the wind, collapsing to 8/4 after just nine overs. Once again, they found themselves in need of rescue and it was the usual suspects that provided the life-ring on this occasion as well, as captain Naveed Andrabi combined with Himanshu Satyawan for 117 runs for the fifth wicket before Andrabi was given out LBW in the 26th over having made 44.

 

Satyawan, who is in imperious batting form, continued to assert his dominance over proceedings and passed his latest century following a double century a week prior, in the company of Sourav Chandolia, who himself played a significant role in the Arthington recovery. Satyawan did the bulk of the run-scoring in the 90-run partnership before he was eventually caught at deep mid-wicket following one lofted shot too many. His latest superb innings amassed 145 runs from just 81 deliveries, 27 of which were struck to the boundary including 3 sixes.

 

Chandolia, feeling like the baton had now been passed, upped his scoring rate significantly and together with Javaid Hussain gave the visitors a commanding position in the contest. Their 92-run stand for the seventh wicket took the innings into the 48th over and was only ended when a shot down the ground from Chandolia fell into the hands of a fielder rather than over the boundary rope. He made 62 from 64 balls including 8 fours. With the next ball, Harsh Patel produced exactly the same dismissal for the eighth wicket and Naveed Piran played back to the bowler a few balls later for a caught and bowled after an exciting cameo of 16 runs from 7 balls. Arthington ended their innings on 337 with Javaid Hussain unbeaten on a fantastic 57 from 45 deliveries including 9 fours.

 

In reply, it took until the eleventh over for Arthington to make the first breakthrough and Sessay had taken a good chunk out of their required total. 55 runs to be exact. Though Naveed Piran took the plaudits, it was a direct hit run-out rather than his bowling that claimed the first scalp. The away side had to be patient for the next wicket as well, waiting 12 more overs before it came about courtesy of Javaid Hussain, who had a huge influence on the outcome of the match in all facets. The victim was the remaining opener and Sessay captain Dave Johnson who had just reached fifty before Hussain pinned back his stumps.

 

The home side’s middle order provided less resistance and Sourav Chandolia and Abdul Saboor were the beneficiaries of catches by Naveed Andrabi and wicketkeeper Harsh Patel for their wickets before either batsman had reached double figures. Javaid Hussain then struck again, soon after, to leave the hosts five down in the 33rd over still 164 runs from victory.

 

A 58-run partnership for the sixth wicket gave the home side renewed hope but they were rapidly running out of time with the required rate of scoring approaching twenty runs per over. Naveed Piran removed the Sessay number seven via an LBW before the decisive blow that came one over later signalled the almost certain end to the contest when the home side’s number three was bowled by Jahanzaib Rahim while attempting to hit a boundary into the leg-side. The boundary, had he connected, would have brought up his century but as it was Ferdinand Rex was dismissed for 96 from 96 balls including 14 fours and a six.

 

The final wickets fell soon after via a Sourav Chandolia run out, Rahim hitting the stumps and a Harsh Patel stumping. Sessay were all out in the final over for 251. The 86-run victory keeps Arthington in the hunt at the top of the table where they are still two wins behind the top three teams. Their first chance to gain ground on those teams comes next week when they travel to Studley Royal against whom they suffered an opening day defeat.

 

2nd XI summary – Home against Killinghall

Arthington 2nd XI – 219/9 40 overs	183/9 – Killinghall 2nd XI 40 overs
Luke Seaborne: 76 Alex O’Neil: 38	Zaid Anwar: 7-1-25-3 Joe Seaborne: 8-2-33-3

Arthington’s 2nd XI also had aspirations of gaining ground on the leading teams in the Nidderdale division four when they hosted Killinghall at the ACG. With memories of dismissing the hosts for just 90 runs in the reverse fixture, the Killinghall captain opted to field first upon winning the toss.

 

However, things turned out differently this time as in the same time as Arthington had slumped to 25/6 first time around they managed to reach 76 before a wicket fell in their first innings on this occasion with Umer Khan and Alex O’Neil looking assured at the crease. In fact, it seemed that only a mistake could prize either of them out which was ultimately provided by a total mix-up between the two resulting in a run-out of Khan at the non-striker’s end when a possible single was refused after excellent fielding and wires between the two batsmen were very much crossed. Perhaps apologetically, O’Neil then threw his wicket away with the very next ball when his attempted drive down the ground skewed instead into the off-side to be easily caught.

 

Things did not improve from there either for the hosts as first Ritankar Chakraborty charged to the striker’s end for a kamikaze run after the ball went loose into the in-field but was deemed short of his ground by the time the bails were efficiently removed and Nirav Patel could not back up his fifty from the previous match when he was bowled to leave the score 81/4 as the Arthington middle order did their best to unravel the good work put in by the openers.

 

A level of control needed to be restored and this was provided by Zaid Anwar and the Arthington captain Luke Seaborne who added thirty runs together for the fifth wicket, taking the innings into three figures. A poor choice of shot brought about Anwar’s dismissal when he tried to sweep a full, straight delivery square on the leg-side. He missed and the ball hit to end his 20-ball vigil. Luke Seaborne was then joined at the crease by his brother Joe and the pair played sensibly to tilt the game back into Arthington’s favour. By the time Joe had been dismissed for 21 the skipper had passed his fifty and the two had made 81-runs together. Just three runs later, the remaining Seaborne was excellently caught at cover having made 76 including 14 fours and a six.

 

After Muhammad Ali and Harsimran Singh had both been bowled shortly after, Arthington had gone from 192/5 to 198/9 and the away side were surely confident of chasing that total down. However, 21 more vital runs were added by the tenth wicket partnership of Javed Akakhail and Dave Howard via several blows over mid-wicket and when the home side’s innings was finished after forty overs they had reached a more imposing 219/9.

 

In reply, Killinghall were looking to the league’s leading run-scorer this season to deliver a telling contribution so when Joe Seaborne rocked back his off-stump in the early stages after a fantastic delivery, the hosts were understandably fired up. Two balls later, Seaborne struck again via an edge that was well taken by Dave Howard behind the stumps diving to his right.

 

The innings was recovered slightly by the third wicket stand of 51 but the partnership was not without its moments as the number four was dropped at slip by Luke Seaborne and the hosts believed they had removed the remaining Killinghall opener after a thin edge behind but the batsman was not given out and was unwilling to own up to it either.

 

Eventually, the change bowling of Zaid Anwar made the key breakthroughs as he took the next three wickets to fall firstly by unseating the bails of the Sessay number four batsman and opening bowler before being assisted by catches from Dave Howard behind the stumps and Nirav Patel at deep square-leg.

 

At 83/5 the match was Arthington’s to lose, but Killinghall kept the score moving in hope of an increasingly unlikely victory. Javed Akakhail bowled a terrific swinging delivery for the sixth wicket to breach the batsman’s defences and collide with the stumps before the Killinghall captain was also clean bowled by Ritankar Chakraborty. A last period of resistance in the form of a 41-run partnership was ended by the returning Joe Seaborne who had a huge role in proceedings throughout. With the very first ball of his second spell a shot was guided to Harsimran Singh at backward-point for a catch and Seaborne then turned provider on the deep mid-wicket boundary to give Muhammad Ali a wicket, the final dismissal of the innings. After their forty overs, Killinghall finished on 183/9, 36 runs short of Arthington’s first innings total.

 

The victory propels Arthington to third in the table following a fifth successive win. Killinghall remain above them but may need to win their remaining fixtures to stay ahead of an Arthington side that are playing well and brimming with confidence. The next match on the 2nd XI’s calendar is a visit to the ACG from Pannal who Arthington managed to beat earlier this season as part of their latest unbeaten run.