Race for second intensifies after Arthington defeat
Arthington 1st XI – 129 all out 34.4 overs | 133/6 – Helperby 1st XI 31.5 overs |
Naveed Andrabi: 34 Alex O’Neil: 22 | Naveed Piran: 12-2-27-4 Naveed Andrabi: 8-1-32-1 |
With just three games left in the league season, Arthington were looking to end a peculiar run of failing to win three consecutive matches all season. After victories in their last two outings, they faced a Helperby side that they had beaten comfortably in the reverse fixture in June and set about ridding themselves of the troublesome curse. However, the visitors to the ACG had other ideas and instead handed Arthington’s 1st XI their eighth defeat of the season.
Proceedings began on a sad note as the two teams held a minute’s silence for Eugene Downey who had been an umpire for thirty years before his passing earlier in the week.
On a humid day with the potential for excellent bowling conditions, Arthington’s captain Naveed Andrabi won the toss and elected to bat first. The captain opened the batting with Umar Farooq and the two began at a decent pace but were not quite able to live up to the speed of the previous week’s innings. Nevertheless, the score had already reached 19 at the end of the third over. In the fourth, Umar Farooq attempted to latch onto a short ball and pull it into the leg side. Some extra bounce took him by surprise and he instead toe-ended the ball back to the bowler for a simple caught and bowled.
Omer Raja then survived what appeared to be a convincing appeal for a catch behind. The umpire did not give the decision on this occasion, but it wasn’t long before his finger was outstretched when Raja gloved a ball behind to the keeper a few overs later. Having played in a somewhat restrained fashion to this point, Andrabi followed several defensive strokes with a moment of extreme rashness that cost him his wicket. Attempting to latch onto a full delivery outside the off stump, he succeeded only in ballooning it up into the air, square of the wicket, where a good catch was taken at point. Andrabi made 34 including 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Arthington have found themselves lacking a proper middle order for some time and so it proved again as both Rahul Khode and Kamrosh Khan came and went without scoring. The former played an
under-edge from just his second ball that just carried to the wicketkeeper and Khan went just one better and edged his third ball to slip.
Naveed Piran and Alex O’Neil then managed to steer the Arthington innings back towards sub-par as opposed to the fairly dismal to which it had been heading as they combined for a 40-run partnership: the highest of the innings. It was not without a few pieces of good fortune, however, as Piran was lucky not to be dropped at mid-wicket and looked a little uneasy at the crease. O’Neil, however, looked in sublime form and played three superb shots down the ground for two fours and a six along with a more agricultural mow over cow corner that also cleared the rope.
Sadly, the partnership could not last as Piran eventually found the hands of a fielder again who took the catch easily on this occasion. O’Neil was joined by Luke Seaborne, but the pair only managed to last two overs together in the middle before O’Neil meekly lofted a simple catch to long-off. An ill-advised shot given the situation and the strategically placed fielders, though one wonders what could have happened had he really gone through with it.
Seaborne at least reached double figures thanks to a couple of boundaries, only the fourth batsman to do so of the eleven, but that was all he could manage before he was bowled trying to turn a full, straight ball into the leg side. Andrew Dowson then had some really rotten luck to be dismissed in a bizarre manner. The ball leapt up off a length, something that had been a common occurrence throughout the innings. Dowson had shouldered arms to allow the ball to pass through but such was
the extra leap in the ball’s trajectory that it struck the end of his bat handle. Further misfortune followed when, instead of heading down or landing safe in the gaps either side of the wicket, the ball went straight back to the hands of the bowler.
Jo Nash and Malcolm Barraclough then attempted another rescue effort for the last wicket and seemed to have gotten the measure of the Helperby bowling. In fact, it needed a moment of madness from Nash to effect the final dismissal after he had carved a good-looking shot backward of square on the off-side. Had it not been for the perfectly placed fielder, a run would certainly have been on, but this time around it was not. This did not deter Nash though, as he raced down the wicket towards an unmoved Barraclough at the non-striker’s end. By the time he had turned around and begun his retreat, the ball was already en route to the keeper’s gloves for a run out. Arthington all out for 129 after just 34.4. overs.
It was going to take a very special bowling effort indeed to turn the match around after the tea interval, but Naveed Piran certainly seemed up for it and with just the third ball of the innings sent
swinging massively and thudding into the base of off stump.
The second wicket then came about following an almighty mix-up between the two batsmen. There probably was a two available when the ball was played out into a vacant deep cover region. Kamrosh Khan stopped the ball from reaching the boundary with his boot and Omer Raja swooped upon the ball and hurled it back towards the non-striker’s end where Umar Farooq took off the bails. All the while, the batsmen had had plenty of time to complete a second run but were undone by indecision and the remaining Helperby opener had to depart.
One over later and the balance tilted slightly further into Arthington’s favour as Piran unseated the bails once again for his second wicket, this time with some assistance from the batsman whose inside edge could only divert the ball from his pads onto the stumps. Though the next partnership doubled the Helperby score, when it was broken by a Piran LBW it meant that the away side’s top four had all been dismissed and the game was up for grabs for either side. 51/4 after 15 overs.
An excellent partnership between Dan Marston and Daniel Spink followed, which eased any Helperby nerves. The pair doubled their score with a 51-run stand of which Marston scored the majority. An expensive spell from Rahul Khode allowed the visiting batsman the chance to free their arms and swing for several big sixes and the number of extras was also mounting at an alarming rate; 31 would be conceded in total in a chase of only 130. If Arthington were to have any hope of winning the match, they needed the final six Helperby wickets as time was definitely no longer a factor.
Naveed Piran made the key breakthrough with another LBW and took his fourth wicket of the match in the process. However, in striving for wickets he had used up all of his allotted overs so was not going to play a role with the ball in the final stages. Naveed Andrabi chipped in with Arthington’s sixth wicket, beating the bat but not the stumps with a pacey straight ball but that was the end of the wicket-taking as the visitors wrapped things up with ten runs in the 32nd and final over of the contest. 133/6 the final winning score.
The defeat sees Arthington slip back into third place and into a three-way battle for the second spot. There were certainly many areas for improvement in the field and with the ball but it was primarily a failing with the bat that cost the home side on this occasion as 129 runs was never likely to be enough. The 1st XI’s penultimate game is a trip to Kirk Deighton as they seek revenge for the defeat they suffered to next week’s hosts back in May.
Special thanks to Ken Clayton for scoring the 1st XI match at the ACG and to Alison Dowson for another round of excellent teas.
Weather the winner at Crakehall as rain causes season’s first abandonment
Arthington 2nd XI – N/A 0 overs | 60/3 – Crakehall 1st XI 19 overs |
Martin Hings: 9-2-23-2 Martin Finn: 6-2-22-1 |
It is quite incredible that the 2022 season has reached September before a match was affected by bad weather but that was sadly the case for Arthington’s 2nd XI at Crakehall as rain got the better of proceedings for the first time this year. Some play was still possible and unsurprisingly, Arthington captain Martin Hings had opted to bowl first upon winning the toss.
It was the captain himself that brought about the first wicket via an edge to slip that was held by Andrew Stoddart but there was no wicket for fellow opening bowler Joe Seaborne, though he still bowled well in conceding just four runs from his four-over spell that included three maidens.
Martin Finn was Seaborne’s replacement, and he did manage to get something in the wicket column when a loose shot was caught by Martin Hings in the in-field and Hings then proceeded to grab a second wicket for himself via a Mohammed Faiyazuddin catch. Having already been off for brief rain interruptions, the end of the 19th over brought about a heavier shower and the end of the day’s play as it was decided that the match should be abandoned.
Despite the dropped points, Arthington still managed to move further clear of their nearest rivals for second position, Knaresborough Forest, who were beaten by league leaders and almost guaranteed champions West Tanfield. The 2nd XI are 20 points clear of third place with two games remaining. A total of 21 points from their final two matches will be enough to secure promotion to division three as runners-up.
Their first chance to obtain as many of those points as possible comes against Kirkby Malzeard at the ACG. The visitors gave Arthington a fright in the reverse fixture, however, so the hosts will be prepared for a difficult game.