Arthington 1st XI – 381/9 43.1 overs	142 all out Fairburn 2nd XI 31.5 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 175 Ahmer Sadiq: 101	Kamrosh Khan: 5-1-12-2 Brahm Singh: 6-1-20-2

In Arthington’s final match of the season, the 1st XI put on a show with the bat to cap off an already successful season and dispatched Fairburn in clinical fashion to secure their place as outright Division 1 Ebor champions.

 

Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi won the toss and opted to bat first, which seemed to be a wise choice from the outset as a new-look opening partnership of Umar Farooq and Ahmer Sadiq put on 48 runs for the first wicket. Any joy that Fairburn may have felt at taking Farooq’s wicket, however, slowly drained away, as it would be 184 runs before another wicket fell.

 

Sadiq was joined by Himanshu Satyawan in the tenth over and the pair batted together until the 30th. Both batsmen reached centuries, with Sadiq displaying an unusual ratio of just 3 fours to his 9 sixes in the innings of 101. It was he who lost his wicket, bowled, after just reaching the milestone that ultimately broke the already match-winning partnership.

 

Satyawan showed no signs of slowing down following the loss of his partner and instead formed a 71-run stand for the third wicket with Syed Javaid and after he was caught in the outfield, there was still time for a quick flurry of boundaries before Satyawan fell, the fourth victim of an impressive afternoon with the bat, having made 175 including 19 fours and 11 sixes. An awesome display of ball striking.

 

Wickets then fell at regular intervals at the back end of the innings, with every Arthington batsman going after the remaining deliveries with almost reckless abandon. From the ten batsman who took the field, seven managed at least one six in their stay at the crease. After the fall of the ninth wicket in the 44th over, Arthington declared their innings on 381/9.

 

It would take either a significant failure on the part of Arthington’s bowlers or a monumental effort from the Fairburn batsmen to reach the total, neither of which occurred. In fact, the hosts found themselves at 50/5 in just the tenth over and in real danger of a losing margin of over 300 runs. Prateek Sangwan got the first breakthrough before a brace apiece from Brahm Singh and Kamrosh Khan, all four wickets from the tricky off-spinners removed the bails. The sixth Fairburn wicket rallied, though, and doubled the score to reach three figures, but once Inam Piran broke through, it was a matter of time until Arthington took the last four wickets required.

 

Captain Andrabi utilised eight bowlers in total and at the end of proceedings, all eight had taken at least one wicket. Rahul Khode was the next to strike via a catch by Brahm Singh before Umar Farooq and the captain himself disturbed the stumps, either side of a wicked by Syed Javaid, whose three overs went for no runs at all.

 

It was a successful end to the afternoon for the visitors, as Fairburn were bowled out in the 32nd over for 142, giving Arthington the victory by an incredible 239 runs. With the win, Arthington’s 1st XI finish top of the Division 1 Ebor table as champions, following their earlier triumph in the T20 cup competition. Back-to-back campaigns with two trophies is a huge achievement for the club and they will look to push themselves even further next season after promotion to the next tier.

 

2nd XI summary – Home against Pannal

Arthington 2nd XI – 214/3 19.2 overs	211/9 – Pannal 2nd XI 40 overs
Alex O’Neil: 108* Aditya Khatua: 50	Riaz Piran: 10-2-42-3 Joe Seaborne: 10-2-24-2

Arthington’s 2nd XI went into their penultimate match of the season, their last at home, knowing that 19 points would be enough to guarantee mathematical safety in Division four of the Nidderdale league. On an overcast day that threatened showers from the outset, their captain Luke Seaborne won the toss for the second week running and opted to bowl first.

 

The opening spells of Joe Seaborne and Riaz Piran were impressive and certainly kept the run-scoring to a minimum, but did not reward them with any wickets. Instead, the pair were frustrated to see several chances dropped including missed opportunities behind the stumps, at slip and at mid-off. With no early breakthrough from the opening bowlers, it was left to the change bowling of Ritankar Chakraborty. He took Arthington’s lacklustre fielding out of the equation and hit the stumps, firstly to remove the stubborn Pannal opener following a 57-ball vigil before dismissing the more free-scoring number three.

 

A few more bowling options were tried, but it was the returning Riaz Piran who managed to get the next wicket as a catch finally stuck in the field. Luke Seaborne held onto a lofted effort at long-on, as the opening batsman looked to put his foot down having just passed his half-century. Piran then struck again a few overs later, this time zeroing in to the top of middle stump with a lovely, seaming delivery. Soon after, Arthington’s leading wicket-taker then bagged a third for himself, again assisted by a back-pedalling Seaborne at mid-on, who clung onto a catch before he was consumed by the undulating Arthington terrain.

 

The Arthington captain did then manage a wicket himself in an otherwise underwhelming bowling spell, as he broke through the defences to unseat the bails and with the score on 177/6, the home side were eyeing up a possible two further bowling points if they could manage to take the final four wickets.

 

Joe Seaborne was brought back into the attack to try and do just that and he was finally rewarded for his earlier excellent but wicketless spell, as Zaid Anwar took a catch at the third attempt at mid-wicket. Seaborne then broke through to see the bails hit the turf once again for the eighth wicket. In the final over of the innings, Luke Seaborne was hammered for four boundaries but with the penultimate ball, he effected an unusual dismissal whereby, on receipt of a return throw following a rare dot ball, he noticed the batsman standing outside his crease and simply removed the bails.

 

The away side finished their innings on 211/9 from their 40 overs. Having defended 184 in the reverse fixture, it seemed as though Arthington were going to have a difficult time chasing down an even bigger score this time around.

 

Their worries, however, were soon eased by the blistering pace with which Umer Khan and Alex O’Neil went about their work in the reply. After just four overs, the pair had already put on forty runs with Khan, in particular, benefitting from some wayward bowling that allowed him to score several boundaries square of the wicket. His eagerness to continue the run-scoring rampage was, perhaps, his downfall, when he looped a half-volley on his pads straight to mid-wicket to be easily caught.

 

Steve Potter’s stay at the crease was similarly brief, but was not adorned with boundaries like that of Khan. After scoring two runs from his first delivery, he saw out eight dot balls before being undone by a slower ball that seemed to go under his bat before clipping the top of the bails. The run-rate was still well under control for the home side, but they did need to be somewhat conscious of the remaining wickets, so it was a relief when Aditya Khatua come to the crease to steady the ship with O’Neil.

 

Though steady may not quite be the right word to describe the Khatua innings, as he got off the mark in a hurry, scoring three boundaries from his first six deliveries and a further three boundaries from his next six balls, as the Pannal bowling attack insisted on feeding a devastating cut shot. O’Neil had taken a back-seat at this stage, managing only to punctuate the array of fours with a solitary six of his own, but his turn soon came around, taking 19 runs from the eleventh over by himself before clubbing back to back sixes over long-on in the 13th over against the replacement off-spinner, needing just one ball as a sighter at the start of his over.

 

The score continued to race along, as Arthington looked to end the match in quick fashion. In the time that Khatua and O’Neil were together at the crease, in fact, only one over did not contain a single boundary and there was only one further over that did not contain at least two, such was the regularity with which the far-less potent Pannal bowling attack were being sent to the fence. In the eighteenth over, Khatua brought up his fifty, following a six and a four, but his innings did then come to an end upon reaching the milestone when a full and straight delivery snuck through to collide with his stumps. His first Arthington fifty came off just 35 balls and included 9 fours and a six.

 

There was some confusion from the sidelines, relating to how close O’Neil was to reaching his second century of the season and it seemed every run had the potential to be greeted by applause. Following an over and a half that contained only singles, O’Neil ticked over into three figures with a spectacular six over long-off from the first ball of the 20th over and, in typical fashion, followed that up with another six down the ground to end the match.

 

Arthington completed the chase before drinks, finishing on 214/3 from just 19.2 overs. O’Neil ended up unbeaten on 108 from just 49 deliveries, including 11 fours and 8 sixes. This was a remarkable victory for the 2nd XI who, at the start of the season, were struggling to get past fifty by the drinks interval. It is fair to say that the Pannal bowling attack was not as strong as in the earlier match between the two sides, but it still required some ruthless batting to secure the convincing win. Only minutes after the conclusion of the match, the heavens opened, clearly having waited until the match had finished.

 

The 19-point victory means that the 2nd XI now sit eighth in the division four table, having leap-frogged Pannal and Bishop Thornton in a very congested mid-table. It is conceivable that they still finish as high as sixth if results go their way in the final weekend. Most importantly, they are safe from relegation and can now consolidate their division four spot. Next week, they travel to Newby Hall for the final match of the 2025 season.