Arthington 1st XI – 190/4 24.4 overs	187 all out – Tadcaster Magnet 1st XI 40.4 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 67 Naveed Andrabi: 58*	Rahul Khode: 8.4-1-36-6 Naveed Andrabi: 12-1-41-2

 

stand-out performance from Rahul Khode as well as their usual flamboyance with the bat were the key ingredients to success in Arthington’s most recent cricketing concoction in their latest match: the return fixture against Tadcaster Magnet. In a rematch of their first fixture of the league campaign, this time at the ACG, the opposition won the toss and opted to bat first.

 

Their batting innings got off to a promising start as they had reached 116/1 in the 22nd over with only a single wicket from Naveed Piran to show for Arthington’s efforts, assisted by his brother Inam Piran with a high catch at square leg. Several bowling options had been tried at this point and the home side’s captain Naveed Andrabi opted to bring himself on for what would be a 12-over spell which had the desired effect of stemming the flow of runs.

 

It was Andrabi that also brought about the next wicket when the ball was played to Hari Krishan who held on to the catch. Tadcaster’s Jake Wilson was the man to depart, having made 57 including 7 fours and 3 sixes. The Arthington skipper would strike again a few overs later to remove the away side’s number four, but not before perhaps the most significant moment of the first innings, which was the introduction of the spin bowling of Rahul Khode in the 25th over.

 

Khode bowled an uninterrupted 8.4 over spell and in doing so picked up six Tadcaster wickets and ended their innings four overs early. His first scalp was the most impactful, removing the remaining Tadcaster opener for 46, who had batted well for his 46 runs including 6 fours until he fed a catch to Himanshu Satyawan for his wicket. Khode then saw off the bulk of the visiting side’s middle and lower order with a solitary wicket for Inam Piran coming either side of five more from Khode.

 

Gareth Meredith took a great, diving catch at mid-wicket, Hari Krishan held on to a steepling catch at mid-on having run all the way from deep mid-wicket and Ritankar Chakraborty also assisted in a dismissal. With an LBW all of his own making and another catch for Satyawan to round off Khode’s half-dozen, Tadcaster Magnet were bowled out for 187 in the 41st over.

 

In reply, the new Arthington opening pairing of Hari Krishan and Ritankar Chakraborty made a steady start until Krishan’s wicket in the seventh over. There was nothing steady about the innings played by Himanshu Satyawan, however, as he tucked into the away side’s bowling like someone who hadn’t been fed for several days and despite only being at the crease for seven overs, still made 67 runs including 6 fours and 6 sixes. In one particular over, the tenth of the innings, he managed to score 34 runs, hitting the first five balls for sixes into the leg-side before a sixth ball landed just short of the boundary for a four. After the fireworks, Satyawan was caught at slip after a ball got big on him from back of a length.

 

There were then signs of a possible Arthington collapse as the wickets of Chakraborty and Brahm Singh were taken in consecutive balls, but Arthington’s two Naveeds, Andrabi and Piran were able to bat according to the situation and steady the innings. In fact, they batted sensibly and with minimal risk all the way to the end, with Andrabi managing an unbeaten 58 including 8 fours and 3 sixes with several glorious, lofted drives into the surrounding fields. Piran batted in composed fashion, without so much as a false shot and reached 23 including 5 fours. The chase was completed inside 25 overs.

 

With victory, Arthington remain top of the table, but they have some big games on the horizon, so cannot relax just yet. Next week they play the first of those away against Barwick in Elmet.

 

2nd XI summary – Away against Harrogate

Arthington 2nd XI – 135 all out 32.1 overs	137/2 – Harrogate 4th XI 26 overs
Luke Seaborne: 38 Aditya Khatua: 22	Harsimran Singh: 3.5-0-23-1 Joe Seaborne: 8-1-33-1

 

The troubles of Arthington’s 2nd XI were all on display in their latest match against Harrogate, which resulted in another defeat, their ninth of the season. Despite being given the opportunity to play on Harrogate’s County ground, the venue did little to inspire the visitors who were well beaten by an impressive, young Harrogate 4th XI side.

 

For the third week running, Arthington captain Luke Seaborne managed to lose the toss and once again Arthington found themselves batting first. Umer Khan’s recent troubles with the bat continued as he was dismissed early on after walking past a ball from the opening spinner to be bowled and Steve Potter, also opening, fell victim to the same bowler in tame fashion when he nudged one to cover.

 

Kevin Braithwaite, on a welcome return after several years away from Arthington’c match day squads, looked to have some measure of the bowling, adding 21 for the third wicket with Luke Seaborne but when he missed a short ball that would have cannoned into the stumps had it not been for his back leg, he also headed back to the well-attended pavilion.

 

Seaborne then took the attack to the bowlers in a knock of 38, the highest of the innings, consisting almost exclusively of shots to the leg-side off the slow bowling including 7 fours and a six. Somewhat inevitably, this aggressive run-a-ball approach proved his undoing as he sent a ball skywards towards deep mid-wicket. The choice of shot would have been acceptable had it not been for the large leg-side boundary, the wind blowing the opposite direction and the waiting fielder. However, the innings did still have a little momentum at this stage in proceedings thanks to the healthy rate of scoring. Aditya Khatua and Malcolm Barraclough continued the early efforts and at drinks the score was a competitive 103/4.

 

Someone had clearly spiked the punch at the halfway mark in the innings, however, as the Arthington innings nose-dived from acceptable to disastrous in seemingly no time at all. Both set batsmen lost their wickets almost immediately after the resumption with Khatua finding a fielder in the ring for his wicket before Barraclough was flummoxed by a yorker and was bowled.

 

The runs had slowed to a trickle, but Joe Seaborne and Martin Dickinson did at least dam up the wickets for five overs as they attempted to take the Arthington innings to something resembling competitive. That was until another full and straight ball had a meeting with the stumps rather than the bat to remove Dickinson and the same approach soon got the better of Zaid Anwar, who could not repeat his fifty from the previous week, albeit LBW on this occasion. The impressive Oliver Theakston of Harrogate then took his fourth wicket, again LBW, and the promising 103/4 had become a worrying 128/9. Arthington needed a repeat of the 60-run final wicket stand of the previous weekend, but this time around Seaborne and Riaz Piran could only manage seven as the latter preferred pad over bat to become the fourth LBW victim of the innings, leaving Seaborne stranded on 7 not out having watched five wickets fall from the other end.

 

Arthington finished their innings on 135 all out in the 33rd over, sacrificing 7.5 overs in another underwhelming batting display that had initially showed a lot of promise. They were going to need an excellent and disciplined bowling and fielding performance to turn things around.

 

Joe Seaborne seemed intent on providing just that as, after just two balls, the first Harrogate wicket fell when a simple catch was lobbed up to Luke Seaborne at mid-on. That was, however, about as good as it got for the visitors who conspired in handing the victory to Harrogate with some questionable fielding, including several dropped catches. Seaborne suffered most, picking up only one wicket in his eight-over spell which could easily have resulted in four or five wickets had catches behind, between slip and the wicketkeeper and at gully been taken.

 

The second-wicket partnership amassed 116 runs, with both batsmen reaching fifty. The remaining opener’s edge gave him a good chunk of his runs and even if the ball was middled it was still being run down behind square on the off side where half of the Arthington fielders were positioned at most stages. The number three had a more diverse array of strokes and found the boundary through cover and on the leg-side as well.

 

The fifth Arthington bowler of seven did bring about another wicket in an interesting over featuring a catch at fine leg that was initially awarded before Arthington’s captain recalled the batsman as the ball was well above waist height. A subsequent delivery did find its mark though and unseated the bails. A few overs later and the match was over. Harrogate reached the total with 14 overs to spare to condemn the Arthington 2nd XI to their ninth defeat. Unlike most of the other losses, however, which could have gone either way, this was a convincing win for the hosts that leaves the 2nd XI bottom of the table and desperate for improved performances all around, but most importantly with the bat and in the field.

 

Next Saturday, the 2nd XI begin their second set of 11 matches playing at home against Darley.