Arthington 1st XI – 184/7 28 overs	185/4 – Colton Institute 1st XI 25.4 overs
Umar Farooq: 32* Himanshu Satyawan: 30	Rahul Khode: 2.4-0-15-2 Umar Farooq: 6-0-27-2

Following a defeat last week that brought to an end a confidence-building seven-match winning streak, Arthington suffered their second successive loss in a rain-affected match at the ACG. Such were the conditions, that the match was significantly delayed and the fifty-over affair was reduced to just 28 overs per side. Colton Institute, the home side’s main rivals last season, won an important to toss and chose to bowl first.

 

Hari Krishan wasted no time getting out of the gates as he blasted 23 runs from just eight deliveries. His ninth, however, was an edge behind to the keeper who pouched a catch and this was immediately followed by an identical dismissal to remove Harsh Patel for a golden duck. Sajid Hussain was still at the crease on just one run at this time.

 

He and Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi negotiated the next few overs until Hussain was run out and the usually reliable Ridham Satyawan holed out to long-on early in his innings on this occasion to worsen the Arthington plight. Once Andrabi had been given out LBW to make the score 89/5, it seemed as though the hosts would fall well short of a competitive target in the first innings, but a recovery, led by Himanshu Satyawan and ably supported by Umar Farooq dragged them back into contention. Satyawan was ultimately caught behind via an under-edge for 30 from just 24 balls including 2 fours and 2 sixes.

 

Farooq would remain unbeaten at the crease but a final wicket, that of Sourav Chandolia, fell in the penultimate over this time due to a catch at long-off. Farooq struck 4 fours and top-scored on 32 not out. Eleven runs were taken from the final over including a six by Javaid Hussain and the home side ended on 184/7, much higher than they might have imagined after the fall of earlier wickets.

 

In reply, Colton were immediately put on the back foot when Farooq struck an early blow with the ball after just three legal deliveries courtesy of a catch by Ridham Satyawan. Another blow landed in the ninth over to remove the remaining Colton opener with the score now 33/2 and the visitors were some way behind the required run-rate.

 

However, the Colton number four Prabath Jayaweera launched an assault on the Arthington bowling at this point unlike many that have been seen at the ACG as he bludgeoned his way to a century in fewer than fifty balls. 6 fours and 12 sixes rained down upon and beyond the boundaries as no amount of bowling changes or fielding alterations had any impact on slowing down the scoring. A massive partnership developed between the two Colton batsmen and took the score to 171 before, finally, a wicket was taken. A Rahul Khode long-hop was mistimed to deep mid-wicket and pouched by Umar Farooq but the damage was done and only 14 more runs were required for victory from nearly five overs. Jayaweera was dismissed with his 51st delivery having made 108. With the scores level in the 26th over the same combination of Arthington players combined again but the fourth wicket of the innings was academic as Colton were able to get the job done with 14 balls to spare.

 

Several things went against the 1st XI in this encounter, most notably an outstanding batting performance by the Colton number four batsman. Being asked to set a target as opposed to chasing one may also have been a factor but, crucially, none of their batsmen were able to construct a meaningful enough innings with 32 being the highest score of their effort. Had the Colton centurion’s innings ended earlier, the away side may have lacked the firepower to chase down Arthington’s 184, but by the time his wicket fell it was too little too late.

 

The victory is a further blow to the 1st XI’s chances of a back-to-back promotion as both Beckwithshaw and now Colton remain in joint pole position after one defeat apiece. Following their third defeat, Arthington move down to fourth position. Next week they travel to South Milford where they hope to get their season back on track with a win.

2nd XI summary – Away against Harrogate

Arthington 2nd XI – 117/6 30.4 overs	114 all out – Harrogate 4th XI 28.4 overs
Umer Khan: 33 Ahmer Sadiq: 29	Harsimran Singh: 4.4-1-12-3 Umer Khan: 5-1-6-2

The 2nd XI match against Harrogate was also affected by the weather but unlike the matches played at the ACG as well as the adjacent country ground, they were able to get in a full game. The toss was of utmost importance in this particular fixture and, thankfully for Arthington, Luke Seaborne broke his winless run in away fixtures this season and finally called correctly and put the home side in to bat on a damp day and even damper wicket.

 

Conditions did have a role in proceedings but the wicket actually played well, though, as is normally the case, early breakthroughs were caused by both Joe Seaborne and Riaz Piran with the former unsettling the stumps for the first wicket before Piran induced a decent edge that was well caught by Dave Howard behind the stumps. Seaborne then struck again via a good catch at point by Muhammad Ali to leave the hosts 14/3.

 

However, a terrific 50-run partnership was then formed between two young talents who seemed to be enjoying the pace of the Arthington attack and were putting away any bad balls to the boundary with ruthless efficiency. It took the change bowling of Umer Khan to get the wickets column moving again as Muhammad Ali took his second catch, sliding forward on his knees at cover on this occasion. Khan, who would end up conceding just six runs from his five-over spell then dismissed the other half of the talented pairing when a thin edge behind was taken once again by Dave Howard. The umpire did not give the batsman out initially, but in a wonderful display of sportsmanship the batter walked.

 

After another change of bowling, Harsimran Singh then bowled out the Harrogate captain and Inam Piran, who had been the bowler most affected by the wet run-ups, managed to get a wicket for himself after another edge behind had Dave Howard moving sharply to his right in front of first slip to pouch a third catch of the match and he was not finished there as, after Singh had bowled a yorker under another Harrogate batter’s defences to unseat the bails, Howard removed the bails himself for a stumping to give Muhammad Ali a wicket in his first and only over of the innings. Singh then took the last of the Harrogate wickets when a ball was lobbed into the off-side to be easily caught by Ahmer Sadiq at mid-off. Harrogate ended on 114 all out.

 

Things began very smoothly indeed for Arthington in reply as their now tried and tested opening pair of Umer Khan and Ahmer Sadiq got them over halfway towards the home side’s total unscathed. However, it would not be an Arthington chase without a batting collapse and a serene 68/0 become 68/3 in the space of just a few deliveries as first Khan lobbed a catch up to mid-wicket via a mistimed pull shot, Ahmer Sadiq was trapped LBW and Muhammad Ali also blocked the ball’s path to the stumps from his very first delivery.

 

New recruit Nirav Patel’s first outing for Arthington was also brief. After scoring a boundary through mid-wicket he could only find the resulting fielders who had been placed deep on the leg-side with a subsequent effort and was caught. Arthington captain Luke Seaborne who had arrived as the number three and watched three potential batting partners come and go then struck a few boundaries before he hit a straight shot skyward and was caught at mid-on by the mid-off fielder who had made ground to his left.

 

Zaid Anwar and Inam Piran then inched the score towards the target but in wanting to finish with a flourish, Piran was also disappointed to find no boundary rope in the sky and when his shot finally came down again it was into the hands of another Harrogate fielder. A single from Joe Seaborne’s first and only delivery faced gave Anwar the strike and he promptly struck the winning boundary down the ground. Arthington won by four wickets.

 

The sun was shining at the end of the match in contrast to the rainy start and it is fair to say that Arthington had by far the better of conditions. However, had they not bowled and fielded so well, they would have been looking at a tougher chase and it is unclear whether they would have been able to make it with the wickets and overs that they had left, so there is still work to be done. The win moves them into the middle of the division four table. They await a visit from Newby Hall next week who were bowled out for just 16 this weekend. The 2nd XI can undoubtedly expect a sterner test at the ACG.