Arthington 1st XI – 255 all out 48 overs	235 all out – Bilton in Ainsty 1st XI 47.5 overs
Himanshu Satyawan: 108 Hari Krishan: 70	Naveed Piran: 13-1-54-3 Rahul Khode: 12-1-38-2

A quickfire century and a determined half-century were the two stand-out performances in an otherwise bleak batting performance by Arthington’s 1st XI in their latest match at the ACG where they hosted Bilton in Ainsty. The Arthington skipper had earlier won the toss and wasted no time deliberating when deciding to bat first on a hot June day and a good batting wicket.

 

Sajid Hussain and Hari Krishan opened the batting for the home side and performed their roles admirably: tiring the bowling attack and frustrating the fielders as their partnership spanned nearly half of the entire innings until it was finally broken by a rare loose drive from Hussain that was easily pouched at mid-off.

 

Harsh Patel was the next man to fall, without scoring, when his attempted drive down the ground skewed to cover and was caught and just a few overs later the Arthington captain Naveed Andrabi was also caught at cover following a mistimed drive. Meanwhile, Hari Krishan had passed fifty and was looking to kick on.

 

Next to the crease was Himanshu Satyawan for whom runs had been comparably scarce following a gluttonous season in 2025. One thing that had remained was the intent with which he played meaning the potential for a devastating and match-winning contribution was never far away and on this occasion he delivered his flamboyant best. It took just four deliveries for him to strike a six down the ground as a 30-run partnership was formed with Krishan for the fourth wicket. Krishan, however, was dismissed, again caught in the covers, this time trying to squeeze a full ball into the off-side and timing it a bit too well. He made 70 including 9 fours and 2 sixes.

The onslaught from Satyawan continued with boundaries being struck behind and indeed infront of square on the leg side but at the other end Sourav Chandolia was expertly caught behind when an inside edge saw the visiting wicketkeeper flinging himself to his left to complete the catch and just two runs later Javaid Hussain was caught at square leg. In the very next over that went for 22 runs, Satyawan reached his fifty via a series of boundaries but he had his sights set higher in a crucial period of play.

 

Satyawan played the remained of his innings in a fashion as close to a batting masterclass as  you are ever likely to see. His partnership with Ahmer Sadiq reached 53 with Sadiq contributing just three of those runs via singles used exclusively to return the strike to the set batsman and facing just five deliveries before he was caught off a leading edge in the leg-side.

 

Naveed Piran soon followed Sadiq back to the pavilion after an edge behind to leave Arthington eight wickets down and thus allowing Satyawan to reach his final form. Having amassed 82 from 45 deliveries, Satyawan struck a two, 2 fours and back-to-back sixes to bring up his century from just 51 balls in another profitable over. An outstanding knock to significantly boost an otherwise sub-par batting display from the hosts. Two balls later, however, and after one final boundary, he was bowled trying to flick the ball into the leg side and missing. His 108 runs included 17 fours and 4 sixes.

 

Inam Piran and Rahul Khode added a further 11 runs, including a five due to some overthrows before Khode was caught at point with two overs left unused. Arthington finished their innings on 255 all out.

In the reply, Naveed Piran delivered an early breakthrough for the hosts as he uprooted the off-stump but groups of wickets were hard to come by in the early stages as the top order knuckled down and put on another 41 runs for the next wicket, which was again delivered by Piran though this time with the help of a catch in the cordon by Ahmer Sadiq.

 

This brought the Bilton in Ainsty skipper to the crease and it appeared as though his innings could see his side through to victory largely off his bat from his well-compiled knock. Arthington, however, were able to regularly douse such hopes with occasional wickets at the other end with Rahul Khode being responsible for ending an otherwise promising third wicket partnership to clean bowl the remaining opener. Khode struck again soon after via an LBW to leave the score 97/4 in the 19th over but with the opposition still well in control of the required run-rate which was notably quicker than that of the home side in the opening phase.

 

A frustrating 55-run stand was eventually ended for the fifth wicket when Naveed Andrabi held a catch at long-off from the bowling of Sourav Chandolia who had been struck for a six the ball before but held his nerve with the follow-up delivery. It was at this point, however, that the visiting captain decided to up the gears, passing an excellent fifty in the process and more than keeping his side’s hopes alive. At the other end, however, he was doing his batting partners no favours as run outs from Javaid Hussain, Inam Piran and Hari Krishan gave Arthington their sixth, seventh and eighth wickets in quick succession and left the score at 192/8.

 

The key moment came a few overs later when the opposition captain Dom Exton, having ultimately made 79 including 10 fours to keep his team’s chances alive in the closing stages, edged behind to Himanshu Satyawan for Naveed Piran’s third wicket of the match. 23 more runs were added for the final wicket but the visitors were rapidly running out of time and the pressure told for the final dismissal when the number ten batsman who had batted well for his 20 runs played on to his own stumps to give Naveed Andrabi his first and only wicket of the match. Bilton in Ainsty were all out for 235 leaving Arthington victors by a small margin of just 20 runs.

 

This was a fiercely competitive game at the ACG that was played in excellent spirits. The key difference was clearly Satyawan’s magnificent hundred assisted ably by a composed 70 from Hari Krishan but due to only minor contributions throughout the rest of the batting order, Arthington still needed a great and at times disciplined performance from their bowlers and fielders to get the job done. The win sees them retain fourth position in the Championship West table. Next week they reach the halfway point of their season when they travel to Whitkirk who sit second from bottom.

 

2nd XI summary – Away against Killinghall

Arthington 2nd XI – 88 all out 30.4 overs	91/8 – Killinghall 2nd XI 25 overs
Zaid Anwar: 26 Luke Seaborne: 23	Joe Seaborne: 8-2-21-3 Muhammad Ali: 5-0-18-2

The Arthington 2nd XI travelled to high-flying Killinghall for their next match and in a change to normal, upon winning the toss, the Arthington captain Luke Seaborne opted to bat first. After a great effort with the bat in the previous week and on a hot day and a reasonable enough wicket it seemed the smart decision, but it quickly turned into a disaster for the visitors when some devastating opening spells brought the score to 24/6 in the opening stages.

 

Umer Khan and Steve Potter were both bowled in the very first over, Aditya Khatua was almost dropped at slip but the catch was held at the second attempt and Nirav Patel played over a straight ball to lose his stumps as well. Ritankar Chakraborty’s 42-ball stay at the crease was ended in the opening bowler’s eighth and final over when he also edged behind and the destruction of the top order was complete when Muhammad Ali’s leading edge found mid-wicket.

 

A 54-run partnership between Zaid Anwar and Luke Seaborne spared some extreme Arthington blushes as the pair consolidated and played within their usual aggressive selves to get the score towards a respectable one but both of their wickets fell once they had decided to play a bit more expansively. Anwar, having blasted a six over mid-wicket in the previous over attempted to repeat the feat but a top-edge instead fell easily into the hands of the square-leg fielder. Any thoughts of a recovery effort between brothers Joe and Luke Seaborne were ended when with his very next ball faced the latter picked out the long-on fielder on the boundary with pinpoint precision for a simple catch.

 

Joe Seaborne and Harsimran Singh then combined for another ten runs before Seaborne edged through to the wicketkeeper and Singh mistimed a shot down the ground and was caught at mid-off. Arthington all out for 88.

 

However, what could have turned into a comprehensive defeat instead became an exciting chase that could easily have resulted in an unlikely victory for the visitors. The Killinghall opening batsman quickly removed Luke Seaborne from the attack with a flurry of early boundaries, but Joe Seaborne at the other end was bowling well and made the first breakthrough thanks to a catch at extra cover my Muhammad Ali. Further success followed two balls later when an inswinging yorker was too good for the batsman and unseated the bails.

 

The change to Umer Khan at the other end also bore fruit as the remaining opener slashed at one too many outside the off-stump and was excellently caught by Harsimran Singh at point, falling to his right. As Seaborne’s eight-over uninterrupted spell was drawing to a close, there was still time for him to bowl a superb slower ball that completely bamboozled the batsman who played about three different shots before the ball struck his foot infront of the stumps for an LBW. This was swiftly followed by Harsimran Singh taking a wicket in his first over when the batsman attempted to strike into a recently vacated cow corner but crucially missed the ball and was bowled.

 

A 19-run partnership is not usually all that significant but in this particular game it proved vital as the Killinghall middle order crept from 56/5 to 75/5 before the fall of the next wicket. Muhammad Ali provided the scalp but most of the credit goes to Nirav Patel for lightning-fast reactions at extra cover to grab onto the catch above his head. The pressure of nearing the finish line was clearly affecting the hosts though as the next wicket came about due to a run out. Umer Khan hurled the ball from the cover boundary to the bowler’s end and Harsimran Singh managed to remove the bails behind him in an unusual yet effective manner.

 

One more wicket did end up falling with Killinghall just two runs from victory when Nirav Patel took another catch at extra cover from the bowling of Muhammad Ali, but Ali’s next ball turned out to be the final one of the match as the loose delivery was turned through fine leg for a boundary. Killinghall won the match by two wickets.

 

After a dismal start to their innings with the bat, Arthington were staring down the barrel of defeat without a single bonus point, so it is to their credit that they managed a minor recovery to come away with five bonus points instead. Joe Seaborne was the pick of the bowlers with his three wickets but the whole team can be proud of how they took one of the league leaders as close as they did. Another twenty or thirty runs in their batting innings could easily have been enough to get a victory, which is something the Arthington batsmen need to remember next time out when they face Darley back at the ACG.