Arthington 1st XI – 304/6 50 overs	181 all out – Thirsk 1st XI 36.1 overs
Naveed Andrabi: 122 Ridham Satyawan: 107	Rahul Khode: 3-0-11-3 Sourav Chandolia: 10-0-37-3

After a first successful match of the season a week prior, the Arthington 1st XI were hopeful of continuing their winning trend when they travelled to Thirsk to play at the racecourse. There was to be no victory for the outsiders at the toss, as odds-on favourite Naveed Andrabi won the coin flip for the third week running and elected to bat.

As has been the case in the early part of the season, the away side had to overcome a few hurdles in the opening stages when both Hari Krishan and new signing Sourav Chandolia lost their wickets to make the score 37/2. However, what followed was a 194-run partnership of significant quality between captain Andrabi and last week’s centurion Ridham Satyawan. The pair were neck and neck as they raced towards centuries, but it was Satyawan, batting at number four, who just pipped the skipper to the post, ending on 107 before he was caught in the outfield, including 11 fours and 2 sixes. These were back-to-back centuries from another one of Arthington’s new recruits, who seems to have taken a liking to the opposition bowling since his arrival.

Andrabi then crossed the line for his first century of the season, coming in imperious fashion, though perhaps not the typical innings from the long-standing Arthington number three. There were certainly a few furlongs put into the legs on this occasion with only 7 fours and 3 sixes being scored in his final total of 122. Whilst looking invincible when facing up to any deliveries from the home side, he was finally dismissed via a run out, when a risky two between him and Himanshu Satyawan turned into a damaging single coming with it the captain’s demise. An excellent innings to surely put his side several lengths in front.

Himanshu Satyawan, Umar Farooq and Ahmer Sadiq managed a few more runs from the remaining deliveries, though a couple more wickets fell as the visitors chanced their arms. Arthington ended their innings on 304/6 from 50 overs.

Thirsk needed to get out of the traps quickly if they were to have any chance of reaching the Arthington total, but their innings suffered repeated and untimely setbacks to the point it seemed Arthington would win at a canter. The opening bowling spells of Umar Farooq and Sourav Chandolia, both of whom bowled ten overs in the match, did the early damage with Farooq unseating the bails for the second wicket either side of heavy involvement in the field, as he also took two catches for two of Chandolia’s three wickets, the other being caught by Hari Krishan.

There was a brief pause in the dismissals while a 25-run partnership formed for the fifth wicket, prompting a change in the bowling, but this only allowed Rahul Khode and Inam Piran to enter the parade ring and wreak havoc. Khode only bowled three overs for eleven runs but took three wickets via a catch by Ahmer Sadiq, a clean bowled and a Himanshu Satyawan stumping. Piran’s first wicket also rearranged the furniture as Thirsk slumped from 100/5 to 103/8. A run-out several overs later, again by Satyawan took the visitors to the brink of victory and their bowlers should have been chomping at the bit to take the final Thirsk wicket.

Instead, they rather took their foot off the pedal and allowed a 59-run stand to form for the final wicket, the highest of the innings. Several bowling options were tried at the back-end, but it was the returning Inam Piran who finally got the Arthington steed over the finish line when an edge behind was taken by Himanshu Satyawan to dismiss the impressive Thirsk captain Phil Schofield for 48, including 5 fours.

With the victory, Arthington join five other teams on two wins from the first three games in the Championship West table. Their next match sees them take one of those teams when they travel to Oulton and where horse-related puns will likely be harder to come by.

2nd XI summary – Home against Walton Park

 

Arthington 2nd XI – 91 all out 26 overs	202/8 dec. – Walton Park 2nd XI 34 overs
Luke Seaborne: 56 Riaz Piran: 14*	Riaz Piran: 8-1-40-3 Harsimran Singh: 5-1-18-2

At the ACG, the Arthington 2nd XI came out second best in their latest match against the early league leaders Walton Park. Under gloomy skies and with the ever-present threat of rain, it was a surprise when the weather caused no delay in proceedings whatsoever, though it certainly had an impact on how the match played out as things went both metaphorically and literally from dry and hopeful to damp and miserable for the hosts as the match wore on.

One thing Arthington did win was the toss and for the first time this season they were able to bowl first. Joe Seaborne and Riaz Piran’s opening spells were impressive, as usual, and both were able to take an early wicket with Piran benefitting from a sharp catch at point by Harsimran Singh before a leave by the other Walton Park opener proved to be a very poor choice as Seaborne speared a superb delivery into the top of off-stump.

A significant partnership was then constructed for the third wicket, though both batsmen can count themselves slightly lucky owing to some calamitous moments in the field. First, a high ball was played in between two Arthington fielders at mid-wicket and mid-on and with neither laying claim to the chance, both ended-up colliding dangerously into one another causing a break in play and the end of the unfortunate Riaz Piran’s bright opening bowling spell. A few overs later there was a reprieve for the other batsman when a cut shot was hit hard at Ritankar Chakraborty at cover but he, too, sustained an injury that forced him from the field with blood pouring from his hand, in failing to take the catch. The latest update is that a spell on the sidelines awaits the Arthington all-rounder.

Eventually, the partnership was broken, shortly after the Walton Park number three reached fifty. A similarly lofted shot down the ground was loudly claimed by Arthington captain Luke Seaborne this time around, preventing further damage to his side and the catch was taken behind the bowler. Seaborne would go on to have a productive day in the field, assisting in Harsimran Singh’s first wicket from his very first delivery straight after drinks via a catch at long-off, before effecting a run-out from mid-on when the away side’s batsman attempted an unwise quick single and finally taking a very high catch at long-on from the bowling of the returning Riaz Piran. Somewhere amongst those dismissals, Singh was also able to remove the Walton Park captain when a ball cannoned off his pads straight onto the stumps.

Eight wickets down and after several lusty blows from the away side’s very capable tail-enders, Walton Park decided to declare their innings with six overs remaining, hoping to give themselves the best chance of bowling out their opponents before the weather worsened. This proved to be a good move as, after the break, Arthington found themselves 13/4 with their entire top order having been removed with little resistance.

Steve Potter, who had impressed with the bat in the two previous outings, flayed a ball to cover for a simple catch, Umer Khan repeated last week’s dismissal and was given out LBW, the injured Ritankar Chakraborty bravely went out to bat but was expertly caught behind from the very next delivery and despite playing some nice-looking shots throughout his stay at the crease, all of which found alert Walton Park fielders, Malcolm Barraclough eventually attacked a yorker that clattered into leg-stump. The away side’s Chris Elliot did most of the damage finishing with excellent figures of 3 for 8 from his eight over allocation.

Things could have been even worse for Arthington had it not been for some significant good fortune for their captain Luke Seaborne, batting at number five, who was dropped twice, first by a relatively simple chance at cover followed by a tougher edge behind that was grassed and he even benefitted from a missed run out when Barraclough had still been at the crease, whose call for a quick single would have seen his skipper well short of his ground had there been a direct hit, all before he had scored a single run.

Thankfully, for the hosts, Seaborne survived and after Zaid Anwar was given out LBW for a duck, he combined well with his brother Joe Seaborne to at least bring a small amount of respectability back to the score in a 41-run partnership. In fact, after benefiting from the earlier missed opportunities the Arthington captain began to score at a decent rate with several on-drives down the ground reaching the boundary accompanying some more familiar heaves into the leg-side. When he was finally bowled from the final ball of the 22nd over the score was 70/6 and he had made 56 of those runs, including 10 fours and a six.

After the change of ends, Joe Seaborne was given out LBW from the very next ball and the same over brought about further damage when Dave Howard also opted to use pad over bat to see the umpire’s finger raised once more. An entertaining cameo by Riaz Piran, who dispatched three boundaries over the head of the Walton Park spinner in the final stages, brought some joy to the watching Arthington players, but that was cut short when Harsimran Singh became the fifth LBW of the innings and, with Dougie Jones unfit to bat after yet another injury sustained in the field, Arthington were all out for 91, defeated by 111 runs.

Following the excellent victory the previous week, Arthington were undoubtedly second best in every department in this follow-up fixture. Walton Park continued their unbeaten start to the season leaving the hosts, damp in both body and spirit, licking their wounds, in every sense of the phrase, as they look ahead to, hopefully, better weather and a better performance in their next match at home against Rainton.