Our return to Division 4 wasn't without its twists and turns in the week beforehand; we signed Allan Toole from Aire-Wharfe outfit Bilton CC on the Tuesday, and he was out of the opening game on Thursday after twisting his ankle at 5-a-side, Joe Buckley remembered he was golfing, and Dan Harrington managed to lose his train ticket for his return trip to university and had to buy a replacement, the only available one to pre-book was on the Saturday afternoon, to be fair, it's a long walk back to Aberdeen!
We arrived early at Bluecote Wood to find the pavilion in a shocking state; our friends, the junior footballers, had done nothing to clear the mess after their activities over the winter months. It took one hour to clean up before we were in a position to start letting people in for the afternoon's game.
New skipper Rob Clarke arrived a the ground in his new Citroen car, sporting his 'Top Gun' shades and with new recruit from Scotton CC, Ali Bowles, sampling the delights of the ground for the first time and arriving just after the sight screen at the nursery end had been pulled back up - great timing lads!
The Crakehall team had a long journey south from their Bedale base, not helped by problems on the A1. We managed to get the toss done on time, and Rob showed himself an expert tosser, as the Crakehall captain called wrongly and Rob put the opposition in to bat first.
We were looking for an early break-through, which came with a couple of early wickets to Ned McClelland (2 for 12) but reasonable innings from Steve Thompson-Roberts (27), Steve Irwin (19) and Andy Nelson (22) had the visitors at 61 for 3 at the drinks break.
Good work from debutant Ali Bowles (3 for 32) and Rich Turner (3 for 31) saw a mini collapse to 98 all out which, perhaps could have been 20 runs less if we hadn't dropped 4 catches. However, Mark Taylor's brilliant run out of the dangerous Tim Bishop has set an early marker for the season.
Vice President Clive McClelland arrived just in time for the tea break as everyone made short work of James Thompson's morning work (he really did do most of it on his own - Kim). He and Rob Clarke then opened the innings as we looked for a good start in reply to Crakehall's total, but Rob fell LBW with the score at 19 before James Thompson (22), Ned McClelland (26 not out) and Mark Taylor (22 not out) saw us home for a 7 wicket victory.
Ali Bowles will be looking to forget an ugly across the line shot, causing his dismissal - remember to play straight and forward next time Ali!
Rob Clarke was a happy skipper in his first game in charge, a 6 point victory and key players to return as we begin life back in Division 4.
Scorecard:
Crakehall Innings
C Pichniczek |
C & B N McClelland |
0 |
S Thompson-Roberts |
b. A Bowles |
27 |
M Thompson-Roberts |
LBW b. N McClelland |
3 |
T Bishop |
Run Out |
8 |
S Irwin |
ct. b. A Bowles |
19 |
A Nelson |
st. (N Laurence) b. R Turner |
22 |
J Clark |
ct. b. R Turner |
0 |
S Dawson |
ct b. R Turner |
0 |
C McKenny |
b. M Taylor |
5 |
| D Poole |
LBW b. A Bowles |
2 |
| N Taylor |
NOT OUT |
2 |
| |
Runs |
88 |
| |
Extras |
10 |
| |
TOTAL (all out) |
98 |
Pannal Ash Innings
J Thompson |
b. D Poole |
22 |
R Clarke (c) |
LBW b. T Bishop |
6 |
N McClelland |
NOT OUT |
26 |
A Bowles |
b. S Dawson |
0 |
M Taylor |
NOT OUT |
22 |
A Tomlinson |
did not bat |
- |
R Turner |
did not bat |
- |
N Laurence (w/k) |
did not bat |
- |
D Druett |
did not bat |
- |
| A Pitt |
did not bat |
- |
| M Merryweather |
did not bat |
- |
| |
Runs |
76 |
| |
Extras |
23 |
| |
TOTAL (for 3 wkts) |
99 |
Bowling Analysis:
| Crakehall Innings |
Wkts |
Runs |
| A Bowles |
3 |
32 |
| R Turner |
3 |
31 |