Pannal Ash v Scotton
On a day where the weather couldn't make up its mind, with reports of thunder storms, beautiful sunshine and even hail stones, we some how managed to get a game of cricket played. In the absence of Skipper Ginge (turning up late from work), Ginge senior tossed like an expert….. then went out to toss up with the Scotton skipper. Winning it, he put us in to bat.
Ned turned up to hear the good news, and went about selecting a batting order. As usual, Steve West opened the batting, joining him was Rob Clarke (Trip Switch). A not so usual early wicket fell in the first over. Steve lasted 3 balls falling to some good bowling from R Ellerker (1-11)
James Thompson and Rob Clarke then started smashing the ball all around the ground with a vast range of well executed shots, putting on a 75 run partnership. Rob was bowled by
T Halliday (2-27) for 45 and Joe Buckley soon followed, getting caught going for an expected BIG SHOT!
James Thompson (39) and Ned McClelland (19) kept the run rate up with Ali Bowles (4 n/o) and Mark Taylor (3 n/o) finishing the innings off with a grand total of 124/5. Good running boys, put so much pressure on the fielder on the last ball, that he fell over and couldn’t throw the ball in, due to hysterics, allowing 3 runs when 2 seemed impossible.
After what must have been the most inspirational team talk of all time, the Mighty Pigeons went out keen to win….. with ten men. Ned McClelland opened the bowling. An unexpected no ball to start when a bouncer went over the top of the batsman’s head. Despite this, Ned took a wicket in the first over, finishing with figures of 2-17. Joe Buckley bowled tighter than the eye of his needle, finishing with figures of 4 overs, 2 maidens 0-14. Not bad considering his first over went for 10.
An even tighter Ali Bowles (T Inge) continued the onslaught with a very impressive, quick reaction caught and bowled. Very impressive figures of 4 overs, 2 maidens, 2-10 from Ali, and Mark Taylor’s 3 overs, 1-6 help keep Scotton pegged well back.
As you may have noticed, I’ve not mentioned much about the Scotton batting performance, despite a long stand from the opener, A Black, he could only score 12 runs. Also, despite some fine shots from R Ellerker, he could only reach 17, which was the top score of the innings….. it would have been the extras top scoring Neil had the umpires signaled accordingly!!!
Now, we can’t forget the intensely awkward bowling of John Ginger Man Al Bowman(0-8). Charging in first up with a wide, followed by 2 or 3 more wides. His figures could have looked ok had the Ash’s fielding performance been better. A fantastic chase down by Mark Taylor to stop the ball going for four, so good, he waited for the batsmen to start for another run so he could get a run out. With the batsmen not falling for such trickery, Taylor simply had no option but to gently boot the ball over the line in disgust. A “really good” run out on the last ball of the game however saw Scotton finish with 57 for 7. The Ash win by 67 runs.
Scorecard:
Pannal Ash Innings - points gained: 2