Page 36 - Demo

EAST MIDLANDS
(PAUL SHEPHERD
A s seasons go and with little expectation of play 2020 we at least saw some exciting cricket played, starting with
our inaugural appearance in the Gotham’s 8s where we enjoyed
some degree of success.
With wins in the quarters and semis, thanks to the Shepherds Ben and Paul who provided
a couple of fties apiece plus healthy opening stands (Big Shep particularly expansive), and the bowling of our spin triplets, Nigel Porter, Warren Birchall and Shez Butt who proved particularly mi- serly, we skipped into the nal.
Our hosts and nal match opposition were a very youthful Gotham who opted to bowl rst using a new pink cherry that
hooped, and from 3
down early we never recovered, eventually losing narrowly. It was a great week though.
The Worksop College
game was a cracker of
a match. Having been bowled out on an under- standably under-prepared pitch for 93, the spinners Birchall 4-13, and Porter 2-11 quickly left the school 40 short with the
last pair at the crease
who, to the delight of
watching headmaster
Dr. John Price, crept
home in a tense a air.
Notts ECB 50s pro-
vided the opposition
twice, beating us by 40 runs at Southwell despite great bowling from Warren Birchall 3-12 Aden Biddle 2-32 and Tom Taylor 2-8. Things looked tight in the second game at Tickhill CC when the rain inter- vened. We were 43-3, chasing 147-6: with Gurdev Singh 2-28 the best bowler.
Attenborough U19 proved too strong on the day beating our total of 172 by 5 wickets. The highlights
from our performance were Ben Kitt’s score of 66, and Shez Butt’s 2-28.
An equally strong Tickhill Academy were ve down early thanks to Jonathan Tucker 5-37 and Paul Bradley’s 2-40 however they managed to recover to 226 thanks to a very talented tail. A brisk start owed all to 43 from Dave Dakin and Yusuf Kayat’s 28 but we limped to 146 all out losing heavily.
Licking our wounds we headed to our annual Outcasts xture with more
optimism only to slump to 119
all out thanks largely to a half
century from Kevin Owens.
Outcasts were cruising,
needing 20 or so with 6
wickets left, only for Gurdev
Singh 2-4, Chris Stride 2-20
and part time o e Kevin
Owens 3-14 to snatch a
dramatic victory by 9 runs
in the end. Such drama was worthy of all round hugs, however Covid restrictions meant a socially distanced beer had to su ce.
Continuing senior cricket, we
accepted an invitation to a
lovely Belvoir CC to play Lincs
60s. whom we reduced to 128
all out thanks to Rob Howarth’s
2-13, Chris Stride’s 3-15 and
Tom Mason’s 4-34 including a
hat trick which really impressed
his watching father and former
District Chairman Peter Mason.
In our reply, Paul Shepherd’s
56* and Russell Fletcher 28
stepped on the gas to see XL home with 7 wickets in hand ensuring an early start to the socially distanced barbecue.
There were 2 other shared
xtures combined with our
Yorkshire & North East
neighbours. The rst at a
very picturesque Cawthorne
CC saw us given a cricketing
lesson by the Yorks ECB 50s
who knocked o our 70 odd for the loss of only
2 wickets. However, feeling suitably educated and better prepared we turned over a very strong Lancs 50s at their drizzly fortress, knocking o their 120 for the loss of a only couple of wickets.
So, all in all the appetite has been well whetted. The promise of continued new xtures, and the prospect of many new applicants bode well for what should be a cracking 2021.
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