SNAITH LEAGUE SHIELD FIRST ROUND

By Glen Sands

Shield holders Luddington fell at the first hurdle in their defence of the trophy against a very competitive Sykehouse side which bore no resemblance to the one that had travelled to Luddington just five days earlier, and the Isle side were not helped when they had to play with a man short after a misunderstanding between one of the players and the secretary (who took full resposibity for the mix up).
The match began in the most bizarre of fashins when home skipper Danny Greenslade tossed the coin, away skipper Anthony Fitzgerald called heads and the coin wedged in a crack between pavement slabs to give neither an answer! Once repeated Sykehouse won and chose to bat first but were quickly one down when Graham Clark took the most incredible of diving one handed catches to send Phil Sanders back to the pavilion for 4 and earn Graeme Fletcher a wicket in his first over. However that brought Jim Davies to the crease to join Andy Edwards and the two right-handers proceeded to pile on the runs with some excellent running and some cracking boundaries when the Ludd bowlers strayed from the straight. They added 80 in no time, taking advantage of the fact that Ludd had one less man on the field but to their credit the visitors fielding was in the main outstanding as they were made to work hard to plug the gaps. Davies eventually went, run out for 40 after a mix up with Edwards, the score by now being 84 for 2 which saw Mick Gallagher enter the fray. Edwards reached his half century and at the same time brought up three figures for Sykehouse but just when he looked set to rseally unleash a barrage he was caught by wicket keeper Oliver Coulman off Graham Clark for a splendid 59. Big-hitting Stuart Bellwood went in at number five but it was Gallagher who struck the biggest blow of the innings when depositing Clark back over his head into an area where there was no way of retreiving the ball. Clark gained his revenge on Bellwood whom he bowled for 15 and he will find himself on a hat trick when next he bowls as he had Chris Marshall caught by Alex Fletcher off the final delivery of the innings, leaving Gallagher on 28 not out and the overall score on 149 for 5.
If Luddington were to reach such a tough target they needed to make a decent start but sadly that was not to be as Andy Lawson was bowled early in the piece by Pete Sanders having scored just five runs and when Graham Clark inexplicably smashed a full toss from the same bowler straight to the bowler's brother Phil having made six they were in a spot of bother at 31 for 2. However opener Jamie Belton and number four batsman Peter Tait then set about the bowling with relish and produced some spectacular hitting as they ate into the Sykehouse lead. Both men hit the ball to all parts , whilst at the same time putting fielders under pressure with some excellent running and it was'nt long before they had brought up three figures. Belton took his own score to 56 before he was caught by Chris Marshall at deep mid off from the bowling of Phil Sanders with the total on 103 but Tait was in full flow at the other end and having lost his partner he simply slipped up to another gear and began to pound the ball over the ropes in what was becoming a monumental innings. Sykehouse understandably dropped the field back but that was of no deterant to Tait who ran like a whippet with new to the crease Oliver Coulman to keep the pressure on. Sadly for Coulman he was run out for two in an attempt to keep the in form Tait on strike and as the final two overs approached Ludd needed an unlikely 30 runs to win. That did'nt faze Mr Tait who plundered fourteen from the penulitimate over , having buy now reached a magnificent half century but to his credit Sykehouse' Richard Hill held his nerve in the fial over which went for only five and the brave fight by the trphy holders had ended in a glorious failure. Tait ended the game on 63 not out , then headed off to celebrate by going to work on nights, while Ludd were left to rue the fact taht they only had ten men although it must be said that Sykehouse were deserving of their victory with spledid contributions from Andy Edwards, Jim Davies and Mick Gallagher with bat coupled with some tight and impressive bowling from Peter Sanders and Stuart Bellwood and the icey cool death bowling from Richard Hill.
All in all this was a tremendous game of cricket, played in goos spirit, but played to win by two good sides. Sykehouse will now entertain the winners of the Fishlake v Drax Village match, while Luddington are left to "concentrate on the league" despite their valiant efforts on the night.