BY GLEN SANDS
The 2013 cricket season got underway on Saturday with the sun shining and it also brought a nail biting finish at Hirst Priory where Outcasts 2nds entertained Broughton 2nds in a match sponsored by JW Joinery.
New 2nd team skipper Jason Whiteley lost the toss to Broughton captain Tom Brock who invited the Priorymen to take first knock and it proved to be a good choice early on as Outcasts quickly found themselves struggling at 17 for 3. James Glew was first to go , trapped LBW by Brock without opening his account then Josh Bramhill was bowled by Tom Reed and when Anthony Fitzgerald was adjudged LBW to Reed for 8 it was looking likely to be a tough start for the Isle side. However club stalwart David Hobson and the talented Peter Tait set about repairing things and with some sensible batting they steadied the ship , adding 67 runs for the fourth wicket before Hobson was bowled by left arm swing bowler Robbie Ward having scored 25. That brought Jamie Arrowsmith to the crease and he played some excellent shots along with Spud Tait , both players finding their timing as the ball began to disappear to the boundary quite regularly. Just as it seemed they were going to post a sizeable total Broughton fought back , picking up the wicket of Arrowsmith for 25 , caught by Robbie Glentworth off the bowling of Andry Hillyard. Tait brought up a terrific half century then proceeded to deposit the ball into the trees for two mighty sixes but to their credit the visitors then bowled particularly well , stemming the runs which eventually saw them frustrate Tait into a false shot that saw him bowled by Hillyard for 69 , leaving the total at 143 for 6. From then on Outcasts innings stalled as Mark Fletcher was run out by skipper Jason Whiteley having scored five, then Tom Reed was brought back to clear up the tail , bowling Whiteley for seven , trapping Andy Colebrook LBW without scoring and finishing it off when bowling Ian Fletcher for 3 which left Matthew Mellers not out on eight and the total on 162 , Reed finishing with a personal haul of 5 for 35.
Broughton's reply began in similar fashion to Outcasts as they lost early wickets. Craig Hall played on to give Matt Mellers his first wicket of the season and Kyle Kitchen went for nought in the next over when sending a comfortable catch back to Jason Whiteley leaving Broughton on 3 for 2 !Robbie Glentworth and Paul Reed took the score to 28 before Reed was adjudged LBW to Whiteley for 12 then Glentworth was spectacularly caught in the covers by a swallow like diving Ian Fletcher for 18 , earning Mellers a second victim. Ryan Thompson was yorked by Whiteley , again without troubling the scorers and at 37 for 5 all appeared lost for Broughton but bowling hero Tom Reed was then joined by Jake Parker and as had happened in the Outcasts innings a rebuilding job began to take place. They took the total to 98 before Reed picked out Mark Fletcher in the deep off the bowling of Josh Bramhill for 27 which saw Robbie Ward head to the middle. Parker was batting superbly and the game began to swing back in favour of the visitors , even when Andy Colebrook produced a stumping off Jason Whiteley to remove Ward for 10. Parker was still in command and when his skipper Tom Brock joined him they held their nerve to calmly see their team home with just four deliveries remaining as the spring sunshine disappeared to bring a decided chill to proceedings , Parker making an excellent 68 not out.
So it wasn't the winning start Outcasts 2nds skipper was looking for but there were some encouraging performances with Peter Tait opening the season well , as did the ever dependable David Hobson and Jamie Arrowsmith whilst Matthew Mellers return to the team saw him ease himself back nicely.
Broughton were delighted to begin with a victory with a terrific all round performance from Tom Reed and a match winning innings of 68 not out from the impressive Jake Parker.
Outcasts first team will open their season with a trip to Scothern on April 27th whilst the 2nds are also on their travels , heading to Market Rasen to take on their 2nds who were promoted from Division Four last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment