BY GLEN SANDS
Outcasts' hopes of finishing second and claiming possible promotion into the top flight were extinguished on September 7th when they were well beaten by fellow promotion hopefuls Scothern at Hirst Courtney in a match kindly sponsored by Ian Fletcher & son.Scothern skipper Ian Brown won the toss inviting Outcasts to bat first and for a while Darren Clark and Josh Bramhill appeared to be comfortable at the crease as they put on 32 for the first wicket then Brown produced a superb over in which he took three wickets to rip the top order apart. He bowled Bramhill for nine , then induced a leading edge from John Stokoe to pick up an easy caught and bowled and ended the over by having Charlie Mason caught at slip by Mark Conyers as the momentum swung in favour of the visitors. Scott Buttrick joined the impressive looking Clark and for a while it seemed as if they were guiding their team back into the game then Buttrick was adjudged to have edged a catch to wicket keeper Steve Bett off spin bowler Ian McGowan for nine and Outcasts were staring down the barrel again at 65 for 4. Clark was still at the crease and looked set for a telling contribution but the slow bowling of Richard Johnson proved to be his undoing as he attempted a big hit only to dolly a catch to Ian Brown when having reached 45 and from that moment on any hopes of a large total were diminishing quickly. Brother Graham was next to go , splendidly caught by Mark Conyers at slip off Johnson then Peter Tait and Mark Fletcher added fifteen before the latter was out in the most bizarre fashion when his snick to the wicket keeper Bett lodged between his pads without touching the gloves , Fletcher having made eight runs himself. Skipper Liam McAnaney and Tait took the score into three figures before that man Bett took another catch off Johnson then Tom Sharpe was ninth out when he was caught by Joe Drabble at deep mid on for five with the total on 115 and finally Tait was run out when trying to keep the strike , out for 33 from an all out total of 116 , Richard Johnson taking 4 for 24 and Ian Brown 3 for 23 for the visitors.
With news coming from elsewhere that Scothern's rivals Appleby Frodingham faced a tough run chase they knew a win would offer them a good chance of finishing second and they made a decent start as Scott Nicholson and Mark Conyers put on 28 before the former was trapped LBW for 14 by Liam McAnaney. Peter Wright hit just one boudary then edged a Graeme Fletcher delivery to brother Mark behind the stumps and at 38 for 2 Outcasts were hoping they might be back in the match. However Joe Drabble and Conyers took the total to 64 then Drabble skied a catch to Liam McAnaney off Scott Buttrick , out for 16 which brought Sam Naughton in and along with the impressive Conyers he took the score past the hundred mark. Conyers was after a half century that would have seen him top the Scothern batting averages but perished when another skier was pouched by Fletcher off Tom Sharpe for 44 which left Naughton to hit the winning runs for a not out total of 31 , earning his side the maximum 20 points from the game.
So the season drew to a disappointing end as Outcasts were left to ponder what might have been whilst results elsewhere meant that Scothern missed out by the smallest of margins in their quest to finish second. Overall Richard Wroot's side have had a pretty decent summer with eight wins , seeing them in a comfortable position in what has been a very competative Division One this year.
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