Plan A – Week 18 Ackworth 2 (a)
Nostell St Oswalds V Ackworth 2 15th August 2009 Match Gallery
The team travelled down the road for another local derby and resisted the temptation to have an overnight stopover in Wragby. Probably not really justifiable for a 4 mile round trip.
The wicket looked like a shirt front and after a short delay, proceedings commenced with Nostell batting. Big Rich and Wayne faced the two extremes of opening bowling with Longfield tearing in and bowling back of a length and Keith Best bowling steady away duckers uphill and into a “breeze “ that varied between storm force and hurricane. Runs were at a premium and at drinks with 23 overs gone we had nudged and nurdled our way to 63 runs for the loss of Richie. Matt’s arrival and a bowling change prompted a bit of a dash, and after Wayne had manfully tried to come to terms with the conditions he departed for 16 runs. Matt , Lee and the Kiwi upped the rate considerably and whilst Pretty Richie fell for 2 , and The Rockstar collected another plastic ornament for his bathtime fun, Jimbob assisted the push for a challenging target before giving way to the King of Scotland and The Chav who both surrendered quicker than an Italian infantry regiment. Last over came and I strode to the wicket to accompany Jason. Determined not to give Ackworth full bowling points I played myself in with skill, patience and dexterity before smashing the last ball of the innings for six over square leg and off a couple of parked cars. We finished on 194 for 9 and felt that maybe we had just done enough.
After a very nice tea, and confirmation that Drogba HAD scored in injury time we took to the field. Briggs gave nothing away as I bowled into the breeze and Lee beat the bat with sheer pace and movement for no luck at all. Freddie Gunthorpe settled in at the opposite end and made the going very tough. Lee was replaced by Dale but at drinks we were staring down the barrel with Ackworth half way there for no wickets. Jim came on at the “ Hurricane” end and with Dale grabbing a couple of wickets we felt it was all to play for. A twisted ankle then took Dale out of the equation and Lee returned to bowl uphill as Mattt tried his luck at the other end. 2 wickets in 2 balls from Lee gave us hope and made the game very finely balanced. We were then unable to dislodge either of the youngsters Jack Willis and Andy Clemo as they batted very sensibly and timed the run chase almost to perfection before Clemo became wicket number 5. In strode the not overly slim Nigel Malyan who with a couple of hefty blows closed the game out as a 9 points to 4 victory for Ackworth.
We still remain in pole position in the league table with 4 games to go and all to play for. Maybe some reflection on how the 2 Ackworth youngsters batted with good control and temperament under pressure wouldn’t go amiss in the closing weeks as every game now is a cup final.
