Burton Leonard 1st XI v Knaresborough Forest

Burton Leonard 1st XI played well on Saturday, but still finished losing in a tight game against Knaresborough Forest.

The toss was won by Forest who elected to bat, banking on their run-machine, Thompson, to continue his current run of good form. Ali Wilson and Rob Murray took the new ball for Burton and both bowled with great accuracy, conceding little more than a run an over in their opening spells. Both bowlers troubled the batsmen and Murray in particular consistently beat the outside edge two or three times per over. The pressure finally paid reward as Skaith sliced a firm chance to Chris 'Cookie' Parker, who swooped gracefully and held on well.

Jonny Duffy and Chris Parker came on first change and continued to beat the bat frequently, but it was not until the slip was removed in the 20th over that, predictably, an edge finally came. Such was to be Burton's day.

Between the swishes and inside edges the Forest batsmen, and Thompson in particular, played some fine strokes including 4 huge sixes. Neil Blaken and Mark Fox both tried their hand with the ball, but the only thing they managed to remove was wicketkeeper Dan Thirkell. Having done a tidy job with the gloves, he took a nasty blow on the finger, and was replaced by stalwart keeper Mike Stansfield.

The Forest innings finally closed on 222-5, Thompson making his second century on the trot. As usual, a fantastic Burton Leonard tea was served, which included a delicious carrot cake.

In total contrast to Burton, the Forest attack was made up entirely of slow bowling. Veteran left armer Pike soon removed Mike Stansfield LBW, who was forward to one that pitched in line and straightened. Neil Blaken and Mike Wray eased their way to 82 with little difficulty, picking off the bad balls. Wray then dragged one that kept a little low onto his stumps for 42, and Blaken scooped a similar delivery back to the bowler. Mike Crawshaw and Dan Thirkell moved the score along to 139-3 before Mike Crawshaw hit a long hop to point and was caught.

Useful contributions from Neil Carass, Rob Murray and Ali Wilson, kept the scoreboard moving at the required rate. Meanwhile Dan Thirkell at the other end had moved past 50. But wickets continued to fall, and finally Burton were forced to settle for the batting point, finishing on 203-9.

Burton played some good cricket in this game; the bowling and fielding were excellent, and they didn't bat too badly either. It was just one of those frustrating days when things didn't go their way. It happens.

Next weeks game is away to top-of-the-table Birstwith.

This entry was posted on Tuesday May 27th, 2008 at 1:15 PM and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)
Mail (required - will not be published)
Website


Security Code