Report:
The Yorkshire Gentlemen hosted the Halifax Nomads this Sunday in what turned out to be an exhilarating match. The weather was relatively overcast and still from the outset.
It was Will Shaw’s first outing as skipper and in typical Shaw fashion he managed to fail at his first job, when he lost the toss. Unsurprisingly, Halifax Nomads elected to bat and the Yorkshire Gentlemen found themselves in the field.
Angus Smith and Harry Lamb opened the bowling for the Gents and provided a steady start. Lamb was getting the ball to move but the Nomad’s opening pair managed to stand up to it and got off to a nice start. Their opening partnership was eventually broken by first change bowler Salman Syed with his second ball, thanks to a good catch by Joe Biggs. At this point the Nomad’s found themselves 35-1.
Further progress was seen from J Lord and R Wynn of the Nomads until Syed was able to strike again. The Nomads found themselves 65-2 and in a relatively strong position after 15 overs. Some excellent middle overs bowling from Phil Holland was able to slow the progress of the Nomads. Holland eventually finishing with figures of 1-23 off his 8 overs. However, the death bowling of David O’Kelly and Rich Exley stemmed the flow of runs dramatically for the Nomads. Pace off the ball was evidently the way forward. O’Kelly was the standout bowler finishing with 2-19 off his 7 overs.
The Nomads posted a very good total of 176-8 off there 40 overs. Which the Gents knew was going to be a difficult task to chase.
O’Kelly and Jason Dale opened for the Gents and dealt with a tricky opening spell from G Gibson and R Shuttleworth. An excellent opening stand of 100 exactly after 26 overs put the Gents in good stead to chase down the total set by the Nomads. O’Kelly fell first for a well made 44. Geoff Barker replaced him and steadied the ship. Barker supported Dale as he continued to take it to the Nomads attack, eventually falling for an excellent 63. While Barker fell for 15 on the last ball of the 35th over. H Lamb and J Biggs replaced the two set batsmen with Biggs arriving at the crease with 38 required at the end of the 35th over. This was just over 8 an over. An excellent display of batting from both Lamb and Biggs saw the Gents requiring 5 to tie and 6 to win from the last over of the game.
Lamb rather nervously played and missed at the first two balls of the last over and the Gents found themselves needing 5 off 4 balls. A single was then taken, followed by a bye. The situation was now 3 runs from 2 balls with Lamb on strike. Lamb managed a 2 which meant 1 run was needed from the last ball. The draw was secured but the Gents wanted the win. Lamb confidentiality cover drove the last ball for four through the field that was brought up by the Nomads. This ended a great game of cricket for all concerned. Lamb and Biggs played and ran excellently to secure the win. Lamb finished on 25 not out and Biggs finished on 11 not out.
Lamb and Biggs - get the YG’s over the line.
A great day of cricket and huge thanks to the Nomads for being great opponents as always.