YGs welcomed The Primary Club of Australia, a registered charity which raises money to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in sport and recreation, to Escrick for the second match in the Yorkshire leg of their UK tour.
Our guests, who had beaten the Forty Club two days previously at Bolton Percy, were expected to provide strong opposition and won the toss, electing to field in damp conditions. The Primary Club included in their number Andrew Wildblood and Bruce Neary, both of whom had played junior cricket at Escrick many years ago.
After YGs had lost Rich Exley early, David O’Kelly and Prabas Mallick played cautiously, battling hard against an accurate bowling attack in tough conditions. 15-year-old Harry Croasdale showed plenty of promise on debut for the club, batting nicely alongside James van der Merwe, who started to lift the scoring rate. James was joined by Phil Holland, who played the innings of the day on a wicket which was offering variable bounce. 14-year-old Rohan Korolkiewicz showed considerable resilience to come back to the crease to resume his innings, having taken a nasty blow from a rising ball. Skipper, Richard Musgrave, declared the innings closed at 3.35pm with the score on 154-7 shortly after Holland had reached a well-earned half century.
In reply, the Primary Club lost a wicket in the first over to an excellent high catch at mid-off by Holland from the bowling of Jordan Richardson, who combined with Gerard Whelan to deliver an incisive new ball spell which had the Australians in big trouble at 39/5. Neary and Wildblood used their experience of the Escrick pitch to stage a mini recovery before the “spin twins”, van der Merwe and Mallick, combined to squeeze the Australian innings further. With 9 wickets down and almost 10 overs to go, a YGs victory looked likely but the final pair of Neary and skipper Nathan Reay held out for a draw without offering a chance as the game came to an end with the score on 87/9.
Despite being unable to force a victory, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day at Escrick and our guests were quick to express their gratitude for the YG’s hospitality. It was particularly pleasing to see a good number of YG supporters at the ground as the Club pushed for victory.
