Championship Division round-up for 14 May

 

In what felt like an important weekend, Hallam extended their unbeaten run at the top of the division, but parted company with Aston Hall who were just beaten in a thrilling match with Shiregreen. Theirs however was not the only close encounter on a warm and sunny Saturday in South Yorkshire. 

 

 

Aston Hall have had a fantastic start to the season, winning four out of four, and showed few signs of surrendering it at home against Shiregreen. They won the toss and posted a competitive total of 207-9 against a strong and varied bowling attack. All the first six made strong starts, though none really managed to take the game away from their opponents. Nathan Ward made 44, Mark Barnard 37 and there was a frustrating stand of 31 for the 9th wicket which seemed to give them the edge. Imran Khan and Hamzah Younis each took four wickets, but there was less success this week for spinner Muhammad Khan. One of the more significant spells came from opening bowler, Abdul Latif, who took no wickets but conceded only 22 runs in his ten overs. When Shiregreen batted, Tom Coulson bowled just as tightly and got an early wicket, but Umar Tariq remained and made 54 out of 71 before he was bowled. Captain Hammad Usman and Shohaib Khaliq built up the score steadily but with ten overs to go Shiregreen still needed 75 to win. Hamzar Younis had made a quiet start but then, on the 2nd ball of the 40th over he lifted Tom Coulson for 6 and the chase began. The 44th over went for 16, Younis hitting Omar for three successive 4s. Khaliq fell for 32 on 181, and ten runs later, after another huge six, Younis was bowled by Bothma. Now though, there were only 17 needed in 16 balls and five wickets left. Imran Khan and Aslam Hayat finished it in ten. So Aston Hall have been beaten and Shiregreen are moving back up, though they are still twelve points behind. 

 

 

This was a fantastic game going to the third ball of the last over. Barnsley won the toss and batted first. There was no Nathan Swift, he of the 245 opening partnership with Sheryaar Ali against Rockingham, was spending time with the first team (though sadly not so long in the middle). So young Freddie Chapman took his place and scored a creditable 27, which for some time was Barnsley’s highest score till Jordan Slattery and Matthew Clayton came together in a 56 run 8th wicket partnership, with each getting 30s, and taking Barnsley up to 193-9 by the close. They’d have had more but for Michael Bates’ 4-39 in 15 overs. Houghton set off positively. Brent Law and Luke Ogden took the score to 101 before Will Nicholson did for them both and things became a little tighter. The score crept up to the 150s but wickets were falling just as the run rate needed accelerating. Jordan Slattery came back to run through the tail, but he couldn’t get Simon Ward, who kept one end together, scoring five fours in 27* to win the game with just one wicket and three balls to go, taking Houghton to 5th in the table, while Barnsley‘s 4 points for a close finish lifted them off the bottom. 

 

 

Sprotbrough had a bright start to the season but last week were bowled out cheaply and I’m afraid the same happened again this week. Hassan Bin Shahab took 5-28 for Conisbrough. Tom Pepper made 34 and gave them some solidity at one end, but when he was out on 66-4, it became a struggle and Sprotbrough were all out for 97 in the 32nd over. However, Conisbrough did not have it all their own way. Danyaal Latif was the only one of the top five who made double figures and his bright 32 was extinguished at 52-4. Sadrian Ward, Michael Threapleton and Scott Mantovani were as much a threat as Hassan Bin Shahab and Buddhika Sanjeewa. Speaking of which, it was Sanjeewa who ultimately resolved the contest by hitting five 4s to take Conisbrough over the line, albeit with eight wickets down. So, a compelling low-scoring game which could have gone either way, and nearly did, leaving both clubs just below mid table. 

 

 

To say Green Moor were overwhelmed by Wath doesn’t acknowledge their fight to set a competitive total after Jack Whitlam had blown away most of their top order and Rob Barlow had bemused the tail. It seemed to be a day where it was tricky when you first started but got a bit easier to manage after that. Ben Simpson batted for nearly 80 balls for his 32, Daniel Cartwright 91 for his 46*. Julian Bates was a little more direct about his 30* at the end, but though the rest of the team only contributed 36 runs between them, they supported the others bravely and it enabled Green Moor to reach 170-8 in their 50 overs. To be fair, when Wath batted, James Barnard and Rob Barlow didn’t fare much better and at 36-2 Green Moor might have thought they stood a chance. However, all it did was bring Bradley Williams and Ainsley Swallow together and that, I’m afraid, was the end of the contest. If you let either of those get in, they will punish you. If you let both of them get going together they will obliterate you. Williams hit nine 4s and three 6s in 70* from 67 balls. Swallow hit ten 4s and four 6s in 71* in 39 balls. Green Moor tried seven bowlers looking for a magic trick to part them but the spell was complete and the two took Wath to 174-2 in 22.2 overs, which bearing in mind that James Barnard and Rob Barlow used up five overs between them, gives a flavour of how much the two turned the game on its head. And they still had nearly 28 overs to go!! Other teams beware! 

 

 

 

Rockingham won the toss and elected to bat against Hallam but found it a struggle from the start against a very accurate attack. James Smedley bowled eight overs for ten runs and the prized wicket of Ben Dalton. With eleven from eleven last week, Smedley has now bowled 19 overs for twenty-one runs over two weekends. With Christian Leddicoat collecting his customary three wickets, Rockingham were 14-3, 34-4 – and it took a watchful innings of 27 in 65 balls by Hedar Rasool to bring some respectability to the score. The outstanding bowling however came from 15 year old off-spinner Ed Burch whose 6-30 was the best of his short career. Rockingham were all out for 107 in 38.2 overs. When Hallam batted, centurion Nick Dymock fell cheaply but there was little else to cheer for Rockingham as Alex Hughes (44*) and Will Newton (31*), despite an uncomfortable moment, survived to the end, giving Hallam a nine wicket win and a clear lead at the top of the table. 

 

 

 

Mark Cummins and Nathan Taylor put on 60 for the first wicket for Wickersley against Collegiate, by a long way the best partnership of the match. Tom Eldred 3-43 in 15 and Tate Miller 2-35 in 15, restricted further attempts to score freely. Ahmad Bashir (29) was the best of the rest, helping his side to 158-9 in 50 overs. This may not have seemed enough at the time or against the Collegiate sides of old, but this is now and the current Collegiate 2nds has had a tough start to the season and are currently bottom of the table. Ben Fielding, brought back to bolster the side, made 54*. The next nearest was Lewis Bent with 12 and his team ended 49 runs short, with Ifti Afzal taking 3-17 in nine and Ahmad Bashir 2-28 in twelve, taking Wickersley up to 4th. 

 

 

Full scorecards