Sat 3rd May 2008
Mirfield B bt Upperthong A by 6 wkts.
Upperthong A 104 for 7 (L Morris 42, D Hancock 32*,.)
v Mirfield B 107 for 4 (J Pollard 48, G Whitworth 22.)
Well 3 weeks into the start of the season and Mirfield B aka "The Limers" made their start to the season in the lofty heights of section C. Many thanks to the ground staff Nick "The Man" Harvey and the 'Wednesday Gang' for making it playable. They even harvested the rice from the paddy field near to the clubhouse.
So skipper Haigh, good tosser he is, won the toss and allowed the visitors first use of the track. The Upperthong boys looked up for the challenge, also with the benefit of better oxygen levels down nearer to sea level than their home ground in the clouds. Welcomed into the dressing room, new boys Jamie Pollard, David Longworth, and dropping down from the firsts to pass on his vast experience, Steve 'helps if you go home with your door key' Kirkby.
Walking out to the field felt good, it has been a long winter. Smith given the new ball down the hill and Eastwood, who seemed a few doner kebabs heavier than last year, up the hill. Good bowling by both saw a wicket apiece, Eastwood struggled up the hill and was blowing heavy after two overs, he managed 7 up the hill and bowled well. Smith was good and has listened to people on how to improve and showed signs of class bowling. Dave Longworth and Whitters replaced the opening pair and again good tight bowling followed. The opener L Morris seemed a little frustrated he wasn't scoring as freely as he liked. Haigh replaced the tiring Whitworth and again good tight bowling resulted in Morris trying to free his arms half way down the track, only to turn to see his leg stump knocked back.
Longworth bowled well and seems he will get a number of wickets this year, he was rewarded the wicket of Greenwood, caught by the wicket keeper Denton. Denton by the end had four caught behind and played very well behind the stumps, even with Capt Mainwaring chuntering in his ear for all the game. G Kirkby came on to bowl, replacing Longworth, but struggled with his line and length. Eventually he settled and nearly decided a catch coming back to him would be caught by someone else, I am sure at least 8 Mirfield boys, and a large section of the swelling crowd informed Kirkby to move his backside and catch the ball. He eventually did this low and one handed. Apparently he wanted to impress his mother Kay so made it look good. Kirkby bowled Topham, off bat, back pad, front pad and bat again before hitting the wickets. Question of Sport what happed next would see most people struggling with that.
Dixon and Whitworth saw off the remaining overs and Upperthong finished on 104 for 7. They where 44 for 2 at the drinks so apart from a little lull just before and after drinks the fielding on the whole was good. Pollard, Longworth and W/K Denton, leading the way. Oh yes dropped catches, Whitworth, man of experience put down a diving catch to his left in the covers. I thought it was a hard chance but he said he should have held it, so there you go, named and shamed. Two slightly easier chances fell to Eastwood and Smith, again boys named and shamed. If we had held these Upperthong would have been all out.... Enough said..
A lovely tea was taken, thanks to the tea ladies for that. Everybody thought perhaps we had let the Upperthong lads get 20 more runs than we should of allowed. However 104 was a gettable total and a wicket which had now had a few hours sunshine on it.
New boy Pollard and 'Turbo' Tim Dixon given the opening berths. Both looked good given the long lay off. Pollard in particular seemed in good touch. Dixon played well and his timing improved as the match went on. Turbo playing the back seat to Pollard, who was playing some nice shots. Turbo fell with the score on 48 after 16 overs, trapped LBW. Whitters joined Pollard at the crease and again all looked good, taking the score to 71 for 1, then the dreaded drinks break..... Pollard on 48, first ball after the drinks he played half a shot and lobbed it back to the bowler who took a good one handed catch, much to Pollard's and Mirfield's dismay. However a good opening knock, something the Limer's have lacked in seasons gone by.
Steve 'dad' Kirkby joined Whitters at the crease a got a lovely full juicy full toss first up. His swishing blade was like something out of the Gladiator, full of power but lacking direction! The ball hitting the top edge and looping up to the wicket keeper, obviously the keeper felt sorry for 'dad' Kirkby and dropped the catch behind the stumps. Eventually Whitters and Kirkby fell to two absolutely fantastic LBW decisions. Both coming off stating they would buy the umpire a pint for the best LBW's they had ever seen. It was a pleasure to get out to that ball Whitters remarked.
Capt Mainwaring Kellett, and junior Kirkby saw the Limers home to win by 6 wkts, Kirkby pulling a nice shot through square leg and into the pavilion to win the game.
An excellent start to the new season against an "A" team boys. Well done to the firsts another win for them.
Man of the Match:Jamie Pollard
Fielding Point:Richard Denton
Next Match:Thurstonland B away.
| Upperthong A Innings | Mirfield B Bowling | |||||||||||
| No. | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | No. | Bowler | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Avge | |
| 1 | L Morris | Bowled | R Haigh | 42 | 1 | A Smith | 7 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 19.00 | |
| 2 | D Morris | Ct. R Denton (w/k) | A Smith | 3 | 2 | M Eastwood | 7 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 15.00 | |
| 3 | R Hirons | Ct. R Denton (w/k) | M Eastwood | 2 | 3 | D Longworth | 7 | 2 | 23 | 1 | 23.00 | |
| 4 | S Greenwood | Ct. R Denton (w/k) | D Longworth | 4 | 4 | G Whitworth | 9 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 10.00 | |
| 5 | S Ramsey | Ct. G Kirkby | G Kirkby | 6 | 5 | G Kirkby | 4 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 6.00 | |
| 6 | D Hancock | Not Out | 31 | 6 | T Dixon | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | - | ||
| 7 | C Topham | Bowled | G Kirkby | 2 | 7 | R Haigh | 7 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 15.00 | |
| 8 | E Sherwood | Ct. R Denton (w/k) | G Whitworth | 2 | ||||||||
| 9 | A Morris | Not Out | 5 | |||||||||
| 10 | E Knight | |||||||||||
| 11 | C Morris | |||||||||||
| Extras | 7 | Extras | 2 | |||||||||
| Total | For 7 | Wickets | 104 | Totals | 45 | 12 | 104 | 7 | 14.86 | |||
| Mirfield B Innings | Upperthong A Bowling | |||||||||||
| No. | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | No. | Bowler | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Avge | |
| 1 | T Dixon | LBW | C Topham | 14 | 1 | L Morris | 11 | 2 | 36 | 1 | 36.00 | |
| 2 | J Pollard | Ct. D Hancock | D Hancock | 48 | 2 | A Morris | 7 | 3 | 12 | 0 | - | |
| 3 | G Whitworth | LBW | D Hancock | 22 | 3 | S Ramsey | 6 | 1 | 15 | 0 | - | |
| 4 | S Kirkby | LBW | L Morris | 9 | 4 | D Hancock | 6.5 | 1 | 20 | 2 | 10.00 | |
| 5 | G Kirkby | Not Out | 4 | 5 | C Topham | 4 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 22.00 | ||
| 6 | T Kellet | Not Out | 5 | |||||||||
| 7 | M Eastwood | |||||||||||
| 8 | D Longworth | |||||||||||
| 9 | R Denton | |||||||||||
| 10 | A Smith | |||||||||||
| 11 | R Haigh | |||||||||||
| Extras | 5 | Extras | 2 | |||||||||
| Total | For 4 | Wickets | 107 | Totals | 34.5 | 7 | 107 | 4 | 26.75 | |||