Academy Slump Continues

It was another disappointing result for the Sunday 2nds this weekend who were playing away at Bassingham. It was very evident that run scoring would be difficult on this ground where the outfield literally had inches of uncut grass.

Winning the toss, skipper Jon Begley chose to bat. Openers Nabil and Ozzy found out just how difficult run scoring was going to be. While Ozzy managed to get some beautiful shots off for a few boundaries and one wonderful six to counter the outfield, Dr Nabil entertained the crowd with immaculate defensive shots and high-elbow drives straight to the fielders.. at one stage, Nabil had an impressive string of 20 dot balls in a row before he decided that this wasn't the ground for him. When he was out for four, the opening pair had put on 45 runs. Ozzy left soon after and it was the turn of young Sam Nuttall and the not-so-young Dave Knowles to put on another good partnership. Sam looked good but fell for 12. Dave watched as the next few batsmen (Martin Carrick, Aadil Siddiqui and Charlie Portlock) fell for not many runs. Skipper Jon Begley joined Dave and the experienced pair demonstrated how to score on a ground like this.

Dave was the seventh batsman to get out for a well made 33, and although young Tom was dismissed soon after, Jon and Anton McCready saw the remaining overs out for an unbeaten partnership of 19 in the last three overs. Jon finished unbeaten on 21 at nearly a run a ball.

The score of 124/8 was arguably a par score given the state of the outfield, and the team went out to field feeling reasonably confident. Indeed, when the second ball of the innings resulted in a wicket for Charlie Portlock, this confidence did not seem misplaced. The young trio of Charlie, Anton and Sam bowled the first 13 over between them, giving the opposition less than three runs an over. Sam in particular was quite impressive as he bowled six overs on the trot for two maidens and just 11 runs. Anton picked up a wicket as well in his first spell.

Martin and Aadil bowled the middle overs between them but the third wicket partnership for Bassingham put on a valuable 67 runs before Aadil picked up the third wicket of the innings thanks to a simple catch for Charlie. Gautam began his spell with a couple of loose balls, but quickly strung 16 dot balls together to put the pressure back on the batting team. A stumping chance could have added a bit more pressure. At one stage, with Jon bowling a couple of miserly overs from the other end, the Bassingham dressing room was beginning to panic as they managed only two runs in four overs. The situation was quickly remedied by their wicket keeper batsman who scored a quick fire 25 to ease the pressure before he departed to the bowling of Ozzy for a simple catch to Sam. By then the damage was already done, and although Anton bowled a couple of tight overs, the home team reached the target in the 38th over. Their number three batsman finished unbeaten on 66, which proved the difference between the two teams.

Scores : Lindum Sunday 2nd XI 124/8 (40 overs) lost to Bassingham Sunday 1st XI 125/4 (37.1 overs) by six wickets.

Sri Iyer