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Stainborough seal comfortable first win.
Stainborough captain Londt lost the toss
for the third time in a row. The bookmakers
for Stainborough's race night are getting
nervous in case his luck changes by the
end of June.
Stainborough were asked to bat. Sir Len
Hutton once said that cricket pitches are
like wives; you never know how they are
going to turn out. So it proved at Askern.
Despite the sun glistening off the adjoining
pylons the pitch proved to be a typical
early season one which was slow with bounce
as uniform as my lawn at home. Early on
it looked as though the Askern skipper had
made an inspired decision.
Pepper and Gilfillan were watchful but
were both caught off mis-timed shots as
Lunn (12-0-51-3) exploited the wicket. The
ship was steadied as Singh (36) joined Pepper
for a while and played some exquisite square
drives. On the big man's demise he was joined
by Londt in a stand of 72 for the 3rd wicket.
Archer (32) joined Londt in a stand of 63
for the 4th wicket as Stainborough took
control. Londt pushed on the scoring and
was lucky to be dropped twice in the last
few overs where he was ably supported by
Rushforth. The skipper ended on 79 not out
with the score on 195 for 5. Junior Ashley
Towler bowled very tightly for Askern in
his 5 over spell towards the end of the
46 overs restricting the visiting side to
below 200.
We see all manner of spectators at cricket
games but surely one of the most bizarre
was the Harris Hawk tethered to a perch
on the third man boundary. Maybe it saw
easy prey in the Stainborough openers. (I
was going to be rude here but thought there
maybe minors reading this). Also unusual
was the female photographer with zoom lens
snapping the opening overs. Was she paparazzi?
Will Gilf be exposed in the tabloids? Horrible
thought Gilf being exposed! Will it be Pepper
in next Sunday's headlines; "Wookie ate
my hamster!" who knows?
Sorry back to the cricket. Askern started
like a train playing shots from the off.
Longley was caught off Londt by Pepper at
second slip. (Don't be fooled by what he
tells you it spooned up very gently!). Londt
(8-1-32-3) claimed two more wickets as did
Rushforth (11-3-28-2) in a tight spell reducing
Askern to 47-5. Singh claimed the wicket
of Mantovani caught and bowled. The author
wondered whether he was a relative of the
Italian light orchestral maestro who moved
to Britain in 1912 and who died in Tunbridge
Wells in 1980. On reflection the author
decided probably not living in Askern. It
was possibly these reflections which led
to the author dropping a simple chance.
(Poor excuse I know)
A stand of 37 by Mantovani and Wilson
took the score to 84 when two quick wickets
fell. A further stand of 36 led by Askern's
man of the match, Ashley Towler took the
score to 121-8. A run out in the 39th over
left Towler stranded on a brave 32 not out
with Askern 134 all out and gave Stainborough
a well earned victory.
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