Kirkwood is chief tormentor as Lancaster toil in the field

A superb unbeaten century from York’s number four Andy Kirkwood denied Lancaster victory in the men’s first team cricket. Although Lancaster had recovered well to post a competitive 237-9 from their 50 overs, difficult bowling conditions combined with sensible batting allowed York to chase down the total with 26 balls to spare.

On an overcast Friday morning, it was Lancaster captain Jack Aspden that won the toss and elected to bat. The early stages were played in watchful fashion by the Lancaster opening pair of Zac Godfrey-Plews and Aspden, progressing to 17-0 off seven overs.  However, with the scoreboard pressure building, a mini collapse saw Lancaster fall from 36-0 to 41-3 in just five overs. First, Aspden was trapped LBW by the accurate Felgate for 25, and he was quickly followed into the pavilion by Godfrey-Plews and Malky who departed for single figures.

Fortunately for Lancaster some of the York fielding was substandard, with six runs being gifted thanks to overthrows and three caught and bowled opportunities being shelled. Despite this, Lancaster still found themselves restricted to 69-4 in the 26^th as Purvis departed caught at mid-on after a poor lofted shot; the second full-toss to claim a wicket. This put the red rose side some way short of the rate needed to achieve the 230-250 which captain Aspden considered par before the game.

Isherwood and Millward managed to bring a modicum of stability to the Lancaster innings as they added 34 runs in nine overs. They showed a disciplined approach and were quick to punish the rare bad deliveries, before Isherwood was caught behind off the bowling of Felgate. Walsh was the next man in but he fell cheaply to bring together Millward and Wozniczka-Wells with Lancaster on 109-6 from 37overs.

The pair set about pushing Lancaster towards a respectable total, Wozniczka-Wells showing early intent with an expansive cut shot off the second ball he faced to notch a vital boundary. This set the tone for an excellent few overs for the away side, with the bowlers being flayed to all corners of the ground. By the time Wozniczka-Wells departed in the 45^th over, for a well crafted 23, the pair had hauled Lancaster to a score of 184-7 and set the platform for a final assault.

Millward continued to punish the York attack and was aided by the powerful hitting of Weller who smashed a quickfire 22. The innings ended with Paul Startin running himself out for the good of the team, attempting to run a two that was never really on. Fittingly, the stand-out batsmen Jonny Millward remained unbeaten after a knock of 73 not-out from just 52 deliveries which his captain described as “Scintillating”. This left Lancaster on a total of 237-9 from their 50 overs, mainly thanks to the final 15 overs during which 140 runs were plundered.

After a short break York began their innings requiring 238 to win at 4.76 runs per over. Just to make Lancaster’s task even more difficult, the outfield was becoming increasingly damp as intermittent flurries of rain swept through York. The signs looked ominous as the white rose side plundered 13 from Weller’s first over. However, gradually Lancaster reigned in the scoring and the pressure told as captain Crawford was taken in the gully by Purvis off the bowling of Walton, leaving York on 32-1. With Lancaster firmly on the front foot, Wozniczka-Wells dropped a dolly at mid-on, although the mistake was not capitalised on as Wilson was cleaned bowled by Weller in the next over. York wickets continued to fall at regular intervals to leave them on 52-3 when rain forced the players from the field.

Lancaster were clearly keen to get the action underway and continued to conduct warm-up routines in a bid to convince the umpires to leave the comfort of the pavilion. This optimism seemed well founded as another wicket fell to the second ball after the resumption of play, Millward bowling Townson.

With York reeling on 63-4 after 13 overs, Memen joined Kirkwood at the crease and set about constructing a match winning partnership of 91 runs in 23 overs. The pair began in watchful style and were content to jog singles to keep the scoreboard ticking over. However, both began to go on the attack as Lancaster’s bowlers became frustrated at their inability to claim the breakthrough.  It was this expansive stroke play that proved Memen’s downfall, as he lofted an ugly shot to mid-off off the bowling of Startin.

Once again this wicket was to prove a false dawn for Lancaster as Felgate continued to feed of the sterling work of Kirkwood to produce an unbeaten 84 run partnership for the sixth wicket. Lancaster’s bowlers toiled bravely with an extremely wet ball not aiding their cause, with Startin in particular being forced to bowl a full length due to a lack of turn. In fairness to York, they played out the overs with relative ease, securing the win with 26 balls remaining. The final runs encapsulated Lancaster’s frustration as Startin allowed a tame shot from Kirkwood to slip through his fingers, the batsmen capitalising to jog the two needed to win and take the 4 points towards the overall Roses tally.

A well paced run chase from York was spearheaded by the excellent Andy Kirkwood; the number four struck an unbeaten 102 and occupied the crease for 37 overs. This achievement was honoured with the award for the best individual performance of the entire Roses tournament during the closing ceremony.

After the game a visibly disappointed Lancaster captain Jack Aspden spoke to SCAN. He refused to blame the difficult bowling conditions for the loss, although he admitted that “Bowling with a wet ball became more like bowling with a bar of soap”. He also praised Millward’s all round performance and issued a rallying cry to his side to “Rebound from this defeat and secure the win needed against Liverpool on Wednesday to maintain our position in division 1A”.
Lancaster Innings

Godfrey-Plews        Bowled     McDonald     7
Aspden                       LBW         Felgate         25
Isherwood               Caught      Felgate          25
Malky                        C & B       McDonald      4
Purvis                       Caught      McDonald     10
Millward                  Not Out                           73
Walsh                         LBW         Felgate          7
Woznickza-Wells     C & B      Kirkpatrick     23
Weller                       Caught      Willias          22
Startin                       Run Out                          8

York bowling figures

Felgate        10 – 2 – 41 – 3
Willias          9 – 1 – 51 – 1
McDonald   10 – 4 – 27 – 3
Richards      10 – 0 – 26 – 0
Kirkpatrick   6 – 0 – 43 – 1
Memen        5 – 0 – 32 – 0

York innings (key contributors)

Crawford 28
Kirkwood 102*
Memen 30
Felgate 28

Lancaster bowling figures

Weller                     9 – 0 – 67 – 2
Walton                   7.4 – 0 – 47 – 1
Startin                     10 – 1 – 43 – 1
Millward                 10 – 0 – 33 – 1
Wozniczka-Wells   10 – 0 – 48 – 0

Lancaster men’s second cricket team went one better than their teammates in the opening fixture of Roses 2011 on Thursday. They defeated York (213 AO) by three wickets after posting 215-7 in their run chase.

After winning the toss and putting York into bat, Lancaster tore into the York openers and quickly reduced the hosts to 36-2. York recovered well to reach 124 before Patel fell for a fine 77, trapped LBW by Heayns; before collapsing to 153-7 with Heayns chief wicket taker with a five-for. Some powerful late hitting allowed York to post a competitive 213 all out.

In response, Lancaster started off in assured style and coasted to 78-0 in relative comfort. Although a mid-innings collapse saw the red rose side slip to 151-6, they remained composed and successfully chased down the 214 required for victory with three wickets remaining.  Lancaster, with an important victory secured the first two points on offer to put the away side ahead in the overall Roses rankings going in to the first full day of competition on Friday.