The weekend commenced on the Thursday with a minutes silence to remember a truly lovely man and well respected member of the Cricket Club, Jonny Carlton who tragically passed away at the beginning of this year. The game was held at the infamous Lune Road and the 1s were led by their Napoleonic leader, Gregour Carr, who has led his side from the front for the past two seasons. The game did not get off to the start Lancaster wanted with York’s opening bowlers, bowling seriously well, taking key early wickets. It was clear York were not here to take part, they wanted revenge from last year’s devastating defeat. Despite the initial concern, Viraat Sahu, Peter Gower and Oliver Ward all did a superb job at steadying the ship, on a tough batting track to edge the Lancaster total to a respectable 149 runs.
After a stern half-time team talk, Lancaster came out to bowl. York seemed relatively comfortable and the game started edging in York’s favour. A bowling change was required and the decision to move from pace to spin arguably worked a treat. Gregour Carr bowled tight lines from the river end and Ethan Roche bowled a majestic spell from the other end, making the art of leg spin look easy. The game was slowly creeping in Lancaster’s favour but the bookies still favoured York. After Carr and Roche finished their spells, the death bowlers, Abdul Wasey Mohammad and Miheer Singh came on at respective ends. The game was close, it could of easily gone either way. The Lancaster crowd were on edge, a dreadful time to be a nicotine addict (as most of the Lancaster supporters could attest to). Lancaster needed 1 wicket, York needed 20 runs to win. Singh came trundling into the crease, the ball was there to be hit. It went high in the air towards long off. Joe Davies was poised under the high ball. Was it enough to reach at six? The answer was no. Davies calm and collected as ever takes the high ball. The bank at Lune Road erupts. People were falling down the hill, scrambling to get on the pitch to be in the action. The 1s had triumphed once more and the campaign for redwash number two was on.
