Whitehall Cricket Club
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| Whitehall win top of the table tussle. |
| Whitehall travelled to High Royds to face table topper Crompark in what was a crucial game at the top of the C division. Whitehall welcomed back Nigel Dibb, as well as Neil and Andy Robinson from the rained off game against New Farnley replacing the holidaying Mick Wright along with Steve Haw and Chris Thompson. So the side that travelled to Menston was :- Dean Wright (wkt), Andy Robinson, Nigel Dibb, Neil Robinson, Aidan Dunne, Martin Palmer, Bhaven Mistry, Richard Francis, Michael Wood, Joe Bainbridge and Simon Mace. Whitehall arrived at Crompark's ground to be met by a very soggy ground. Bizarrely the wettest pitch happened to be the one that had been prepared and cover. Fortunately Crompark agreed to cut a new strip and play began half an hour late in a reduced 40 over game (the same as Whitehall's earlier trip to the same ground). Woody lost yet another toss away from home, and with the wicket looking green and damp bowling first would have been a massive advantage, and unsurprisingly Crompark's captain Chris Halliday invited Whitehall to bat first. Andy Robinson opened the batting for the first time this season along with Dean Wright, and as expected got of to a slow start. The first wicket fell in the 3rd over with Dean catching the ground and ball at the same time to present a catch to first slip with the score on 6. Andy was joined at the crease by Nigel Dibb, and for the next 13 overs the two batsmen struggled with the conditions managing to move the score to 19 before Andy was trapped LBW for 7. Nigel was joined by Neil and managed to up the run rate, however 2 wickets in 2 overs saw Whitehall reduced to 39-4 after 22 overs. Crompark had definately had the upper hand at this point in the game. However Aidan and Martin began to launch a rearguard for Whitehall. 24 runs were added for the 5th wicket before Aidan was caught behind trying to push the score along for 8. Bhaven arrived at the crease, and although only adding 4 runs himself, the score had moved to 80 when he was the 6th wicket to fall. With still 5 overs to go, if Whitehall could get to the 100 mark they would have a very competitive total, considering 115 had seen Whitehall produce a margin on 46 runs in their winning draw earlier in the season. Dicky Francis joined Martin and the pair did better than passing the 100 mark, building the biggest partnership of the day, taking the score to 112-6 with a few balls to spare. The highlight of the partnership was a huge six from Richard of Foster's bowling to bring the score to 100. Martin fell in the last over after scoring a priceless 37. This brought captain Wood to the crease who failed to get the bat remotely close to the ball, but did managed to scramble a single to conclude the innings on 113-7. Whitehall left the field the happier of the 2 sides at half time as Crompark were read the riot act during tea, however Whitehall would have prefered an extra 15 runs just be sure. Crompark's chase started fantastically for Whitehall, Simon having Clarke caught behind with only his 2nd delivery of the innings with the score still on 0. Whitehall's 2nd wicket came 8 overs later (a fifth of the innings) when Ashgar inexplicably padded up to a straight one, with the score still only on 7. Joe finally joined in the wicket taking act (with the 9th delivery of the over following 3 no balls) in the 12th over when S Whyte was caught by Dicky with the score on 20. The game now entered a crucial period, although Whitehall were looking like they were on top, Crompark's most dangerous batsmen in Andy and Chris Halliday both at the crease. While Simon was bowling maiden after maiden at one end, Joe was struggling to find his rhythm due to a sticky and uneven run up. After 19 overs Whitehall made a bowling change with the score being 39-4 with the batsmen looking set and ready to chase down the target even though Chris Halliday has led a charmed life with a number of half chances going begging. Neil entered the attack and nearly took a wicket with his first delivery a leading edge from Chris Halliday would have produced the simplest of catches for Joe, had he picked it up in the sun, as it was it landed no more than a foot from him. The pair closed in on the 50 mark with the game starting to feel tense. Then Whitehall got the break through. A flick into the leg side from Chris Halliday found Martin Palmer who made easy work of his chance. The game turned on its head 46-4. With Simon only conceding runs with the rarest of deliveries, and having Andy Halliday tied up at one end, Neil was beginning to confuse the new batsmen with his massive turn. It was Neil who picked up the next wicket, with Dean taking a very sharp catch to dismiss Whyte. 63-4. Simon deservedly took the 5th wicket as Richard helped himself to his second catch of the game (a spiraling skyer) to dismiss Jones for on 2 with the score on 67. 3 overs later, and the pivotal moment in the game. Neil managed to get Andy Halliday out aided by Aidan's first catch in 672 days. A crucial catch and now Whitehall only needed 3 wickets to clinch the game, although crucially 8 overs remained and time looked to be running out. However in Neil's next over Richard took his third catch of the game to leave Crompark 78-8. The next batsmen out was Foster who Whitehall had failed to dismiss in the previous 2 encounters. In the 36th over Richard dropped M Cooper with time running out. I Jennings managed to see out the next Robinson over and Crompark only had 18 balls to see out to grab 2 points and keep a 4 point gap over Whitehall. Whitehall's chances really did appear to running out when a very good shout for a stumping on Foster was turned down. Only 16 legal balls were remaining for Whitehall to win the game. Inexpicably following his dubious good fortune, Foster had a swish at a straight one from Simon and the rattling behind the old timer meant Whitehall needed on wicket in 15 balls to clinch the game. In came Christian Fowell, who's determined knock at Station Road saw Crompark to the end of their innings in the first meeting of the season. His confidence would have been bouyed more by a personal best of 16 in the previous game against Drighlington. This as it turned out was no good for Crompark's cheerleader his first shot saw him hit a skier towards short cover. Aidan having taken his first catch for nearly 2 years was under this chance, and had appeared to have misjudged it as the ball game down behind him, but Aidan reached up and clung on to seal Whitehall victory. Whitehall have now taken 17 points from a possible 18 in the games against Crompark and are the only team in the division to have bowled them out and beaten them in the league this season. Whitehall had now joined Crompark on 45 points and expected to find themselves joint second. However at Farnley Park, Mount were beating New Farnley to help Whitehall go joint top, and with the prospect of a return against Crompark this coming Saturday, have the opportunity to go top. |