Winning Start at Home

So Whitehall lined up as follows: M Wood, M Wright, D Wright, M Palmer, A Dunne, J Bainbridge, S Mace, R Francis, R Finch, C Thompson and P White. The game started in glorious sunshine 15 minutes late as the away team arrived late. Simon opened the bowling from the Headingley end of the ground, with Joe operating at the other end. The opening exchanges saw a tight encounter, with very few runs being given away. The first wicket came from Joe. And it was the important wicket of Tim Hanley, was bowled after playing on trying to play a cut shot. Next ball M Patel came in a cream Joe to the boundary, and it felt like a glimpse perhaps how they had got big scored in the previous weeks. However, Simon took the 2nd wicket of the game, J Walsh seemed to play the shot too early and the ball looped in the air, however Martin scampered round to take a very difficult catch. 8-2 and Whitehall were in the ascendancy. Next over Joe made things even better for Whitehall, producing what is probably his best delivery in his Whitehall career, with the ball swinging down toward the leg side it straightened sending and appearing to go through the batsman's legs before bowling him. 9-3, however Patel played some wonderful shots to help his side along, however both Joe and Simon just kept plugging away, causing the batsman numerous problems. Joe took the 4th wicket with yet another bowled, 17-4 a better start than Whitehall could have imagined. That wicket brought captain Colin Simmonds to the crease, with Patel going well at the other end, the next couple wickets would be huge. Wibsey appeared to have settled the ship somewhat with both batsmen looking comfortable, however Bainbridge produced another brilliant delivery to dismiss Patel for 22 and leaving Wibsey 34-5, next ball, Dan Jennings got very unlucky receiving a delivery that never got up off the ground, 34-6 that delivery and a few others drove home the fact that Whitehall had to keep the score as low as possible, especially with the forecast rain clouds appearing over the horizon in the west. The 7th wicket partnership again looked to be going along nicely, with a couple of loose shots from the batsman finding gaps, mixed in with some powerful hitting and good bounders. However Joe and Simon ever more so, keeping it had to score runs. This was highlighted in one particular over when 6 very disciplined balls from Si, saw Simmonds, getting more and more frustrated, with the final ball of the over very nearly bringing a stumping, but Simmonds just got his foot down as Dean broke the bails. However Simmonds' luck was to end there, as Joe just let his line and length slip to just outside off stump and Simmonds latched on it quickly and aimed to cut it through the gap between Aidan and Woody at point. However Woody flung himself to his right and took a tidy diving catch at full stretch. Now Wibsey were 53-7 and Whitehall seemed to be firmly in the ascendancy. However Sajdeva at the other end had other ideas, a struck a number of boundarys including 2 very tidy pulls. However he wasn't helped at the other end, Simon bowled Kler, and Joe ended Ricky Allens brief fling and the score stood at 74-9. Next over Sajdeva's innings game to an end with Simon taking another wicket which was no more than his bowling had deserved, and left Whitehall needing 75 runs to take the 6 points from the afternoons work. Joe ended with figures of 7-43 and Simon was unlucky to end with only 3 wickets for 26 runs, the effort in the field was excellent with the 2 catchable changes taken, and hardly any runs were given away from misfields. If Whitehall batted sensibly the target was reachable, and with 67 overs to manage it in, the run rate was not going to be a problem. Mick and Dean opened the batting for Whitehall, with Ricky Allen bowling the first over from the Wooded end and Dan Jennings taking the second over from the Headingley end. Whitehall's innings got of to slow but steady start, the first runs from the bat game in the 4th over with Dean smashing to 4's in the over to take is smoothly into double figures. The father and son partnership kept the score ticking over without taking any risks. Mick was the first wicket to fall being bowled by Jennings, with the score at 32. This brought Aidan to the crease, hoping to make up for his poor performance the week before. And although early on looking a bit nervous, he soon started looking assured. Between Dean and Aidan they slowly upped the scoring rate to 3 an over, with some wonderful shots, Aidan hammering a cover drive all the way to the rope, and Dean finding the woods with a lofted air on drive for a maximum. However the 2nd change of bowling at the Wooded end brought the second wicket. Simmonds trapped Dean LBW, even though Dean had got in a very large step. Even so Deans 25 had Whitehall dominating the game at 56-2, however the rain had started to come. Within minutes the umpire had brought the players off. With the score at 60-2 after 20 overs, Whitehall looked to be well on top only need 15 runs to win the game, however, if the rain failed to subside Wibsey would take 5 points with Whitehall only getting the 1 point. However after just around half an hour, play finally resumed, with Aidan and Martin hoping to finish the game for Whitehall fairly quickly in case the weather want to spoil things. Martin and in particular Aidan took the score past 70, with Aidan creaming Simmonds to the boundary, however for the first time in years a thought went through Aidan's head, and he wanted to get the game finished in one stroke, but unfortunately he missed a straight ball and his innings of 20 game to an end. 71-3, and this brought Bob to the crease, need 5 to win, he played a lovely shot though mid wicket to just short of the rope to bring the score to 73, but as with 2 balls earlier, Bob tried to finish the game in style, he played round at straight one, 73-4. A bit of a wobble, surely this game wasn't going to end up in the back of a book?? Joe and Marting scampered a bye to tie the scores, and then Joe struck the winning runs off the unfortunate Sajdeva playing a lovely cover drive. Whitehall had won the game by 6 wickets, just batting with common sense and patience. Overall Whitehall and played magnificently, the 2 bowlers made life very hard for the batsmen, and perhaps made better use of the wicket than Wibsey managed. Whitehall's fielding was top notch, without a mistake to note, and the big difference in the batting was Whitehall took their time without trying to play big shots until they'd played themselves in. 8 points after playing our bogey team, and one of the preseason favourites isn't a bad start. We are currently 11 points behind leaders Farsley with a game in hand, but we will see how impressive a start theirs is as we play their first two opponents next week. Next Game: Baildon Meths (a)