DCCL Division 5 North - 26th April 2003

Clay Cross 127 all out (Eyre 40, Francis 3-49)
Saltergate\Wingerworth 130-5 (Lee 49*)

Clay Cross (4 points) lost to Saltergate\Wingerworth (27 points) by 3 runs

Cross Win Toss
Clay Cross won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. Overnight rain made scoring difficult against some accurate bowling from Gardiner and Morgan. Wicketkeeper, Paul Benison took the first catch and then stand-in captain Darren Parkin held a fine catch at point to dismiss S Pacey. The visitors were struggling at 15-2. Change bowlers, Garner and Clarke then kept up the pressure. 

Morgan Traps Haw as Francis Provides Novel Approach
Colin Haw held the innings together and had just started to accelerate when he smacked a short ball from Gardiner (the first ball of his second spell) straight into the grateful hands of Arwyn (Did You Get A Clap In) Morgan at extra cover. New batsman D Francis then top-edged a Gardiner delivery into his face and retired.

Lee Remains as Bennett Peters Out
S Lee and A Bennett set about increasing the run rate and managed to take the score from 62-4 to 121 before Bennett was adjudged LBW in the final over. Lee had offered a chance to backward point early in his innings and his 49 not out was the key contribution in the final score of 130-5.

The Clay Cross bowling: 

Sticky Wicket
The Clay Cross reply followed a similar pattern with runs proving hard to come by. To compound matters, wickets were also falling and after 37 overs the score was 73-6.

Clarke and Eyre Left Feeling Blue
Steve Eyre and Arwyn Morgan set about recovering the situation and pushed the score to 108 in the 43rd over when Eyre was trapped LBW by Colin Haw for 40. Clarke was LBW to the very next ball and Garner joined Morgan with 23 still required.

Misery
Morgan was well caught by Webb for 24 and Garner was run out on the 4th ball of the final over with 4 runs still needed for victory. For Saltergate, Francis took 3-49, Haw 2-20, Oldfield 2-11, Burnyeat 1-25 and Lee 1-20.

Russian Linesman
An enjoyable and tight game that created a number of "what if" questions. The answers will never be known.