Middleham Away

It was a crusade up the valleys to Middleham Castle for Sir Sherman-a-lot and the knights of the the Pavillion table and with third spot up for grabs it was a game the visitors desperately wanted to win. A brief inspection of the deck left no doubt in Shermans mind that if he won the toss Middleham would be batting first and the rest as they say is history.

Winton picked the top end leaving a disgruntled Laves prancing up the hill from the village end, it wasn't a good start for the moody Aussie, boundaries aplenty left Sherman no choice but to bring Bubba into the attack after only six overs.

Middleham continued piling on the runs and quickly passed fifty for none without giving Blubbs so much as a sniff of a wicket, Sherman knew it was going to be a long day.

Wicketless Winton was removed from the attack fourteen overs into the game shortly followed by Bubba who made way for Sherman. The runs slowed down for a while with Marshall struggling to play the slower deliveries.

One hundred up and still no sign of a breakthrough, Sherman was wondering who to turn to next, Sherman almost got the breakthrough with a slower than normal ball which MArshall failed to pick, the ball skied to long on, "MINE" was the shout from Ray "Piewalker" Charles, a thud and a thump and the ball was at his feet and Marshall lived to fight another over.

Splinter almost got into the wickets five overs later when Marshall top edged one to Arnie at point, unfortunateley Splinter had over stepped the mark again and all Arnie could do was stare at the outstretched arm of the umpire who'd called "No Ball" again!

Sherman finally conceded defeat and Laves was back into the attack, Middleham were looking at a biggie with one fifty on the board, ten wickets in the hut and fifteen overs still to play.

Another chance from Marshall went begging with the score on one twenty two when Angry totally mis-judged a flat batted pull to cow corner, not only did the catch go to ground but so did Angry and a worried Sherman was looking round the field for another opener, Marshall's team mates were lining up with the lottery tickets.

Laves finally got the breakthrough skittling Brown for forty five then next over Marshalls luck finally ran out when Laves hit the sticks again, Middleham one fifty eight for two but still in command of the game.

No joy for Splinter and Winton was back into the attack in the thirty seventh over, immediateley snapping up the wicket of Burnett who couldn't keep his leg out of the way of a straight delivery and it was one seventy one for three with eight overs to go.

Yates was the new man in and unfortunateley for Laves it was hammer time, the ball pinging all round the park, twenty runs from the over and Laves was looking distraught. Desperate times called for desperate measures and Laves unleashed the pidgeon killer, a devastating delivery which Yates had never encountered before, totally mis-judging the pace, height and length of the delivery Yates found himself stranded down the track as Butch "Cool Hand" Dingle whipped off the bails and Laves had three in the bag, Middleham were two hundred and two for four.

Winton finished up the innings skittling Baker and with Middleham ending up on two hundred and fifty two for five Sherman knew six point was an impossibility for Blubbs this week.

Angry patched up his wound to open up with Winton and Blubbs got off to a steady but solid start, moving past fifty in the tenth over as Sherman and the team watched on and Blubbs moved into what seemed a commanding position.

Sixty one on the board and disaster struck, Winton played his signature "Sky Drive" sending the ball high into the air, mid-off was under it and Winton was back in the shed for thirty five and Bubba was on his way out to the middle.

Bubbas innings was brief and a partnership just shy of twenty quickly came to an end as Bubba had a wild flash at a delivery outside off stump, only suceeding in nicking one straight into the keepers gloves.

Splinter was riding high at four after a successful couple of weeks in the lower ranks, contributing nothing to a partnership of sixteen he too was soon trudging back to the hut with a duck under his wing and Blubbs were ninety eight for two and another middle order collapse was on the cards.

Bungle stole Arnies number five slot this week and Arnie made it known he wasn't happy, he had good reason too when Bungle had a rush of blood trying to pull across the line completely missing the ball and he too was on his way after the umpire decided the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps, one eighteen for four and still a long way off the victory total of two hundred and fifty three.

It was time for a big innings from a big man and Arnie was that man, joining Angry out in the middle, the partnership was brief and only three runs had been added when Angry sucumbed to a pie ball, it wasn't looking good for the visitors who were now one twenty one for five.

Another brief partnership saw Bupa boy in then out and Marshall had bagged six Blubberhouses scalps with another catch going to hand and Laves was making his way out to the crease to join Arnie.

Solid batting from the Blubbs number six and eight saw the score pass the two hundred mark and Arnie notched up his first half century of the season in the Nidderdale League, sadly thats as far as it went, trying to push the run rate up Arnie missed one on the sticks and it was two hundred and one for seven and Blubbs looked like taking nothing away from the game.

Sherman pushed Butch out of the changing room with a brush getting him to bat nine and Blubbs still had a slim chance of making the target, ten runs an over was the required run rate, the run chase came to end two overs from the end when Laves holed out on twenty nine and it down to Sherman and Butch to see out the remaining eleven balls for the batting point, four points dropped leaves Blubbs a big task chasing the leaders.

Points: Middleham 5, Blubberhouses 1

Fielding Points: Dicko, Winton

Fact of the Day:  Arthur (soon to be King Arthur) gained the throne by pulling the legendary Excalibur sword from the stone, sadly Sherman-a-lot failed to pull six points from the game against Middleham this week and now looks like having a rebellion on his hands.