Match Report

It was left to the 3rds to provide the thrill seekers with their weekend nail biting fix as the Clifton groupies once more headed for the hills of God's own county for another tussle with Greenfield. 

The local barmaid's apron sniffers were out in force and their comments became increasingly nauseous as the game reached its thrilling conclusion in the oppressive afternoon heat whilst birthday boy Stevie Mac's children closed in on their target. 

The hosts took first turn with the bat and Tom Worthington and Oscar Thorpe both made a mess of the timbers early doors (pic 1) as three wickets went down for 23, but as we've seen several times this season, Greenfield's middle order is not to be sniffed at and a partnership of 83 scored at in excess of six an over, put the home team in the driving seat. Lewis Keogh and Dan Jones stepped in to stem the flow and then Owen Hogben, after an opening over consisting of five long hops which earned the accolade as, in all my years, the worst maiden over I have ever seen, got into his stride and demolished the tail finishing with a remarkable 5-11.

The total of 156 looked about par on a wicket of uneven bounce, evened out by a lightning fast outfield, and so it proved as, shorn of Ethan Kite who was on Under 17 international duty getting mauled by the Liverpool Comp, Steve Mac and 13 year old Luke, who along with 13 year old Oscar, had only made their debuts in June, opened the innings. 

The birthday boy had earlier had one of those days behind the stumps which could kindly be described as a tad ungainly, and sadly his birthday woes continued as he and Luke were both back in the hutch with 16 on the board. Dan and Lewis then supported Sam Winstanley, who was having one of those days when everything seemed to hit the middle of the bat, in two partnerships that took the score beyond 100 with overs to spare. Sam took his score beyond 50 with a six (pic 2) but then, just as he should have been digging in to bat with the tail, failed to see off the returning opening bowler leaving the side five down with 50 still required. 

Cue the madness as byes, overthrows, run outs and umpires under pressure built the tension as the score nibbled its way to 144 when the ninth wicket went down. To add to the mayhem and the baying alcohol fuelled locals, there was a one run discrepancy between the play-cricket 1st innings (155) and the scoreboard (156). Unbeknownst to the masses, the matter had been resolved as being 156 at tea, but the crowd didn't know that, so when Tom Worthington launched a four and a six, the excitement reached fever pitch. Waqas then middled a delivery to deep midwicket and after scampering the first, the red mist took over and they went for an unlikely second which resulted in a third run out and the final excursion into the hills finishing as a tie. So three points each was the final tally after an incident packed afternoon in the Yorkshire sunshine.

Stevie's boys do though need to take a cursory look over the shoulder, as the relegation places are now way closer than top spot. A couple more wins and a cup final triumph would put the icing nicely on the cake.