Bowling first, Pudsey made a good start with Ummar taking a wicket with his 4th ball. The Wilkinson brothers were unperturbed though and played well to post 14 for the 1st wicket, for no further loss. The next pair built on this foundation, and despite a tidy spell from Ricky (0-9) and a promising debut stint from Aravind, Aston Dalladay and Reece Robinsont advanced the Idle score to 252 without further loss, including several boundaries and a rarely-seen 3. The impressive Idle batting continued in the shape of Josh Stephenson and his young partner, Will Nicholson. Josh has played 3 years at under 9 and showed his strength with a six hit over the pavilion and his experience by keeping the strike to score 27 runs in the 30-run partnership. Max, Josh Allinson and Jacob MacDonald (on debut) battled hard to stem the flow and Josh was rewarded with a wicket when he bowled Will with a good straight one. Saints looked to be facing over 300 but a good final spell from Tom Moss (1-10)and Ummar with another wicket caught behind by Jacob saw Idle close on 290.
Pudsey's reply was an up and down affair, with Josh and Max working hard to see the score just in credit after the first 4 overs, 2 of which were maidens from the talented Josh Stephenson. Coming in next,Jacob scored 3 without being dismissed while Aravind put bat to ball well, only to find the Idle catching to be in good fettle. The net effect was a score of 206 with half the overs completed. Ben and Ummar came in as third pair and put on 7 for one dismissal, so at 210 with one pair left, Ricky and Tom Moss anchored the innings with just pride at stake. They can be pleased with their work in posting the highest partnership of the innings (11)and with Ricky hitting the 1st boundary, to see Saints close on a very respectable 221 against a team that has played 3 won 3. Well done lads. Let's work on backing up and running between the wickets and see if we can post a league success next week against Farsley. Catch Neil Allinson's great photo album of the match too.

Team v Idle:
Max Day (c)
Josh Allinson
Jacob MacDonald
Aravind Kumar
Ben Walsh
Ummar Akhtar
Ricky Priestley
Tom Moss