Goldthorp guile undoes North Leeds
Having navigated around the road restrictions, the first XI arrived at North Leeds on a damp and dreary day knowing they had to be on their A game against a side who had won five on the bounce and were full of confidence.
Unsure on what to do, skipper Ben Heritage gladly lost the toss and North Leeds elected to bat. Nathan Goldthorp’s opening spell posed question marks to Rob Winter’s decision to bat first as he picked up three scalps in his opening spell. First, Andy Carson was caught at second slip low down by George Myers and then dangerman Farhan Khan was dismissed LBW. New batsman Winter looked threatened by the swing of Goldthorp as he was rapt on the pads numerous times before becoming his third victim, again LBW. It was uni student Jack Richardson who was battling away looking to construct a revival with West Indian Larry Audain as Rawdon rotated through their seamers with Myers and Duckworth both unable to make a breakthrough. Spin twins Reeve and Doidge came on to tie down the batters and Richardson departed caught at mid-on by George Powell. In came George Wales who looked to soak up the pressure and nurdle the ball around. Audain looked to use the sweep to his advantage off Reeve however this proved to be his undoing as umpire Fuller adjudged him to be LBW just after the drinks break. Amir Farooq came and went quickly as he fell to a Doidge long-hop that was caught by Heritage at short mid-wicket and at 96/6 North Leeds were in a perilous position. Wales’ valiant effort to hold together the innings went as he top edged a sweep off Reeve, which Ahmad Raja ran round and claimed comfortably to leave them 108/7. Nick Summerscales and Liam Gray were brought together and they put on 29 before Summerscales was run out. He was hit on the pad by Doidge and tried to sneak through for a single whilst the Rawdon side appealed, however Gray sent him back by which time Duckworth had fired the ball into Nicholson who ran him out. Youngster Adam Copley joined Gray and added a valuable partnership of 33 before Nathan Goldthorp came back into the attack and bowled Gray who top scored for North Leeds with 33. With one ball to spare Goldthorp completed his five-for as Heritage took a simple caught at mid-off to close the innings on 172.
With showers looming over North Leeds, openers Heritage and Myers went out with a positive mindset. Heritage hitting Farhan Khan back down the ground with ease and Myers taking the attack to youngster Copley. The scoreboard was racing along at 81 from just 15 overs, on what North Leeds had made to look a difficult deck, when Myers succumbed to his inner greed and was stumped off spinner Karim for 51 from just 47 balls, having passed his fifty the previous ball. Kuda Samunderu came to the crease and played cautiously with Heritage proving to be the aggressor, sweeping Karim for a flat six towards the clubhouse. West Indian Audain had Samunderu caught behind for 15 and left-arm seamer Jack Richardson had Heritage caught at mid-wicket to leave the score on 132/3. Duckworth and Raja passed the target required to in style with over 13 overs left, Raja finishing 37* from just 22 balls including three maximums and a lovely reverse-paddle to finish the game off with.
A good all-round performance from the side saw them take home 20 points and looking in good shape heading into three consecutive home games against Kirkstall, Steeton and Tong Park in the next fortnight.

Scanlan and Hodges’ march halted by weather with shadow-boxing Stringer chomping at the bit
Match day 8 brought league leader North Leeds to Rawdon, to be welcomed by a mixture of youth, experience and Jack Reed. Buoyant from having won 5 out of the last 6 fixtures, RCC opted out of any strenuous warmup routines, instead settling for a friendly kick-about and some brutal/dangerous finger breaking, shin-splitting fielding and catching practice. This catching practice would come in handy during the course of the 1st half of the game! Dispelling the myth of ‘useless tosser’ skipper Martel won it and asked North Leeds to bat first on a soggy, springy wicket, ideally suited to the hostile pace of the opening duo of Hodges and Jennings. RCC took to the field no doubt buoyed by the site of their injured junior dynamic duo of Baxter and Goldthorp in the practice nets, displaying remarkable healing properties from their broken finger nail injuries and looking like they’ll be back available for selection in no time! An aggressive opening stand of 65 runs between Khan and Chana was finally brought to an end when RCC actually caught one, courtesy of a Hodges catch off the bowling of Joe Smith. With keeper Dyer now in full voice and welcoming new batsmen to the crease in his usual fashion, Smith began to take control earning himself another 2 wickets, courtesy of, shock horror, another 2 catches. Duncan Stow taking a full length diving catch at 1st slip to dismiss no.3 Mason. Proud impressed father Peter Smith, watching from the side-lines, thinking all 10 to Smith junior was now on the cards! Stow’s catch secured the fielding point, given the rest of the team had individually thrown away any chances of personal glory through shocking catching (if they managed to get to them) and fielding. The aggressive batting continued with no.4 Cawood batting very well for a 50 until nicking one, off the returning Jennings, with the catch taken by keeper Dyer. Jennings continued and was rewarded with the scalp of Yorkshire Over 50s captain Steve Wales finding Joe Smith in the field and going for a duck. Skipper Martell sensed another burglary was on the cards and brought himself on to bowl dangerous middle order batsmen Lak for 33 and have skipper Stevens caught for 4. Throughout the innings, Ben Griggs, making his 2nd team season debut bowled a great spell of 9 overs for 35 runs with no reward due to some very poor fielding. The rumoured comment ‘that’ll teach you to run 5 yards under one of my catches you ****’ coming from a still fuming, disappointed RCC opening bowler is still to be confirmed, following his own dropped catch off Griggs’s bowling! Late order hitting from Dixon and Timperley took North Leeds to total of 248 for 7. Improved catching (it couldn’t have been worse) and ground fielding could have easily restricted the opposition to under 200, so something to target in the coming weeks. There were exceptions, with Jack Reed leading the way with the long barrier. An excellent tea provided by Mr. and ‘Mrs’ Dyer including hot pasta and some delicious cakes provided a timely break while the heavy roller tried to take any menace from the pitch with a large target ahead for RCC. Facing the quickest, most hostile attack we’ve seen so far this season, including one opening bowler bowling to a 8 – 1 offside field, Stow and Scanlan opened steadily with the opposition waiting to ‘welcome’ wicketkeeper Dyer at first wicket down. The opening stand reached 19 before it was broken, with the wicket of Stow falling to a swinging yorker. Up stepped Dyer in the hope of antagonising the opposition even further, however having completely missed the ball, or hitting the case off it, depending who you listen to, was given out caught behind for a duck, ruining fantasy team managers’ hopes of any big wicket keeping points for another week. North Leeds’s joy at 2 early wickets turned to frustration and a once very vocal fielding team became very quiet as an outstanding lesson in concentration and stroke making from Scanlan and Hodges took RCC to a winnable position with an unbeaten stand of 131, however with the constant rain increasing in intensity and North Leeds showing their experience in highlighting these conditions, the umpire brought the players off at 155 for 2 with potentially 14 overs remaining. Hodges proving the timing of his pre-game hitting routine and catching practice was no fluke, with his shot of the day, of six runs over mid-wicket, being measured at approximately 80 metres using the standard IPL ruler! No further play was possible so RCC take 8 points with league leaders North Leeds taking 9. RCC remain 4th in a very closely packed league table. Tong Park, away, next week, when pre-match warm-up is mandatory as is catching the ball………….. Champagne moment: Ben Griggs’s whole game and Duncan Stow, 1st slip full length diving catch.
Match report provided by 2nd XI skipper Wayne Martel