Ingleton Win takes the promotion race to the final week

Graham Kellett's Man of the Match performance with both bat and ball sees Ingleton beat 2nd placed Bare by 8 runs to prevent the hosts promotion back to Division 1.

On the rare Saturday when the sun was able to shine, Ingleton once again made the trip down Powderhouse Lane, this time to promotion chasing Bare CC.

Winning the toss, Graham Kellett opted to bat on a unusually soft wicket.

Bare made an early break through as Johns held onto the lofted drive from Matthew Dawson off the bowling of Osmotherly with the score on 5 in the 5th over of the day.

Ingleton were finding runs difficult to come by and lost their 2nd wicket for 21 again off the bowling of Osmotherly in the 11th over as Hughes was beaten for the 2nd time in 2 innings by the ball moving off the seam and taking off stump.

2 wickets in 3 balls from the experienced Matthew Cook put the hosts in control as big hitters France and Scott were both trapped LBW.

Graham Kellett came to the middle having moved himself down the order and worked himself in, striking the bad ball with controlled aggression to form a partnership with Chris Fleming. The pair went on to add a further 85 runs before Kellett was bowled by Bwardag for 59 in the 37th over as he looked to accelerate the total on in the last 10 overs, his innings included two 6s and four 4s.

Chris Fleming went on to reach his half century in the 44th over before being caught by Osmotherly off the bowling of Cook 4 balls later. Cook picked up his 5th wicket of the afternoon trapping David Whitfield LBW with the next ball and the final ball of his 12 over spell, Cook finished with figures of 5 for 32.

Rob Hoggarth scored an unbeaten 10 at the end as Ingleton closed their innings on 158-9.

Ingleton made a good start in the field and picked up their first wicket in the 4th over as Osmotherly tried to play a big shot, edging the ball towards 1st slips right hand side, as Dawson prepared to take the catch across came the flying David Whitfield from behind the stumps to take a great low one handed catch. This then spurred the visitors on further as Cook departed just 2 runs later, deceived by the lack of bounce from the wicket as Kellett picked up his 2nd wicket of the day.

Burrows came to the crease joining Sharman and the pair looked to build pressure on the fielding side, attacking the bowling and starting to challenge the total until Josh Capstick dived forwards to scoop a catch off the bowling of James Preston to remove the opener for 16.

Kellett collected his 3rd and 4th victims before France replaced him from the Westgate end before drinks as the hosts were up with the scoring rate at 72-6.

M. John played a controlling innings and Assisted his partner Bwardag as the pair put on 35 for the 7th wicket despite several chances being created for the visitors to take further wickets. France bowled John for 14 as Ingleton looked to again dominate the fixture, however the home sides captain was determined to see his side over the line and win a place back with the elite.

A stand of 54 for the 8th wicket had looked to win the game for Bare until Bwardag returned a soft catch to Hughes to swing the result again.

Bare needed 20 runs from the last 18 balls with 2 wickets remaining with Neville looking confident, finding gaps in the field taking 7 off the 1st of these 3 overs, France then kept a tight over claiming the wicket of Jay with a calmly taken catch at Long Off by Preston meaning 10 runs were now needed off the last over with 1 wicket remaining.

Hughes flighted the first delivery and Neville tried to despatch it to the boundary rope, only to get underneath it and pick up a single to mid wicket, 9 off 5. The experience of Hughes allowed him to keep looping the ball to the young batsman Copsey, 3 balls left and 9 runs still needed.

Needing to get his partner back on strike Copsey then attempted a run to Fleming in the covers, the fielder kept his nerve to collect and return the ball to the bowler who duly broke the stumps with the batsman still out of the frame, game over and Ingleton victorious. Neville remained unbeaten on 32.

This week sees the final games of the season, all eyes will be on Bare at home to Shireshead A whilst challengers Holme take on Netherfield, Netherfield will be looking to try and collect maximum points in their bid to play Division 2 cricket again next season, finishing at Westgate on Sunday.
Ingletons season concludes at home to neighbours Kirkby Lonsdale with only local pride to play for