Firsts come second

The first XI made the trip to the reigning champions Kirk Deighton CC.

Home skipper Richard Ward won the toss and elected to bat, Rohan Sivajoti and Gavin Mills opened Kirk Deighton’s batting and Tom Lawson and Will Clifton opened Headingley Bramhope’s bowling.

KDCC proceeded to show why they are the current champions as they racked up a mighty 366-5, Skipper Ward leading the way finishing 112*, well backed up by all of his batsmen with Mills contributing 60, Wall 56 and Watkins 53. The HBCC bowlers couldn’t be faulted for effort, but against good batsmen anything loose goes to the boundary, and too often 4 or 5 balls in the right area were followed up with something the batsmen could ‘get after’ and on the small KDCC pitch that proved costly.

Chris Whicker Smith claimed 4 of the 5 wickets to fall, Eoin Taylor was (as he pointed out) underused, and Chris Ashley worked hard behind the stumps.

In response Chris Ashley started brightly with the bat racing to 28 in boundaries, Chris Whicker Smith worked hard for his 39 but there was little other concerted resistance as HBCC were all out for 146.
With 366 already posted, Kirk Deighton showed the standards they set in the field with some superb catching and athleticism in the field, players throwing themselves around to save boundaries even when the game was all but won.