It was always going to be a difficult week for Milford, playing Headingley Bramhope who were 3rd in the table and with 31 players unavailable for selection. Last Saturday we fell back to more than one win behind Hillam when the weather scuppered our chances of picking up the win and though the weather was forecasted to be good all day the lack of many of the 1st team regulars meant making any inroads into that gap would be a big ask.
A very strange 11 turned out for Milford. More like a Thursday evening team than a Saturday 1st team. So large was the number of players unavailable the 2nd team had to concede their home game against Shadwell as we couldn’t raise a team. Both Barr’s were playing along with Will Hodgkiss and Harry Jackson from the 2nd team. Gareth Dodson was also drafted in and from A & E Sam Thomas and Paul Hebden were making their returns.
Paul took back the mantle of captaincy from the relieved Pete Batty and then proceeded to lose the toss. Never been to Headingley’s Glen Road ground before, must admit I wasn’t that impressed. Reminded me of Leeds Police surrounded by houses but no pavilion and the changing rooms a trek from the pitch. Scoring facilities just a table in the fresh air, thankfully the weather was kind. The field looked good but the outfield grass was a bit long, lush and soft so boundaries would be hard to come by.
Loz White was back this week and together with Steve Winspear opened the bowling for us. Once again it was the familiar tail that has been bugging us for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Good tight bowling from both openers but without making massive inroads into the opposition batting line up. Loz did manage to get Headingley opener Chris Dalby caught and bowled in the 6th over but that was the only wicket Steve & himself managed in their opening spells. The wicket was making it difficult for the batsmen with Steve getting the odd one to pop. So after the first 15 overs Headingley were 41 for 1.
It was a surprise to see Sam Thomas back in the team only 3 weeks from once again dislocating his shoulder, it was even more surprising to see him bowl. (If you are reading this don’t tell Sue as Sam had to sneak his cricket kit out of the house). He didn’t look too hampered in his delivery and tied Headingley’s number 3, Fahad Jabar, in knots. Opener Ian Rogers fared better against Sam and as the match progressed played better and better. Sam should have had a wicket at the end of his spell but Jonny Barr dropped a regulation catch at point.
I have seen half a dozen centuries scored this year but I think Rodger’s was the best. Very cautious early on against the better bowlers but once he got full measure of the pitch and the Milford attack he started to unleash some glorious drives and pulls. His first 50 coming up in 55 balls, the century 35 balls later. Together with Jabar he put on 106 runs for the 2nd wicket and a further 80 for the third.
In an attempt to stop his dominance Paul brought Steve Winspear back on but he got much more tap in his 2nd six over spell than he did in his first. 42 runs been conceded, Loz fared no better on his return with 19 been knocked off his two overs. He did get the wicket of Rodgers thanks to some swift work behind the stumps by Paul Hebden but Rodgers had done the damage by then and was very tired. An excellent 127 which together with some late hitting by the Headingley middle order left us with a total of 222 to chase down.
The Headingley teas were about on par with their scoring facilities, not very impressive when they run out of plates before everyone has had a chance to tuck in. It certainly makes you very grateful for the excellent teas provided by all the Milford players this year at our home games when you sample some of the efforts other clubs provide. May I take this opportunity to thank all involved this season, you have made the scorer happy and a little fatter.
With a full strength team the Headingley total would have been a challenge but with our line-up today it would be nigh on impossible. Someone would have to come up with a really big score. Disaster struck in the first over when Steve Korko was out for a golden duck. He didn’t really get forward to a delivery from Tom Atkinson and paid the price. It might have kept a little low in his defence.
Jonathan Barr was sent out at number 3 with the instructions to frustrate the Headingley bowlers and take the sting out of the attack. This he certainly did. In fact it wasn’t till his 29th ball that he got off the mark. Here was a man really going the extra mile to reclaim his Snail Award.
Somehow Jonathan lost his grip on the Snail Award last year when Huw Oeppen pinched it from him and this year looked like it was going the way of David Batty when he managed 2 of 26 balls at home against Long Marston earlier in the season. But you should never bet against the now veteran Jonathan. Bringing back memories of his father Jim he withstood all Headingley could throw at him. At one stage he produced singles from consecutive balls faced but this was just a blip as normal service was quickly restored with a run of a dozen dot balls. His defiant resistance was ended just before the drinks break when he spooned up a leading edge to Chris Rodgers. It was enough though to claim the race for the snail, if that can be the right phrase. A score of 4 off 65 balls gave him a strike rate of a glacial 6.2. Now if anyone else wants to beat that please let me know so I can go AWOL.
The Milford tactics were plain for all to see, stop Headingley getting the full 6 points. If we did then it would mean 2 points in our last two games of the season would guarantee us of promotion. It seemed this wasn’t very likely once Jonathan was out as one by one the Milford batsmen succumbed to the pressure of the Headingley attack. Chris Dalby been the most successful bowler finishing with 4 for 16 off 11 overs.
It came down to the last pair of Harry Jackson and Sam Thomas. They needed to bat out 9 overs to deny our opposition the final point. Much to my surprise they did. Harry batting wonderfully maturely and Sam looking like a Stu Morley clone with his front pad play. Only in the penultimate over did we hold our breaths when for the third time in succession Sam padded away a delivery without offering a stroke. Fortunately the umpire was a fan of Sam’s classic almost Boycott style batting and kept his finger down.
So the match ended with us 85 for 9 and Headingley having to be content with just 5 points. Not a game for the spectator, especially in the 2nd half. But it means we go into the last two games needing two points to guarantee our return to Division 1.