Sponsored by
Relief all round as the threat of relegation is lifted
North Leeds 2nd's took on Bilton at the weekend knowing a decent result would see the team retain its Division 1 status. Click here to read match report.
The plan would be to bowl, restrict Bilton to a reasonable total and back our decent batting line up to chase down the runs. As is normally the case, all our best laid plans seem to fall at the first hurdle. Skipper Mark Singleton lost the toss and we were invited to the middle first. Tim Hales and George Wales would open the innings again, on a very, very grassy wicket.
Bilton's opening bowlers exploited the conditions well, restricting us to less than three runs an over. With less than 30 on the board, we lost our first wicket, Tim Hales clean bowled.
This bought Dave Yeates to the crease, making his first 2nd team appearance of the season. The Bilton bowling continued to frustrate the batsmen, however, no further wickets fell before drinks. 76-1 at the break was a reasonable total on a tricky wicket.
We then began to build some momentum. Both batsmen played some fluent strokes and the run rate started to increase. George eventually departed, just missing out on a half-century, however, Dave and new batsman Barry Singleton began to despatch the ball to all corners of the ground. Dave Yeates scored a magnificent century and Barry scored a belligerent 48. Steve West and Chris Langford both added valuable runs at the end of the innings and a final total of 281-5 was well above par.
Bilton's reply began briskly. Prolific opener, Miles Corrish, showed his experience and quickly rattled up his half-century. With our openers, Amir Farooq and Fadi Lak having no luck, our skipper took over and trapped Miles LBW with his first ball which immediately slowed
Bilton's reply.
Further wickets fell at regular intervals and some sound bowling and fielding ensured that Bilton had to be content in settling for 2 points. Barry Singleton was the pick of our attack, bowling 20 overs and taking 2 valuable wickets.
The four points from this game meant we had, at last, avoided relegation and means we maintain our proud 2nd team record of never having played outside the top flight of the league.
This coming Saturday, we welcome our old friends from Guiseley to The
Homestead for the final game of the season, knowing we can finally relax and enjoy our cricket once again !
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
