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July 19, 2006

Players Upstaged in Dramatic Finale


Well this the inaugural cricket match between the Ebor Players and  combined Parish Council/Millennium Trust team had it all. What began as a beautiful sun drenched evening ended with a nail biting finish and a wounded match winning hero.

 
 

                  The final ball is struck..but what happened next?


Having won the toss, Ebor Players captain Lisa “Fairy” Thornton elected to bat. Openers “Bossy Boots” Patrick and Ben “The Sound” Smith put on a solid partnership with the latter having to retire after hitting 3 consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Liam Godfrey, the first act in their unfolding sub plot.

Next in was captain Thornton who after making a stunning 3 runs was Run Out by a brilliant combination of fielding from “The Dude” Martin Dudley and Parish Council captain Stewart Harrison. That turned out to be the Parish Councils team only wicket of the night.

The scoreboard ticked along with Tim “Lord” Bruce and Steve Harrison both hitting boundaries, and there were scoring contributions from Chris Gajewicz, Julia Sykes, the aptly named “Comedy” Tom Davis (we are not talking about his wit and banter) and “Dancing” Diane Curran.

 

 
Tim 'Lord' Bruce bonks one to the boundary 

 

However tight bowling by “the Dude” Martin Dudley, Julian “Deadly” Davies, David Livesley, and Andrew Dunn who bowled to his son Alistair for some of the time, kept the Ebor Players total to 56. An indication of the overall bowling quality however was the fact that top scorer for the Players were extras at 25, with wides contributing 24 runs.

So a good total of 56 meant that the Parish Council team had to score nearly 6 an over, could they do it?

Openers Glynn Drummond and Julian Davies got them off to a flying start with a flurry of boundaries including the only 6 of the night, caught brilliantly by a spectator a rare example where those watching were probably better than those playing. Both retired on 13 and 11 respectively. Curiously however the Players had decided not to open with their best bowler Smith, what was the reason behind this tactical move?

The scoring continued slowly but surely with “Belter” Bewley and captain Harrison at the crease until a mix up over calls led to Harrison being Run Out. At last the Players had a wicket. Next up was another Harrison Jess “Slogger” Harrison, who batted gamely seeing out the best the Players had to throw at her, but still no sign of the Players best bowler.

Step up to the crease Liam Godfrey regarded by many on the Players team as a traitor and subjected to a chorus of boos and generally unpleasant barracking which umpires Green and Wilkinson had to note. Then surprise surprise on comes the previously anonymous Smith.

Godfrey was joined at the crease by his wife Cayley who gamely held off Smith bowling for 2 balls. Then it was Godfrey’s turn to face Smith, the previous barracking melted away, the field crowded round the batsman as there was complete silence, unique in any previous Ebor Players gathering.

Ball after ball rained down on the batsman who stoically defended, then end of over, mini crisis over. With 52 on the board and 3 overs remaining, and 4 batsman still to come in, captain Harrison pulled Liam Godfrey off, the match was well as won - or was it?

On comes Lizzie Patrick to bowl and 3 balls later Cayley Godfrey is out caught and bowled for the only non-Run Out wicket of the evening.

“Silly mid on” Green and Dudley are batting but the runs are now like thick set treacle and not flowing. Green gets a single, then disaster as another mix up leads to the run out of Dudley.

There’s tight bowling from Curran. Andrew Dunn is now at the crease and following the retirement of Green is joined by David “Lively” Livesey, “Lord” Bruce is bowling the last over, they go for a quick single, Dunn is slow out of the blocks another Run Out looks a certainty, the tension is unbearable, but no The Players miss the stumps, and the scores are level.

Two balls to go, Bruce to Livesley who skies one in the air. Underneath it is Diane Curran, if she catches it the Parish Council are all out, the Players win on account of having lost less wickets. Livesley is running for the single which if Curran drops the ball, the Parish Council win. The crowd cannot bear it as we appear to go into suspended animation the ball hangs forever in the air, Curran fumbles, the ball flies out of her hands, she has another attempt to cling on but to no avail. Cricket like life can be cruel. The Parish Council have won with one ball to spare, you could not have scripted a better ending.

But wait, as the rest of the Parish Council team exuberantly invade the pitch the hero of the hour Livesley is down injured felled by a stray ball from “Comedy” Tom and Livesley like Nelson at Trafalgar is fallen in this his most heroic hour.

For a few of us we can say “I was there”.

Liam Godfrey (no relation)  

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Get your match photos! 

Official photographer Simon Melton has now put the best photos on his web site at www.simonmeltonphotography.com. They can be viewed by clicking on York events / Ebor Players.

Prints are for sale @ £2 each for a 7" X 5" on high quality photo paper with fade resistant inks, with £1 from each print sold going back to the Ebor Players fund. 

Simon can be contacted via his web site, or by telephone on 01904 701857 or 07944 841996. 

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Scorecard


Ebor Players
T Patrick
B Smith
*L Thornton
+T Bruce
C Gajewicz
S Harrison
J Sykes
T Davis
L Patrick
D Curran
A Dunn

Extras                         25
TOTAL                                 56
 Retired      
Retired      
Run Out      
Retired      
Retired       
Retired      
Retired      
Retired      
Retired       
NOT OUT     
NOT OUT       


2
12
 3
 5
 1
 5
1
1
0
1
0
Parish Council / Millennium Trust
+G Drummond
J Davies
J Bewley
*S Harrison
J Harrison
L Godfrey
C Godfrey
C Green
M Dudley
A Dunn
D Livesley

Extras                         22
TOTAL                         57
 Retired
Retired
Retired
Run Out 
Retired 
Retired
c&b L Patrick
Retired
Run Out
NOT OUT
NOT OUT



13
11
 5
 1
 1
 0
 0
 1
 0
 2
 1

 
‘* Captain
+ Wicket Keeper

Umpires: J Green & G Wilkinson
Scorers: J Bettridge & I Hodson
RESULT: PARISH COUNCIL/MILLENNIUM TRUST WIN BY 1 WICKET

 

 

Posted by The Newshound at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

A Captain's View

Thoughts on that Cricket Match - written about midnight after a few celebratory drinks in the Ebor after the match.)

Thanks for a wonderful evening and well done - we won (not that I had any doubts!)!
 
We started slowly with Googly Drummond and Deadly Davies taking an over to find their feet  - Googlies were lost under his oversize pads - but they both came good in the end, Deadly striking the ball cleanly for a four and then the only 6 of the night!
 
I had to drag them both off to be replaced by Belter Bewley who soon found her feet but she was then joined by me Howzatt Harrison (quickly dispatched as per the name).  There was an opening flourish from both of us and we got carried away on the enthusiasm and somehow the umpire gave me out following a slight mix up whilst running between the wickets!
 
Belter was then joined by Slogger Jess - who listening to her captain's advice (there's a first time for everything!) - succeeded in getting several runs added by allowing wides to pass her by and pick up 2 runs on each occasion! I might add that after Belter had been called in by the Captain (who took great pleasure in doing so!) Slogger also protected Gotcha Godfrey from the best bowler of the evening for a couple of balls!
 
However, Gotcha managed to show his true worth and defended nicely against the "bowler" on the Ebor team.  Gotcha was then joined by Catchum Godfrey who also proceeded to protect him from the bowling until being caught and bowled.  In all Gotcha Godfrey played a good straight bat innings after being identified as a turncoat by the Ebor Players.
 
By this time the score was moving along nicely (somewhere around the 50 mark and we only needed 57 to win) and we thought we had the game in the bag.
 
So the captain decided to put on Silly Mid on Green and Dude Dudley - well they ran a few and got us a couple of runs but then Dude decided he'd run to the other end to discuss the situation with Silly Mid On and was run out.  So..........
 
Out to the crease came Demon Dunn who attempted to hit and miss a few times but was finally so surprised when he did hit one that it took the combined efforts of the rest of the team to remind him to run!  And what a run - it has been described as "running in slow motion" a "moonwalk run" and "what's that!" but it was indeed a run - and a very necessary run as it turned out!
 
We were now down to the last over still requiring one run to win - Silly Mid On was determined to hit the ball and despite calls to retire from the Captain appeared to not hear until she had two further attempts.  Eventually with four balls to go she retired and Lively Livesley took his bat to the crease.  It was now getting very tense as we still needed one run to win - the captain was on tenterhooks as he had decided to play his final player ,and if he was out first ball the game would be a draw, and we may have won if a previous player had not been withdrawn!
 
BUT Lively lived up to his name  - took one ball to get his eye in and then struck the ball for a quick single and ran like the wind - we had won!!  The whole team ran out to congratulate the winners when we suddenly realised that Lively was on the ground - floored by the throw in to the wicket to try to run him out - for one moment things were confused and could we celebrate??
 
Then Lively - like the player he is - stood up and showed off his black eye - always good for a vote when obtained for the good of the village! - and joined in the celebrations. We had indeed won and some of us have the war-wounds to show for it!
 
I must at this point thank the umpires for their careful and considerate handling of the game including encouragement and coaching given to most players - after all we needed all the help we could get!
 
Thanks also to the scorers - as without you we would never have known who had won!
 
As I said previously - thanks for the effort and well done to the BPC/MT team and thanks for a good clean game played by the Ebor Players - although I was a little disappointed the pantomime horse did not bat at No.s 7 and 8!
 
The trophy will be displayed in the village hall - and we will all reconvene in twelve months time to contest what will hopefully be an enjoyable annual event.
 
"Howzatt" Harrison
Captain of the Parish Council / Millennium Trust Team
 

Posted by Your local correspondent at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)